Blood for Dracula

In the early 1920s, a sickly and dying Count Dracula, who must drink virgin blood to survive, travels from Transylvania to pre-Fascist 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 Dracula's castle. Shortly after arriving in Italy, Dracula befriends Il 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, Saphiria and Rubinia regularly enjoy the sexual services of Mario, the estate's handyman, a proud peasant and staunch Marxist who believes that the socialist revolution will happen soon in his country. Esmeralda and Perla (eldest and youngest, respectively) are virgins; Esmeralda thought too plain and past her prime for marriage and Perla 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 Perla, the youngest, he uses the excuse of protecting her to rape her. Mario then warns di Fiore's wife, La Marchesa di Fiore, about Dracula's plan. Meanwhile, Dracula has drunk the blood of Esmeralda, 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, killing him and Esmeralda with a stake, and becomes the de facto master and manager of the estate.

• Udo Kier as Count Dracula
• Joe Dallesandro as Mario Balato, the worker
• Arno Juerging as Anton, Dracula's manservant
• Vittorio de Sica as Il Marchese di Fiore
• Maxime McKendry as La Marchesa di Fiore
• Milena Vukotic as Esmeralda
• Dominique Darel as Saphiria
• Stefania Casini as Rubinia
• Silvia Dionisio as Perla
• Roman Polański (uncredited) as man in tavern[6]

In 1973, Paul Morrissey and Joe Dallesandro came to Italy to shoot a film for producers Andrew Braunsberg and Carlo Ponti.[7] The original idea came from director Roman Polanski who had met Morrissey when promoting his film What? with Morrissey stating that Polanski felt he would be "a natural person to make a 3-D film about Frankenstein. I thought it was the most absurd option I could imagine."[7] Morrissey convinced Ponti to not just make one film during this period, but two which led to the production of both Flesh for Frankenstein and Blood for Dracula.[7]

One day after the principal shooting for Flesh for Frankenstein was completed, Morrissey had Udo Kier, Dallesandro and Arno Juerging to get shorter hair cuts, as filming for Blood for Dracula began immediately.[1] The film featured other directors in the cast, including Vittorio De Sica, who wrote his own lines on the set.[5] Roman Polanski also made a cameo in a tavern scene.[5] Despite other sources' claims, Polanski was not shooting What? at the time in Italy, as that film had already been released in Italy by the time the film Blood for Dracula went into production.[5] On its release, the film was promoted with Andy Warhol's name. When asked about how he contributed to the film, Warhol responded that "I go to the parties," following up that "All of us at The Factory contribute ideas."[8]

Italian credits of the film give different credits, including stating Tonino Guerra wrote the screenplay and story, and Franca Silvi edited the film opposed to Jed Johnson.[2] Antonio Margheriti is credited as the director in the Italian prints, which he later claimed was not true, but that he did direct scenes with Silvia Dionisio and Vittorio de Sica.[5] Udo Kier has stated that other cast members and himself only received direction from Morrissey and that he never saw Margheriti on the set.[9] Margheriti credit was due to Carlo Ponti having an Italian credited in order to obtain benefits by law for Italian films.[5] Ponti and Margheriti were both put on trial later "continued and aggravated fraud against the state".[5]

Blood for Dracula was first released as Andy Warhol's Dracula in both West Germany on 1 March 1974[1] and the United States on 6 November 1974.[10][11] A 98-minute version was released theatrically by Euro International Film in Italy on 14 August 1975 as Dracula cerca sangue di vergine e...morì di sete!!! (lit. 'Dracula is searching for virgins' blood, and...he died of thirst!!!').[12] In Italy, the film grossed a total of 345,023,314 Italian lire.[1] In the United Kingdom, the film passed with cuts to 103 minutes,[13] avoiding being labeled as a video nasty.[12] It was eventually released in England in 1995 without any cuts.[12] Louis Periano, who distributed the film in the United States, later tried to cash in the success of Mel Brooks' film Young Frankenstein and re-released the film as a 94-minute R-rated Young Dracula in 1976 (as opposed to the original X-rated version).[12]

According to the American Film Institute, the film opened to mixed reviews.[4] The Hollywood Reporter lauded the production design by Enrico Job and Luigi Kuveiller's photography.[4] The Los Angeles Times review described the film as "aesthetically pleasing" and "pretty funny up until that Grand Guignol finale" but felt that Morrissey had too much talent for "such sickening junk."[10]

• Vampire film
• Andy Warhol filmography

• Blood for Dracula at IMDb
• Blood for Dracula at AllMovie
• Blood for Dracula at Rotten Tomatoes
• Blood for Dracula an essay by Maurice Yacowar at the Criterion Collection