Product Details

• Actors: Joe Dallesandro, Udo Kier, Vittorio De Sica, Maxime McKendry, Arno Juerging
• Directors: Paul Morrissey
• Writers: Paul Morrissey, Bram Stoker, Pat Hackett
• Producers: Andrew Braunsberg, Andy Warhol, Jean Yanne
• Format: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: X (Mature Audiences Only)
• Studio: Criterion
• DVD Release Date: December 15, 1998
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 1559408944
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #65,176 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Blood for Dracula (The Criterion Collection)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Filming on Blood for Dracula began on location in Italy on the same day that filming of Flesh for Frankenstein ended, and knowing this enhances one's appreciation of director Paul Morrissey's delightfully twisted--and defiantly artistic--approach to violent, campy horror. Originally titled Andy Warhol's Frankenstein and Andy Warhol's Dracula, both films are blessed by Morrissey's opulent visual style (he and his Italian cinematographer worked wonders with modest budgets), and both showcase Udo Kier and the languorous hunk Joe Dallesandro in opposing roles. Here we find Udo Kier as Count Dracula, looking even more ashen than usual and desperate for the blood of virgins to restore his waning health. He travels to Italy and stays at the fading estate of a once-wealthy family, and the presence of four lovely, sexually inexperienced daughters turns out to be a recipe for disaster. It so happens that only the youngest daughter is actually a virgin, and by process of elimination Dracula discovers that non-virgin blood makes him violently ill! Dallesandro plays the resident handyman--handy in more ways than one, as the daughters have learned--who dares to protect the remaining virgin from the Count's bloodsucking exploits, and as usual director Morrissey finds ample opportunity to combine sex and gore with outrageous sensibility and logic of plot. As in the case of Flesh for Frankenstein, this Criterion Collection DVD restores the film to its original director's cut, presented in its original aspect ratio with a supplemental commentary by Morrissey, Kier, and critic Maurice Yacowar. Kier is particularly delightful, observing during one gruesome scene that "vomiting looks great when you've got a tuxedo on." --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

Paul Morrissey's moralistic take on modern values is a brash mixture of humor, horror, and sex - and a revelation to fans of the horror film. In Blood for Dracula, the infamous count searches Italy for virgin blood. Criterion presents the long-suppressed director's cut of this outrageous cult classic in a new widescreen transfer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wanna hold ya til the fear in me subsides., November 15, 2003

By 

Holly Apollyon "Messiah of Regret and Entropy" (The Overlook Hotel) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blood for Dracula (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

The strength of this otherwise unfortunate movie is Udo Kier's sterling portrayal of Count Dracula. Envision, if you will, Count Dracula sitting lethargically before a baroque vanity mirror, generously painting black dye over his hoary white hair with a brush large enough to swipe a gutter. This chilling, haunting, otherworldly scene sets the tone for all that follows. Faced with doom and obscurity, Dracula must leave his moribund abode and embark on a secret quest to secure the wirgin blood required to maintain his eternal existence. He must lamentably say farewell to his sister, and then board the family car with chauffeur/evil toady Anton for a lengthy road trip.

Operation: 'Wirgin Blood' has now begun.

Eventually Dracula is directed to a large estate, where an aged farmer has in his care a whole stable of absolutely hideous daughters. (It should be mentioned that this film's continuity is backwards or inverted, not unlike that of the Crime Syndicate of Amerika; e.g.: hideous daughters are super-hot; Count Dracula, Prince of Darkness, is powerless; the movie's hero is a lowlife Communist/rapist.) The father invites Dracula into his once-lavish home, and proudly confirms the fact that all of his daughters are in fact good, wholesome, corn-fed wirgins. Count Dracula begins to stalk his prey one by one...

How does the 'Udo Kier' Dracula differ from the conceptual Dracula?

(A) 'Udo' Dracula not only lacks superhuman strength and reflexes, but lacks even the vigor required to fight a frail wine-addled captive wirgin into submission.

(B) 'Udo' Dracula has no demonic powers such as augmented senses, shapeshifting or unnatural magnetism; quite in fact the wirgins are repulsed by 'Udo' Dracula and they mock him behind his back.

(C) 'Udo' Dracula not only lacks a vampire's powers, but is also vulnerable to any ordinary attack or weapon. You could kill 'Udo' Dracula with a compass, a tire iron, or even a stale loaf of bread if you pummeled him enough times.

When Dracula fails in seducing trying to seduce the wirgins, he changes tactics and tries to overpower them physically. Eventually, one of the daughters contemptuously submits to him, and only after biting her and drinking her blood does the horrified Dracula realize that the girl's wirgin blood is NOT in fact wirgin blood! Dracula is forced to vomit the blood into the bathtub, heaving and gurgling as he indiscriminately curses the rodent-like Anton.

Enter the hero: a decidedly non-Van Helsing-like stable boy---a slouching, foul-mouthed, malingering lowlife who balances his time between assaulting the farmer's daughters and spewing pseudo-Communistic rhetoric. Operation: 'Wirgin Blood' is now compromised! Anton self-servingly betrays Dracula in an effort to save himself, and is killed. Ultimately Dracula fails in his quest and is attacked by the stable boy, the latter being armed with an old-fashioned wood axe. The stable boy begins chopping Dracula apart, limb by limb, while the Dracula runs like the wind, a hobbled armless creature with his evil cape streaming behind him. In the end, the stable boy whittles Dracula down to a head and torso.

Defiantly, the defeated Dracula enigmatically exclaims: "You fool, you can't kill me! I'm not one of you!" Form your own conclusion.

Short of the epic thriller Expose, aka The House on Straw Hill, this is probably the most enjoyable of the Udo Movies. Look for the upcoming sequel, Operation: Wirgin Blood vs. Plan 9 From Outer Space.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars And now for something completely different..., March 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Blood for Dracula (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

Different is what this movie is. I liked the movie for one, it dares to go off in directions the mainstream of film makers usually don't go. The second, I agreed with one reveiwer that you either like the film or you don't. The traditional Dracula plot is non-existent (He can only survive on the blood of virgins and for some reason there are none in his own home town). This movie is more of a parody and is fun to watch if you enjoy the unusual world of filmdom offerings. I would highly recomend this film in DVD format for the director commentaries and publicity stills included. Viewers should also be aware, this movie is not for the younger viewers, due to high explicit sexual content and nudity.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wirgins are hard to come by!, January 2, 2003

By 

John Smith (Parts Unknown) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blood for Dracula (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

Blood for Dracula is an interesting take on the Dracula legend. Dracula is in this film, a weak, sickly, even depressed vampire. who seems to detest everything in life except for his faithful assistant. They travel to early twentieth century Italy from Romania, in search of "Wergins", so Dracula can feed. They settle in an aristrocratic mansion, where the Lord of the Manor has three sexy daughters, and a 14 year old girl as well. Also, a "fieldhand", who enjoys getting it on with the daughters. This character is misplaced in the film, and his contemporary Brooklyn accent, along with his poor acting skills dont help the film. There is also a disturbing scene where he rapes the 14 year old, in order to deny Dracula her virgin blood. Other than that, the film is a hit. It is high on erotisism, and the two better looking daughters spend much of the film naked, and all over each other or the fieldhand. The neck biting scenes are some of the finest on film, but poor Dracula, he cannot live on tainted blood! All in all, a good film, funny, bloody, and a little sad even.