Blacula: William Crain

One of the most famous blaxploitation films in history, if only because of its unforgettable name, William Crain's Blacula follows an 18th century African prince named Mamuwalde who is transformed into a vampire by the evil Count Dracula. Centuries later, he is resurrected in modern Los Angeles by two gay interior decorators who unwittingly purchased his coffin, thinking that it was just a decoration. Stalking the alien streets of 20th century America, Mamuwalde becomes fixated on a young woman named Tina who may very well be the reincarnation of his dead wife. Blacula could have easily been a cheap, gimmicky cash-grab. But the film went above and beyond the call of duty by providing the audience with not one, but two sympathetic protagonists that we genuinely grow to care for. The first is Dr. Gordon Thomas (Thalmus Rasulala), a Los Angeles Police Department pathologist who grows suspicious of the recent number of murder victims that have been showing up almost completely drained of blood. Not only is he remarkably intelligent (he figures out almost instantly that a vampire is at fault), but he is portrayed as an equal among his fellow white policemen. At no point do the other white cops degrade him, insult him, or call him a nigger (this last example being a common signifier used in blaxploitation to re-enforce the protagonist's otherness from white society). The other sympathetic protagonist is, surprisingly, Mamuwalde. He was unwillingly turned into a vampire by Dracula when he journeyed to his Transylvania castle to negotiate the end of the European slave trade. He kills people because he needs to. In this sense, Mamuwalde is also a victim. It also helps that actor William Marshall brought a lot of dignity to a role that could have lapsed into grotesque parody.

6/10