Scream, Blacula, Scream!

PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):

After a dying Voodoo queen, Mama Loa, chooses an adopted apprentice, Lisa Fortier (Pam Grier) as her successor, her true heir, Willis, (Richard Lawson) is outraged. Seeking revenge, he buys the bones of Mamuwalde the vampire from the former shaman of the voodoo cult, and uses voodoo to bring the vampire back to do his bidding. Returning to life, Mamuwalde turns Willis into a vampire and makes him his slave. Meanwhile, Justin, an ex-police officer with a large collection of African antiques and an interest in the occult, investigates the murders caused by Mamuwalde and his vampire horde. Justin meets Mamuwalde at a party he is hosting. Mamuwalde meets Lisa at the party and they talk about voodoo. Mamuwalde later asks Lisa for help to cure him of the curse of the vampire, using a voodoo doll that looks like the prince. Justin pulls together other cops to go to the Mamuwalde residence to investigate the recent deaths. While she is performing the ritual, Justin interrupts with other cops performing a raid on the house. Lisa refuses to help Mamuwalde after she sees him kill the other police in the house. In his anger, Mamuwalde, now calling himself Blacula, is about to bite Justin when Lisa stabs the prince’s voodoo doll killing Mamuwalde and forever destroying Blacula.

REVIEW:

A friend of mine posted on facebook about how awesome Blacula was. This led to he and I getting into a discussion about the sequel, this film, Scream, Blacula, Scream! I have had this on my radar for a while now, but just haven’t gotten around to it until now.

So, what do I like about this film?

That voodoo that you do so well. I tend to be a fan of voodoo related things, so the aspect of this film that brought in that culture really captured my attention.

Pam Grier. She’s hot…need I say more?!?

Real vampires. In this day and age, vampires have become shadows of what they should be. Back in the day, though, they were to be violent creatures that were to be feared and not some sparkly drama queens! It was nice to see vampires who suck blood the way they should!

What didn’t I like?

Jealousy. Typical of flicks like this, there is the jealous boyfriend who makes things worse. What I mean by that is that he barges in during a voodoo sequence as Blacula was getting the evil expunged. Had he not barged in, then that would have been the end of Blacula, but nooo, he just had to barge in and ended up getting quite a few cops killed and nearly cost him his own life.

Make up. The job they did with the make up was horrible. Yes, they made the vampires look like they were the undead, but something seemed off. Maybe they just didn’t use the right make up for their skin tone?

Resurrection. At the end of the first film, Blacula was killed, and yet through the ritualistic voodoo practice, he is brought back to life, and with the exception of one small flashback, his exploits from back then are forgotten. I guess you can make the case that this was forgotten when he dies, but he remembers what Dracula did to him, so what’s the difference.

Please don’t get the wrong idea. I did enjoy Scream, Blacula, Scream!, but it wasn’t as enjoyable as the first film. This is one of those films that severely suffers from sequel-itis. They should have left well-enough alone, especially since the first one ended so completely. I’ll never complain about a film that has Pam Grier in it, but this one just should not have been made. That being said, it doesn’t suck, but rather is just an average outing that you can be best served avoiding.

3 out of 5 stars

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