I need a burr-gin!
Did anyone else find this film quite funny? All I could think about is Love At First Bite while I was watching it. All it needed was Renfield to make it complete.
Yeah, it's supposed to be a comedy, so naturally, it's funny.
shareUmmm No it isn't.
Uhhh....yes it is... Morrissey and Udo both have plainly stated what their intentions were for the film. Did you think anything in this film was supposed to be taken seriously? Come on. The big give-away is Joe Dallesandro's Brooklyn accent, but really, when nearly every line is over-delivered and ridiculous how can you think it's supposed to be anything else.
"I guess I have to eat the rest of the Romanian lettuce...with Lemon. There is so much oil here...on everything. But there must be some cheese."
"You ate it last night."
"Grrrapes?"
"They are gone too."
The exchange alone and it's delivery should be enough proof. It's the sort of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls Comedy that after the seventies went extinct in exchange for the more in your face comedy we have today. This comedy is over the head of most people, like yourself, who think that the comedy in here is unintentional. Believe me, it's not.
So I guess Dawn of the Dead is a comedy, too. Throw in a few jokes and that makes it a comedy? I think not. It's just your (flawed) opinion.
What does Dawn of the Dead have to do with anything? I think a more appropriate comparison would be this film's companion piece Flesh for Frankenstein, which indeed is a comedy as well, and yes it is possible for a film to fall into two genres this one being Horror/Comedy. Listen to the commentary on the DVD, Morrissey makes it fairly obvious that he knew the film was going to be funny and made it that way on purpose.
shareDawn of the Dead as well as tons and tons of other horror films that have jokes and even some slapstic but hardly could be called comedies. So in between eating people and blood and gore there was comic relief and jokes. Big deal.
So you think the "video nasty", Flesh for Frankenstein is a comedy. Nice. Neither Flesh or Blood have anything resembling any kind of comedy in their "plot keywords" but you say it's true so it must be.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zeJuCOssIZM
There aren't any jokes really in either film, they're both one big joke, and it appears to be going over your head. The reason you found the films funny was because they were supposed to be funny. They're not bad films, they do what they're supposed to do, they make you laugh, they're comedies. It's that simple.
You must really be an idiot. He says horror is a comedy because everybody knows the blood is syrup and goes on to talk about vomit bags. Proves nothing.
You are an angry little fellow aren't you. If this was to be a serious film, did you think it was good? Was it well acted? Were the lines well written? Why did Dallesandro have a Brooklyn accent while everyone else was strongly European? Was the speech jilted? Was the music appropriate for what was going on on screen? Who's the protagonist? Antagonist? Were they clearly defined? How many dimensions did each character have? More than one?
Taken as a serious film, put under proper criticism, this film is a piece of crap. Taken as a comedy it's genius. You don't seem to understand that the reason you found this film funny, the pronunciation of Virgin, was completely intentional, it's meant to be like that. The brilliance of it is that you're really aren't sure whether the director's in on it or not until you put everything together. You clearly are unable to do so. Anyway it worked on you, so I don't know what you're bitching about.
You are an angry little fellow aren't you.
I'm not angry at all. You are obviously a troll looking for a rise but you will not get one from me. It's a comedy because you say so doesn't impress anyone.
If this was to be a serious film, did you think it was good? Was it well acted? Were the lines well written? Why did Dallesandro have a Brooklyn accent while everyone else was strongly European? Was the speech jilted? Was the music appropriate for what was going on on screen? Who's the protagonist? Antagonist? Were they clearly defined? How many dimensions did each character have? More than one?
And any of this (or a lack thereof) makes it a comedy? Nope. Oh, but you say so. Jump up and down and it still won't be. (And you seem to purposely avoid all of the points I make. No argument, obviously.)
Taken as a serious film, put under proper criticism, this film is a piece of crap. Taken as a comedy it's genius. You don't seem to understand that the reason you found this film funny, the pronunciation of Virgin, was completely intentional, it's meant to be like that. The brilliance of it is that you're really aren't sure whether the director's in on it or not until you put everything together. You clearly are unable to do so. Anyway it worked on you, so I don't know what you're bitching about.
It's very clear you don't know much about horror films of the 70s. Dracula puking up blood all over the place. Limbs cut off. Haha So funny. They should have put Robin Williams in this. A great comedy to watch. Loads of laughter.
share
You know what. I don't know how you saw this film or if you saw this film or under what circumstances you saw this film, but I'm pretty damn sure you're no film film expert. In fact, I'd wager I've seen more films in the past few months than you've seen in your entire life and I'd wager I have a better grasp on the evolution of comedy and horror and camp and the Factory and Paul Morrissey and just about everything relating to films of any sort than you do but we'll never know for sure now will we because I won't believe anything you say and you won't believe anything I say. Let me just say this, I'm firmly convinced you have no idea what you're talking about and completely missed the point of Blood for Dracula. It's because of people like you that this sort of satirical comedy has since become extinct. Way to be responsible for trash like Meet the Spartans and Good Luck Chuck. Congratulations.
shareBlah, blah. You're king of the world and big man on campus. You being a legend in your own mind still doesn't make this a comedy film. Accept it and move on.
You really need to stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm watching it right not. Of course, it's a dark comedy aka black comedy! How could you possibly miss that?! I agree with the other poster: Does it have to have the slapstick, groaning humor of today's supposed comedies, which never elicit laughter from me though you're supposed to guffaw? Perhaps there is an argument that they aren't comedies if they don't make many of us laugh.
Well, this dark comedy is not supposed to cause you to fold up with laughter; it's a lot subtler than that in so many ways. It intends to be amusing, eliciting a wry smile or a brief chuckle. After we see his reaction to the first "wurgin" (not "burr-gin"), we KNOW what is going to happen the next time and the next. It's gross, overdone and no other vampire has had such ignominious moments. From the opening scene when he is applying makeup and painting his hair to the actions of his "Renfield", this has a comedic touch. The mother is blithely unaware that her daughters are trashy and trampy, even when they are next-to-disrobed while outdoors. Do you think the communistic rabblerousing isn't an additional crazy touch? He's going on about the revolution as he's bedding the daughters of his bosses~certainly not something you would hear in the usual vampire film. Now, if he had had the accent for the region, it would have "played" differently.
If you don't get the two films~Dracula and Frankenstein, don't bother to watch Polanski's vampire film~"The Fearless Vampire Hunters". Hacked off limbs and a defiant amputee? You'd better not watch "Monty Python & the Holy Grail"! I'm sure everyone can think of other examples. Oh! How about "Rocky Horror Picture Show" or "Phantom of the Paradise"? All have dark/darker/darkest humor involved.
What's sad are those films with explicit dismemberment that are supposed to be horror films and entertaining, while "Scream" is supposed to be amusing and clever!
With some changes, "Blood for Dracula" could have been a Hammeresque vampire film. They'd have replaced Joe D. of course. Otherwise, everything is in place for a traditional film. This one takes the "normal" setting then gives it some weird twists. Joe's accent is a clear signal, don't you think?
~~MystMoonstruck~~
"All her insides are out."~~Udo in Flesh for Frankenstein
1. Plot key words:
Blood Vomiting
Vomit Blood
Beautiful Woman
Lesbianism
Dracula
Virgin
Blood
Vampire
Death
Gore
Lesbian Scene
Nudity
Sex
Lesbian Incest
Breasts
Erotica
Female Nudity
Male Nudity
Topless
Independent Film
Character Name In Title
Nothing about "comedy" or "spoof" like in the comedy films you compared it to.
2. How exactly did I mispronounce a phonetic rendition of a thick accent? Is that even possible? These words are found in a dictionary somewhere? Oh, please.
3. You say this film could have been "Hammeresque" but the Hammer films weren't comedies.
4. You compare a movie with the serious puking up blood to Monty Python? Rocky Horror? I think not. There was nothing fun or light about this movie. Your post is all over the map.
5. Quite a few horror films from the 70s were unintentionally funny.
If I could just stick my 2 cents worth in here. I'm 49 and I saw this aged 15 when it was first released in UK cinemas. I thought it was very entertaining, gory, unintentionally funny in parts quite sexy in parts.
At no time during the film or since have I considered it to be 'a comedy'. Yes, it has laugh inducing lines but that's not 'comedy' that's a poor script.
Joe Dalessandro's Brooklyn/Noo Yawk accent is wildly out of place. But that's not deliberate..that's because he's not an 'actor'..he just used to hang out at the factory and appeared in a few gay porn films and for a while suppoerted himself as a prostitute. He looks great but can't actually act and therefore cannot do a passable Italian accent despite his name!
If Morrisey has said on the DVD release commentary that 'they made it as a comedy' I think he's just covering his arse because with hindsight it comes across as a badly made film so claiming 'Oh we did that deliberately' gets him off the hook. Half the film was improvised anyway so the dialogue is all over the place.
Yes..it's entertaining and I love it but personally, I don't believe for a moment it was made intentionally as a comedy. And as for Udo Kier's pronounciation of 'virgin'...have you ever heard him speak outside of a film? He actually talks like that with a strong German accent and like all Germans pronounces 'V' as 'W'(we say 'Volkswagen'..the Germans say 'WolksVagen')
Have you seen Morrissey's other films? Trash, Flesh, Heat...all comedies, all with the same sort of freefall humor employed in both Blood for Dracula and Flesh for Frankenstein.
The thing was filmed in Italy if he wanted to make a serious film I'm sure he could've at least found another Italian non-actor to play Lil Joe's part. But he didn't.
As for Kier, while he does have a heavy accent, it's fairly blatantly over-stressed in the film. Kier's accent is nowhere near as hilariously over the top as Dracula's.
Frankly, knowing Morrissey's work and his sense of humor I can't see how you can doubt that he knew exactly what he was doing.
It's like trying to say Russ Meyer didn't know what he was doing when he made Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, and that it was actually supposed to be a serious drama. It's laughable.
I think you underestimate Morrissey's talents.
"Did he touch you here? Or here? Or here? Or here?" While touching all the places himself.
"Not even the doctor," said the second daughter, deadpan and unconcerned.
If you don't think that was meant to be intentionally funny, you must be rather thick.
I love how the OP didn't think the film was funny therefore there's NO WAY it was intended to be a comedy. Must be great being that closed minded.
"I'm runnin' this monkey farm now, Frankenstein!"
Dark comedies have a lot in common with horror films. Every fine horror film must have a little humour or else it becomes pretentious.
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Obadiah Obadiah, Jah Jah sent us here to catch vampire