Running behind on these- heres last weeks viewings: Halloween Horrorthon 2013 Week 2: Deafula (1975) Count Dracula has some unusual relations- Blacula, Spermula, Gayracula, & theres even a film about his dog. None of those could prepare you for what has to one of the strangest takes on the vampire mythos. The worlds first & only film produced in American Sign Language & its a vampire film (a really bad vampire film). It has a voiceover for hearing audience (& the actor voicing Dracula does so in a really bad Bela Lugosi impersonation). Vampire murders are on the rise in Portland (where apparently the entire population is deaf). Unbeknownst to adopted son of a preacher Steve Adams (director/writer Peter Wolf) his biological father is Count Dracula & the preacher has been feeding him small doses of his own blood to keep his vampiric urges at bay. Steve accidentally unleashes his real dad from his coffin & Drac puts the bite on him. when he changes into Deafula, his hair color & clothes change & he sprouts an enormous nose for no particular reason. Theres a witch with a hunchback servant with tin cans for hands (which makes him mute) & a bumbling Scotland Yard detective . My favorite scene is when Deafula hypnotizes a biker to drive over a cliff- there is a cut when the biker has (slowly) pushed his bike to the edge of the cliff & it switches to a point of view shot (obviously achieved by throwing the camera over the cliff- i guess its cheaper than the throwing the Harley over). theres one hilarious in-joke that has to be aimed at the hearing audience with a deaf pianist playing total cacophony. Shot in black & white & in Signscope & rarely screened. the director is responsible for the first newcasts in sign language. It is not the first deaf vampire film- The Return of Dracula (1967) directed by the recently departed Stephen Pink holds that honor (though it is shot on 8mm in British Sign Language & did not have a theatrical release). im still waiting for the inevitable followups of Deafenstein & Dr Deaf & Mr. Hyde. youtube/watch?v=GlJyFw6uDYo
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 10:15:12 +0000