He couldn't live without a virgin's blood..... ...So a virgin had to die

The second of two horror films shot in a single production term and bearing the name of pop-art icon Andy Warhol (whose participation pretty much ended with the use of his name), this film is slightly superior to its higher-profile predecessor, Andy Warhol's Frankenstein. Direction is credited to Warhol factory filmmaker Paul Morrissey, though there still exists a very vocal camp who insist that the real credit should go to Italian director Antonio Margheriti. Euro-horror leading man Udo Kier assays the title role, playing the count as a pale, anemic-looking blood junkie with an overwrought accent. Finding the supply of "weer-gin" blood diminishing rapidly in Romania, Dracula is forced to seek a fix in a predominantly Catholic Italian province, where he is certain a few virgins still exist. He travels with his assistant (Arno Juerging) and his coffin-sealed sister to the decrepit, crumbling mansion of the financially-strapped Marquis DiFore (a tour-de-force performance from Bicycle Thief director Vittorio de Sica) who welcomes the affluent Count with open arms, hoping to marry off any one of his four daughters. Dracula clearly has other intentions for the girls... but his plans are rudely thwarted by beefy, socialist handyman Mario (Joe Dallesandro), who has been dutifully divesting the young maidens of their -- ahem -- virtue, thus tainting their blood and making it unsafe for vampiric consumption. Very unsafe, it turns out -- as we are treated to protracted scenes of the death-pale Count vomiting up gallons of blood. Rated "X" at the time of its release (and subsequently re-rated "R" ten years later), this outrageous catalogue of depravity features wildly campy performances, inane dialogue and an outrageous climax.

Blood for Dracula (Italian: Dracula cerca sangue di vergine e...mori di sete!!!, literally "Dracula is searching for virgins' blood, and... he's dying of thirst!") is a 1974 Italian-French horror film written and directed by Paul Morrissey and produced by Andy Warhol, Andrew Braunsberg, and Jean Yanne. It stars Udo Kier, Joe Dallesandro, Maxime McKendry, Stefania Casini, Arno Juerging and Vittorio De Sica. Roman Polański appears in a cameo.

In the first years of the 1920s, a sickly and dying Count Dracula, who, as a vampire, must drink virgin blood to survive, travels from Transylvania to Italy, following his servant Anton's plan and thinking he will be more likely to find a virgin in a Catholic country. At the same time, all of Dracula's family has vanished because of two reasons, the lack of virgins in their hometown and how the family's reputation prevents any normal family from choosing to bring women to the renowned castle. Shortly after arriving in Italy, Dracula befriends Marchese di Fiore (De Sica), an impecunious Italian landowner who, with a lavish estate falling into decline, is willing to marry off one of his four daughters to the wealthy aristocrat.

Of di Fiore's four daughters, two regularly enjoy the sexual services of Mario, the estate handyman, a proud peasant and staunch Marxist who believes that the socialist revolution will happen soon in his country. The youngest and eldest daughters are virgins, the eldest is thought too plain to be offered for marriage and is past her prime, and the youngest is only 14 years old (portrayed by 23-year-old Dionisio). Dracula obtains assurances that all the daughters are virgins and drinks the blood of the two who are considered marriageable. However, their tainted blood reveals to him the truth and makes him even weaker. Nevertheless, he is able to turn the two girls into his telepathic slaves.

Soon after the Marchese Di Fiore travels out of Italy to pay his great debts, Mario discovers that Dracula is a vampire and what he has done to the Di Fiore sisters. When he realizes the danger Dracula poses to the youngest daughter, he rapes her to achieve her protection. Mario warns Di Fiore's wife, La Marchesa Di Fiore, about Dracula's plan. Meanwhile Dracula has drunk the blood of the eldest daughter, turning her into a vampire and regaining strength. La Marchesa confronts, and is stabbed by, Anton, whom she shoots and kills before dying. Mario dismembers Dracula with an axe and kills him and the eldest Di Fiore daughter with a stake, becoming the de facto master and manager of the estate.

Blood for Dracula was initially released to theaters in a 103-minute version that was given an X rating by the MPAA due to its violence and strong sexual content/nudity; it was later cut to 94 minutes and reclassified with an R rating for re-release under the title, "Young Dracula". The original uncut version has been released on DVD several times, though it is now unrated.

Unlike the controversy over Flesh for Frankenstein, Blood for Dracula suffered much lesser cuts for its initial UK cinema release and was never listed as a "video nasty". It was passed fully uncut for video in 1995 on the First Independent label.

Release Date: November 27, 1974


Distrib: Bryanston