Dracula Bites the Big Apple (1979)

Just perfect...

It is a performances centric movie

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

This short film was made in New York in 1979 at a time when the city had a thriving underground film-making culture. A lot of the short movies made at that time and place are now classified under the No Wave movement. Lots of them were subversive and daring but a few were just silly. I'm not 100% certain if Dracula Bites the Big Apple qualifies as a No Wave movie but it certainly shares a similar aesthetic and it does fit into the sillier side of the bracket. It is best known now as the film that got director Richard Wenk noticed, leading him to make the 80's comedy-horror Vamp, a film with some cult value.Its story is very simple - Dracula takes a plane to New York to sample new blood but finds the late 70's Big Apple too much for even him. The emphasis in this one is squarely on humour not horror. Early on the Count starts up a big musical number, singing the awful song 'Dancing in the Moonlight' with a variety of passing New Yorkers. He then stalks a woman in the underground and Central Park but it ends in a big joke. The last straw for him is being refused entry to the Studio 54 disco nightclub by its owner Steve Rubell on the basis of him not being able to dance.Like most short films it simply has not enough time to make any real impression. I suppose it does at least try to keep things moving along and it has been made on an absolute shoestring but it's a film that is only of limited interest. Probably ultimately of most value as a snapshot of late 70's New York.

The blood is lacking in Transylvania, so Dracula gets on a plane and heads to the night city New York for new blood. However to this city seems harder to dominate. This wonderfully winning 22-minute comic spoof short film was the starting point for director/writer Richard Wenk and would get the producers interested in him for creating their film "Vamp (1986)". It was shot in 3 nights for just over $5,000 after he graduated film school, and he cooks up a funky and odd episodic story, which is broken up by it's random nature and funny sight gags within the authentic locations of New York. The vivid nightlife backdrop comes across as a character of its own. The light-hearted, silly humour seems to hit the right spots and the inventive script is bursting with often funny lines. There's even an out-of-nowhere musical number of "dancing in the moonlight" that's rather amusing! Also Studio 54 and its owner Steve Rubell make an enjoyable appearance. Wenk keeps it moving at a brisk pace and does a stylish job with what his got to work with, and a pulsating music score with some nice familiar cues give it much added energy. Peter Loewy's pulpy performance is picture-perfect and always compelling as Dracula, which you're just waiting to see what he does next.

This very funny and engaging 22 minute short feature spoof was made by director/producer Richard Wenk right after he graduated from New York University Film School. He shot it in three nights for only $5,500. Moreover, this short film helped Wenk land the job of writing and directing the supremely cool 80's horror comedy blast "Vamp" (it's included as a nifty extra on the Region 1 Anchor Bay DVD for "Vamp"). Fed-up with the dried-up old blood in his dreary native Translyvannia, Dracula hops a plane to America so he can take a big bite out of the famous City That Never Sleeps, only to find out much to his horror and chagrin that Gotham is too tough a modern metropolis for even him to easily handle. Wenk makes especially witty and inspired use of music: the Count arrives in the Big Apple via plane while an instrumental version of "I Love New York" plays on the soundtrack, heartily sings a funky disco revamp (a bad pun I know, but I just couldn't resist using it) of "Dancing in the Moonlight" that's rudely interrupted by the director (!) halfway through the number, and stalks a lovely potential lady victim in Central Park to Bernard Herrmann's legendary ominous "Psycho" theme. The single funniest moment occurs when Studio 54 owner Steve Rubell refuses to let Dracula into his notorious swingin' night club because he can't dance. Yeah, it's admittedly quite dated and silly, but this amiably goofy spoof has a certain sweetly inane charm which makes it a perfectly amusing little hoot just the same.

Located as an extra on the Special edition DVD of the movie "Vamp", this 22 minute short is what got Wenk the job doing that film in the first place. It has to do with Count Dracula leaving Thansyvania for New York for it's "pulsating night life". Watching it in 2005, it has dated well at all and is way too shrouded in the '70's a decade that any sane person wish didn't exist due to the crappy music, fashion, presidents, and narcissistic attitude. Yup, I loathe the "me decade" with a passion. What does this have to do with the film you ask? Well i'm stretching to meet the 10 minimum line requirement, which is hard to do when dealing with ultra-crappy short films.My Grade: F