SON OF DRACULA (1974) (aka Count Downe, Young Dracula)
Review: A hundred years ago Count Dracula was killed by a stake through the heart, but now his son Count Downe (Harry Nilsson) is poised to become the King of the Netherworld. With the careful guidance of Merlin (Ringo Starr), the Count prepares for the day, but he is troubled as human needs and desires begin to infiltrate his mind. After he meets a human woman named Amber (Suzanna Leigh), he is convinced by Van Helsing (Dennis Price) to undergo a process that will end the line of Dracula and turn the Count into a human.
The Bugg Picture: Singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson is probably best known now to cult movie fans for his song “Coconut” that was featured on the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s film Reservoir Dogs or his power ballad “I Can‘t Live (If Living is Without You)”. While Nilsson amassed a cult of fans around his music, he never really achieved much mainstream success, and after his death in 1993, he has become an artist that is mostly forgotten outside of songwriting circles. As the story goes, Ringo Starr had an idea to make a rock and roll musical about Dracula which Nilsson thought was inspired by his album Son of Schmilsson. The ex-Beatles drummer had played on the album, and it shared a similar theme. Ringo however had never even bothered to listen to the album.
It is said that Ringo first approached David Bowie about acting in the film, and the singer turned him down (though Bowie would do his own turn as a vampire in THE HUNGER). Ringo then got Nilsson on board and recruited Hammer films veteran Freddie Francis for directing duties. Francis, who had directed The Skull and The Evil of Frankenstein, probably had no idea what to make of the musicians and their horror romp, but it seems like he did the best he could with the low budget and inexperienced actors that he was handed. Nilsson’s performance could best be described as wooden, and Ringo is way better in films such as Candy and The Magic Christian, but their star power carries their weak performances.
The film is also chock full of other rock royalty though in minor appearances as members of Count Downe’s band. The careful eye will see rockers Keith Moon of The Who Leon Russell, Peter Frampton, and Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham lurking in the background of the film. There are also some great character actors who show up here, most notably is Freddie Jones as Dr. Frankenstein. He was a veteran actor at the time, but would go on to appear in films such as KRULL, WILD AT HEART, FIRESTARTER, and DUNE. Also supporting the film is a number of great songs by Nilsson. His power ballad “I Can’t Live” is featured in the film as well as the excellent theme song “Down”. However, the only song that was specifically written for the film was “Daybreak”, a song with very pertinent lyrics about the dangers of the daytime.
SON OF DRACULA is a film that has been a holy grail of mine for some time. As a big Beatles fan, I was very interested to see this film starring my favorite Beatle and produced by Apple Corp. I do think they should have probably taken the film into a more comedic route than it went, but as a winking satire on the staid British horror film, I enjoyed what I saw. For music fans and fans of obscure and strange little films, this is a must see. I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll never see another film quite like SON OF DRACULA. Fullscreen, in English, no subtitles. Quality C ~ Zachary Kelley
