Son of Dracula Through a "Kid's" Eyes

 

This evening started with my old VHS tape of the Ralph Bakshi animated, post-apocalyptic, fantasy classic Wizards. I did warn Rosa it was weird, but she believed it was a standard "weird Jeff movie," and did not calibrate for it being "weird even by my standards."

She said it scarred her and asked to watch the next Universal Horror movie to cleanse.

I'm so proud.

We've reached 1943 and Lon Chaney Jr. is starring in everything.

 
On changes between decades.

Me- "Wow, they showed the Count's name "Alucard" on screen sideways and the guy starts spelling it backwards. 

So much for assuming the audience will figure things out like in the Thirties films."

On the first vampire turning into a bat effect and flying at someone...very slowly:

Rosa- "MOVE!!!"
 
On the setting:

Me- "This is in New Orleans, hmmmmm, 

I wonder if he turns anyone who is later 

*dramatic pause*

Interviewed?" 
 
On losing the attention to detail of the original films:

Rosa- "I can see him in the mirror."
Me- "Oops."
 
On the gang ineffectively trying to stomp out a fire:

Rosa- *begins tap dancing*

On Count Alucard's victim:

Rosa- "Is the Colonel coming back as a vampire?"

Me- "They seem to have forgotten all the rules."

Rosa- "I see." 

*frowns audibly*

On the doctor writing Alucard obviously backwards again to drive it home:

Rosa- "OH!"

 

On the strange timing:

*Movie states the original Dracula was destroyed in the Nineteenth Century 

which is clearly the past*

Me- "But Daughter of Dracula picked up right after it...and was clearly set in 1935.

Its amazing they fit these all together as well as they did."
 
On possibly having watched too many Telenovelas:

Rosa- "I think Claire’s in love with Kay’s fiancé."
 
On the coffin being kept in the swamp:

Rosa- "It’s a submarine coffin."

*Dracula exits it by turning into mist*

Rosa- "Oh, he’s like I Dream of Jeannie."
 
On Kay being under Alucard's power:

Rosa- "She doesn't have bite marks."

Me- "Maybe she's just hypnotized."

*We learn she's moving into the Colonel's plantation with Alucard*

Rosa- "That's why she changed the will."

On Lon Chaney Jr. in this movie:

Me- "I don’t buy him as a vampire. 

Any other monster he's fine, because he's got that sadness that makes them tragic. 

It doesn't work with a vampire.  

Also he doesn’t sound Hungarian."

Rosa- "No."

 
On the Doctor having both a cross and a gun nearby, but grabbing the gun:

Rosa- "That’s not going to kill him."

Me- " I think he doesn’t know Lon is a vampire."

Rosa- "The cross saved him...

lucky it was there for no reason."

On more timing weirdness:

Me- "The doctor is reading the original novel of Dracula.

I don't know how to process that."

On changes in first aid thinking:

*the doctor gives the upset Frank a brandy*

Rosa- "You're supposed to give him water, not brandy."

Me- "It was the Forties."
Rosa- "Oh. Get drunk then."

*The doctor pulls out another bottle*

Rosa- "More alcohol? He has it everywhere. 

Maybe that’s the water."
 
On what gets hidden in old films:

*Alucard bites*

Rosa- "I don’t see any blood."
Me- "It's 1943, you wouldn’t.
Rosa- "You can see everything except blood."
 
On the doctor going to check on the house he suspects vampires are in:

Rosa- "Why is he going alone?"

*Huffs*
 
On Kay being shot, and then dead, and then not:

Me- "You see? She revived."

Rosa- "How did they do that trick?

He just put her in the coffin. 

Now she’s in bed."

On realizations:

Rosa- "She might be a vampire now. 

She said she's not available in the morning."
 
On no coffins being found:

Rosa- "So they sleep in the water. 

Water vampires?"

*They find two coffins in the guest area and only check one*

Rosa- "They didn’t open the other one?!?!"

On Alucard referring to himself as a "Descendent of Dracula:"

Me- "That's a lot more...vague...than the title implies."
 

On the doctor reading vampires can travel like a bat or a small cloud:

*mist passes through the door*

Rosa- "Like that one!"

*Alucard exits, Frank is shaken again, the doctor gives him alcohol*
Rosa- "More drinking."

On the attacked boy:

Rosa- "Are there marks?"
 *Doctor sees two holes on his neck*

Rosa- "Uh oh!"

*The doctor paints crosses over the wounds*

Rosa and Me- "Good idea!"

On Kay becoming a vampire by choice using black magic:

Me- "Nice to see them using the old legends for a change."

On Alucard sneaking into the house:

Rosa- "Dracula can't come in without being invited:

Me- *choking back tears of pride*

"Maybe they're not using that rule here."

Rosa- *sneers angrily*

On the real villain of the piece:

Me- "Kay is way more manipulative than Alucard."
 
On Frank fighting Alucard around the flaming coffin:
Rosa- "Frank fell right into the fire and did not burn.

Not one bit."

On Frank burning the house down after people saw Kay alive in the bedroom:

Rosa- "So, no more explanation? Can she survive the fire?"

Me- "No. Vampires burn, she's dead."

Rosa- "Is Frank going to jail?"

Me- "Mayyyyybe"

 Click here for Universal Monsters Index