Dracula films are a dime a dozen. The poor guy has been in New York, San Francisco, China and Turkey, just to name a few. Hell, the guy has even been in outer space! There have been nearly 200 films and TV appearances by the poor Transylvanian. Let's give the guy a break for a while and talk about...
Yes, this movie is as stupid as it sounds. I just thought that you should know that.
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The film is set in the Russian wilderness where a crypt has been hidden for 200 hundred years. The drilling and explosive demolition work unearths the place though, allowing a certain resident to get free. That resident: an evil dog. I bet you're wondering why Dracula didn't awaken from the same tomb. That is a good question.
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Through the magic of lazy screenwriting, our villainous hound manages to track down one of Dracula's far-off descendants while he goes on vacation with his family. Around the same time, an expert in the occult (Jose Ferrer) gets alerted to the danger and rushes off to intercede. Well, in reality, he takes nearly forty-five minutes of screen time to get there. He must have caught every red light, I guess.
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The biggest problem with the movie is its premise. You are supposed to be scared and shocked by a pack of vampire dogs. What makes them vampires? The yellow overlay effect given to their eyes, of course. This actually plays a part in the big finale...but more on that later. Basically, villain and hero end up in close proximity, while a random family gets in the way. Their poor puppies are killed for the crime of...being there. This is going to get bad, isn't it?
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Honestly, the movie just loses all its momentum by about an hour into it. The setup is too long and there is really not much to look forward to. You get one good scene of claustrophobic horror as Zoltan and company try to kill the family whilst inside a shack. Eventually, evil is thwarted and the day is saved...or is it?!? The film shows some carnage on the next night as a line of animal bodies litter the floor. The film slowly pans out to reveal...the cutest vampire ever! Seriously, a vampire puppy is the best thing that they could manage. Even Rats: Night of Terror could do better than that. Not much, but by a little. You can do far better than this movie. Of course, the title could have told you that.
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We made it through the whole alphabet. How about we break for cartoons? Stay tuned...
Alec: This one does sound a bit lame. A vampire puppy? That's just plain wrong. I think my favorite "Vampire out of place" movie was Curse of the Undead, which was a Western with a gunslinging vampire. Great Post! -- Mykal
ReplyDeleteI like this one in all its terrible glory, it is not a good film, its not even an OK film, but the fact that it exists is both mind blowing and insulting, which gives it extra points in my book lol.. On to Devil Dog!
ReplyDeleteI actually like the movie. The blatant absurdities work in its favor and it's nice to see a rare lead turn for Michael Pataki. I thought the dogs with their glowing eyes was very eerie and effective. Definitely a B movie, but far from a lame film, IMO. I could NEVER place this film anywhere near the bottom of the animal attacks barrel where RATS takes up space. Now THAT'S a lame movie.
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