Dracula Bites the Big Apple (1979)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Better Late Then Never

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Dracula (Peter Loewy) travels to New York for a change of scenery.In retrospect, this film is perhaps best known for opening the door to "Vamp". But, really, it is a fine film in its own right, and in some ways far funnier. Both Dracula and Renfield are fun, corny characters. This could have been a cheap-looking film,but actually ends up looking pretty darn good for a small project.The real mystery, at least to me, is how they got away with the music rights. Presumably, the first time around, they just used music and didn't bother to pay anyone. But what about in future DVD and Blu-ray releases? Other films have been held up for music rights (heck, "Freaks and Geeks" was bogged down hard)... so how did they do it?

This short film was made in New York in 1979 at a time when the city had a thriving underground film-making culture. A lot of the short movies made at that time and place are now classified under the No Wave movement. Lots of them were subversive and daring but a few were just silly. I'm not 100% certain if Dracula Bites the Big Apple qualifies as a No Wave movie but it certainly shares a similar aesthetic and it does fit into the sillier side of the bracket. It is best known now as the film that got director Richard Wenk noticed, leading him to make the 80's comedy-horror Vamp, a film with some cult value.Its story is very simple - Dracula takes a plane to New York to sample new blood but finds the late 70's Big Apple too much for even him. The emphasis in this one is squarely on humour not horror. Early on the Count starts up a big musical number, singing the awful song 'Dancing in the Moonlight' with a variety of passing New Yorkers. He then stalks a woman in the underground and Central Park but it ends in a big joke. The last straw for him is being refused entry to the Studio 54 disco nightclub by its owner Steve Rubell on the basis of him not being able to dance.Like most short films it simply has not enough time to make any real impression. I suppose it does at least try to keep things moving along and it has been made on an absolute shoestring but it's a film that is only of limited interest. Probably ultimately of most value as a snapshot of late 70's New York.

This very funny and engaging 22 minute short feature spoof was made by director/producer Richard Wenk right after he graduated from New York University Film School. He shot it in three nights for only $5,500. Moreover, this short film helped Wenk land the job of writing and directing the supremely cool 80's horror comedy blast "Vamp" (it's included as a nifty extra on the Region 1 Anchor Bay DVD for "Vamp"). Fed-up with the dried-up old blood in his dreary native Translyvannia, Dracula hops a plane to America so he can take a big bite out of the famous City That Never Sleeps, only to find out much to his horror and chagrin that Gotham is too tough a modern metropolis for even him to easily handle. Wenk makes especially witty and inspired use of music: the Count arrives in the Big Apple via plane while an instrumental version of "I Love New York" plays on the soundtrack, heartily sings a funky disco revamp (a bad pun I know, but I just couldn't resist using it) of "Dancing in the Moonlight" that's rudely interrupted by the director (!) halfway through the number, and stalks a lovely potential lady victim in Central Park to Bernard Herrmann's legendary ominous "Psycho" theme. The single funniest moment occurs when Studio 54 owner Steve Rubell refuses to let Dracula into his notorious swingin' night club because he can't dance. Yeah, it's admittedly quite dated and silly, but this amiably goofy spoof has a certain sweetly inane charm which makes it a perfectly amusing little hoot just the same.

I'm baffled as to how this bonnefied masterpiece has gone unnoticed by movie goers and critics alike. It is one of those few films that will genuinley change your life and your outlook on the human condition. From the opening credits you know this is no mere movie, not just pictures on a screen. It's a poigniant tale of an outsider, a loner in a new and strange land. Dracula is missunderstood, that's what this film's all about, if we could just see beyond the teeth and the outragious accent, perhaps we'd see a man as frightened as the rest of us, just searching a big world for a little love. It's a message we'd all do well to take note of, don't just let this movie teach you to look beyond the assumptions you've made about undead counts, let it help you to do the same with all the creatures of the night, be it werewolves, zombies or just really big cats. So go, see Dracula Bites the Big Apple, and let it teach you, let it mesmerise you and let it be free..........please, just let it be free. Dracula bit the big apple, and in doing so, bit his way into our hearts. May you leave the cinema enlightened having experienced the beauty, the magic and the chins, this 'fish out of water' masterpiece has to offer. Go now! BE FREE! DRACULA HAS RELEASED HIS CHILDREN!!!