Vincent in the Tiki Caves 13″ x 19″ Giclee print is now available through the Devon Devereaux Illustration ETSY store. This is the first officially licensed piece of art I have created for the Vincent Price Estate. Get yours today before they sell out!
Old Drac, also known as Vampira (1974) stars David Niven as the geriatric count. This one tries to follow the success of the comedy Young Frankenstein. From Wikipedia:
Count Dracula is an old vampire who, because of his advanced age, is forced to host tours of his castle to get new victims. In an attempt to revive his long-lost love, Vampira, Dracula sets out to collect blood from the bevy of Playboy Playmates living at his castle. However, one of the Playmates whose blood is drained is black, turning the revived Vampira into a black woman.
Dracula enthralls the hapless Marc to collect blood from three white women in hopes of restoring Vampira’s original skin color. Dracula transfuses the blood into her but she is unchanged; however, her bite turns Dracula black. Marc and his love Angela race to destroy Dracula but are taken aback upon seeing Dracula’s new skin tone. Their surprise gives the vampires time to slip away to catch a flight to Rio forCarnival.
This loose interpretation finds African Prince Mamuwalde transformed by Dracula into Blacula! During the 1700s Blacula was imprisoned in a coffin until 1972 where he wreaks havok on Los Angeles. Blacula is followed by Scream Blacula Scream and Blackenstein.
Kicking off the 70s is 1971’s Dracula Vs. Frankenstein. This one is difficult to sit through. It sounded promising enough, a funky film pitting the two biggest monsters against each other. Dracula sounds like he recorded his audio from the bottom of a deep well. Lon Chaney (Son of Dracula) is completely wasted as an axe wielding drunken hillbilly under the Count’s spell. This one is only for the completists and die hard fans.
1967 also gave us this gem that I have yet to see, Dracula in Pakistan. This film was the first to be given a X Rating in Pakistan. The censors cut out all dance scenes because they were too provocative. Has anyone out there seen this one?
In 1967 Rankin/Bass created the fun stop motion film Mad Monster Party. Boris Karloff lent his voice talent to the Baron Boris von Frankenstein and Alan Swift provided the voice of the Count. This holiday favorite was created by the same studio that gave us Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
1958’s Horror of Dracula ushered in the Silver age of monster movies. Hammer Studio produced the first Dracula film in full color. Christopher Lee has made more films as Dracula than any other actor. This film also paired Lee with Iconic actor Peter Cushing who played Van Helsing.
Okay people, after Carradine, things are going to get weird. The legacy of Dracula continues in ……….. Istanbul. 1953’s Dracula stars Atif Kaptan as the count. I haven’t actually seen this movie because I was too busy making this painting. According to Wikipedia, there is no Renfield and Mina is a showgirl. Oh yeah and Dracula is bald and Turkish. If anyone has actually seen this let me know. I have stopped listing these on Etsy because I have something else in mind when this series is done.
Hey Folks: So among the many projects I am balancing these days is a weekly web comic called Triptych written by Adam Gallardo (Star Wars Infinities, 100 Girls, Gear School).Triptych is the coming of age story of Terry, Sarah and David. The main story starts with Terry not fitting in at school and he starts using magic as a way to solve his problems. As the illustrator, I’m not totally sure where this story is going but Im having a great time creating the look and feel of Adam’s story. Please check out site at www.triptychcomic.com. We are releasing a new page every Friday. Tomorrow we are dropping page 6. Please click on the follow button to subscribe . You can find us on Facebook at:https://www.facebook.com/triptychcomic. It’s all free as a web comic and we intend to keep it that way. We are planning on collecting into individual issues and a graphic novel when it is finished. Peace!
Devon Devereaux
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