The Curse of Dracula

The most brutal addiction...is life. True life. No matter how...lonely."

--The Curse of Dracula (1979)

The above may not be an exact quote, but it does give an example of the soulful, poetic titular bloodsucker played by the redoubtable Michael Nouri in the semi-serial (really miniseries) installment of 1979's Cliffhangers television anthology show, "The Curse of Dracula" Cliffhangers, which was a short-lived high-concept, high-production values show consisting of three cliffhanger serial pastiches (one being a take-off on the old sci fi western Phantom Empire, with Gene Autry, the other an action-crime drama called Stop Susan Williams!), each begun as if the chapter-play were already in progress. The series was developed by Kenneth Johnson, who would go on to spectacular success later with the alien invasion epic V, which spawned V: The Final Battle, and V: The Series, the last being short-lived. V had a massive following and a huge cultural impact, as well as blockbuster ratings.

The Curse of Dracula, starring Nouri as Dracula, Stephen Johnson as "Kurt Van Helsing" (the legendary Doctor's great-grandson), and Carol Baxter as his partner Mary, is undoubtedly the best of the Cliffhanger segments. I recently watched a three hour "fan edit" of it on YouTube, and I can tell you, it was three hours well spent.

Van Helsing and Mary are on a quest to find and eliminate Dracula's infamous coffins of Transylvanian-filled earth, while the man (man?) himself teaches as a professor of Eastern European studies at a local university. Recounting the medieval tales of his fabled homeland, he keeps his eager students on the edge of their seats. it is from these, apparently that the Count, who lives in a mansion that looks as if it is a huge public museum , draws such acolytes as the blonde, worshipful Antoinette (Antoinette Stella), who is zealously protective and jealous of him.

Mary's mother was turned into a vampire herself by Dracula, and the plot revolves around her kidnapping, his biting of her throat to drink "eternal life", and the sweet, dark, poetic romance that blooms between them. The strains of "Moonlight Sonata" are endlessly heard as a romantic refrain, and Dracula confesses his love for her under the darkling sky.

But that is of course not then end of it. Van Helsing is kidnapped but manages to escape the nefarious clutches of the Drac Pac. Mary likewise escapes from the Count's sexy, Langella-like embrace, and, having been bitten twice, is now vampire possessed, and must be interred at the Convent of San Miguel. Van Helsing conspires with Mary's mother Amanda (Louise Sorel) to trap Dracula in a living tomb with a hole in the ceiling. A little daylight crisping for the old Count.

Nouri's performance is pure Transylvanian camp, but in several places, such as when he is imploring to have Van Helsing to release him while the rays of the rising sun are streaming through a hole in the roof, he sounds eerily plaintive and child-like. it is actually an astounding performance for an actor tasked with material that many will consider corny, tacky (right down to the red satin-lined cape that Dracula wears, which looks as if it might have been purchased at a Halloween store).

The jealous Antoinette instructs a Drac Pac acolyte (Bever-Leigh Banfield) to attempt to kill Mary at the nunnery by pushing a huge statue over into her pathway. Van Helsing dabbles her with Holy Water,, causing her a bit of a Linda Blair-style freak out, and raising burns on her skin. She goes running across the yard of the nunnery, while Van Helsing and Amanda plot to finally do Dracula in, once and for all.

Mary hammers a stake through her own mother's heart. This is a plot device new to Dracula lore, and a most effective moment. Mary's mother is tired of being condemned to "an eternity of killing." Every scene is squeezed like a rancid fruit for maximum, melodramatic impact.

To give away too much would spoil this buried (no pun) forgotten gem, but we end with Dracula getting hammered (harhar) while reclining in his coffin at a wax museum. Which is a completely astute metaphor, seeing as how the wax images are soulless representations of "living" men and women; like the vampire that rests among them. The images entrance us with their beauty, but it is a false, hollow glamour. Inside, like the poor, accursed Dracula, they are truly dead.

Mary and Kurt escape the fire. But, lo and behold! An "alternate ending" is appended to the saga, wherein Dracula escapes his fiery "second death."

Coming as it did, in the shadow of Dark Shadows and the Night Stalker, The Curse of Dracula is an amazingly entertaining television saga that wastes no time getting to the meat of the situation. Unashamed to be cliche, it is a comic book entertainment par excellence, and a nostalgic look back at a simpler, less complicated and cynical era. (Believe it..or not!)

Nouri's performance is really quite poetic and sympathetic; it is never hackneyed. The other performances are also quite good, and the sets and costumes, special effects and stunts, while straight from the 1979 television dime store, somehow add an additional fillip of unsophisticated charm to an already exuberant production. (The soundtrack, additionally, is by Les Baxter, the same composer responsible for my favorite horror soundtrack of all time--the soundtrack he composed for the 1970 film of H.P. Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror, which I've heard many, many times. Here, he relies heavily on Beethoven, but, somehow, it really works.)

The curse of Dracula may be corny and tacky, sure, and it may have been part and parcel to an anthology show that ultimately didn't survive. The one thing it isn't, however, is...bloodless.

We'll leave it at that.

The Curse of Dracula (1979) Fan Edit