Lucifer’s Women/Doctor Dracula — Lucifer’s Women/Doctor Dracula( Blu Ray/ DVD)
The release comes in the form of a dual format region free Blu Ray & DVD packaging- with the two discs coming in a see-through Blu ray case, which features a reversible cover- with the artwork for each film on each side.
From 1974 Lucifer's Women is a slow- burn and decidedly uneven mix of occult mystery, and low-key satanic themed horror, with elements of softcore action & rather bland drama. The films centered on a rather seedy nightclub- that offers up performances from strippers, magicians, and a deaf-mute Illusionist. Into this setting comes doctor/author John Waneright- who has the spirit of Svengali residing inside him, his publisher who is seemingly Lucifer himself convinces Waneright to lure one of the clubs strippers to a satanic ritual so she can be sufficed. The film features two fairly short & tame ritual/ orgy scenes- which apparently where stage via advice of Church of Satan leader Anton LaVey. And we get some light lesbian action, as well as one very coy & short threesome. For me the only wholly effective element here is when a prostitute is kidnapped- as we get footage of her queasy alarm, and a rather unsettling scene where she’s made to kiss the publishers feet. On the whole I found the film somewhat dull & unsatisfactory- as there’s not enough terror elements or dread to make it a true horror film, and there are too few exotic moments to appeal to the sleaze crowd- and what’s left between these two elements is a rather pedestrian & really not very appealing drama film.
Doctor Dracula appeared in 1978, four years after Lucifer’s Women. The main plot in this confused & frankly awful mess of a film is that a deep-voiced & bouffant-haired male doctor is a vampire, and he is stalking the wife & daughter of a rich businessman. Drop into this a rather tired & bored looking John Carradine- who spouts a range of fanciful lines about vampires & Satan. Then ever so often we get awkwardly cut-in scenes from Lucifer's Women, along with new scenes from the same lead actors- mixing in with actors from the Doctor Dracula. Yes the films a mess, but at least it was a bit more entraining in it’s unfold than Lucifer’s women- we get a women doing a laughable croaking demon voice, tons of soft focus & bland 70’s soap like acting, silly & undramatic stalking scenes, people appearing & disappearing with very cheap effects, a soundtrack that awkward blends together old 1940’s dramatic film music, with swirling & eerier synth scaping. Added to this we get the key satanic ritual & capturing of the prostitutes from Lucifer’s Women, with some new awkward additions added in- through we do also get a fair few of the dull dialogue scenes from that film too. On the whole I’d certainly say of the two I’d watched this again.
Extras wise we get a commentary on Doctor Dracula- with the film producer Sam Sherman- this is most worthy, as he discusses how the mash-up between the new & the older material occurred. As well as discussing the film's production in general, the key actors, etc- this track doesn’t quite last the films full runtime, running around thirty minutes short- but boy does he pack in a lot of facts, and really this track will be of great interest to anyone wants to get a good insight in low budget filmmaking in the 1970’s. Next we get a video interview with Paul Thomas- who played the club owner/ pimp character in Lucifer’s Women- and he’s a most fascinating character, as he started off his acting life in big budget movies- having a highly praise lead role in Jesus Christ Superstar, before going off into acting in & directing both hard & softcore porn- in the twenty minute interview he discusses his early acting career, the film it’s self & him trying not to get a hard-on in the tame lovemaking scenes. Next, we get a written essay by Samm Deighan discussing Lucifer’s Women, and lastly an original theatrical trailer for Lucifer's Women.
I’ve always been a sucker for effective satanic themed movies especially from the 70’s, and as both of these films sell themselves as such I was most egger to check this disc out- sadly I came away from both films very much under-whelmed, as really the satanic elements are fairly small facet in both films & neither are particularly great movies. But taken as 70’s curio's there is more appeal to the release, and added to this the new transfer & extras – the whole thing becomes a little more appealing. So in conclusion, go into this set not expecting two great undiscovered slices of satanic cinema, but instead get ready for two decidedly campy & bad 70’s lite horror/ occult mysteries – & you won’t be too disappointed.