Mamuwalde returns to L.A. to feast upon the blood of b-movie actresses.
William Marshall reprises the role of the undead African prince Mamuwalde - this time with the young and bodacious Pam Grier (93 movies to her credits including Coffy (1972), Jackie Brown (1997)) as the sexy voodoo priestess Lisa who finds herself directly in Blacula's unholy vampiric sights.
This sequel to the original Blacula (1971), released by infamous American International Pictures (AIP), features much higher production standards and choreographed fight scenes that adds an unexpected ferocity to Marshal's characterization of the doomed prince.
Infamous horror movie that emphasizes the sexual and feminine nature of the vampire.
Anulka Dziubinska and Yutte Stensgaard are a seductive lesbian vampire couple who sulkily waylay and abduct various passer-byes, both male and female, to hold them captive at their rural manor in the English countryside. The lovely ladies to so in order to feed on them to satisfy their insatiable thirst for hu-mon blood.
"But I doan wanna snack on Hans!". Picky vampires really prefer the big taste of Rolf.
Filmed in England by Spanish director Jose Ramon Larraz infamous for his combinatioon of the erotic and the horrifying in his films - Larraz adds a joyous celebration of steamy eroticism and vampirism. If he had failed (he doesn't), we would have been saddled with a sexless non-classic that wastes the carnal talents of the smoldering Yutte Stensgaard as the stuffy and stoic turns of some of the worst Hammer Brother films.
Larraz also directed The National Mummy (1981) featuring mummies, naked hu-mon females and very gross humor and the paper-thinly plotted erotica film, Madame Olga's Pupil's (1981).
Mamuwalde returns to L.A. to feast upon the blood of even more b-movie actresses.
William Marshall reprises his signature role of the undead African prince Mamuwalde in Scream, Blacula, Scream (1973). This time Marshall stars with the bodacious Pam Grier (93 movies to her credits including Coffy and Jackie Brown). Grier is the voodoo priestess Lisa whom our old friend with the pointy teeth has directed his vampiric attentions towards.
This sequel to the original Blacula, released by infamous American International Pictures (AIP), features much higher production standards than the first and choreographed fight scenes. No more badly staged improvised chop-socky as was the case with the first film. This chapter adds an unexpected ferocity with Marshal's characterization of the doomed prince.
No offense to Bill Marx who arranged the sequel's soundtrack - but he was no Gene Page. Gene Page's soundtrack work on the first film from 1972 was funky, sometimes dark and unquestionably excellent. Key tracks from the original film include "Blacula", "Run, Tina, Run!", "Good To The Last Drop" and the inspired composition of "Wakeeli".
"Wakeeli" tells the story with one drum, re-calling Mamuwalde's African heritage then moves into high notes from a xylophone and warning tones from a violin followed by deeper drums and a harpsichord. Then, the tempo is shattered - before picking up a slower and more fractured pace.
The composition echoes the story of Blacula very well. Additionally, as the last song on the album, Wakeeli means "Farewell" in Swahili.
All naked space vampire chicks is evil? Now that is just flat out ignorant.
Life Force (1985) is a British Vampire-Apocalypse film, directed by Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre in '74) and a stand-out in the often arduous genre (John Carpenter's Vampires, 31 Days Of Night) of vampire movies. The movie sets the standard for later Apocalyptic films like 28 Days Later and Zach Snyder's Dawn Of The Dead (2004) by using amazing effects, great second unit direction of immense crowds and referencing the otherworldly nature of Ridley Scott's Alien (1979).[0]
Life Force features the incredibly well-cast 20-year-old Mathilda May, a ballerina from the age of eight who won the Premier Prix du Conservatoire de Danse of Paris in 1981 at age 16. Mathilda stars as the evil space vampiress with-no-name who sets her sights on sucking the life out of Earth starting with the hapless Col. Tom Carlsen, played by Steve Railsback (Alligator II: The Mutation and Col. James Vise from Fox's The Visitor from 1997-1998).
Come 'ere and give your Space Momma a big smooch, whydontcha?
The movie, which draws heavily on the tried and true sci-fi tradition of Earthlings vs. Evil-invading aliens, delivers on many levels. The movie takes it's title from the method in which the space vampires feed. By using practicals of vampire corpses/victims combined with a lighting and film effect the movie illustrates the vampiric voodoo that drains humans of their souls. These unwary souls are rendered in a kind of low-voltage blue lightning and snacked on by the space vampires and their thralls.
NOTES:
[0] = Life Force's script was in fact written by Alien (1979) writer Dan O'Bannon from the original novel Space Vampires by Colin Wilson. O'Bannon's credits included Total Recall, Alien, Aliens, Alien: Resurrection and AVP: Alien vs. Predator.
