Some obscure films need to remain obscure.
I’m a huge Harry Nilsson fan. HUGE. And when I found out many years ago that he starred in a movie called Son of Dracula, with Ringo Starr… well, I had to see it. The problem was it was such a flop it was never commercial released, and even bootleg videotapes were hard to come by. The closest thing that I and many Nilsson fans had was the soundtrack for the film, which had dialogue clips interspersed with Nilsson’s songs for the film.
Well, someone finally posted the whole movie on YouTube, so I sat down to watch it yesterday.
Oh boy.
I really wanted to like it. I love discovering obscure unappreciated films that deserve their day in the sun (pun unintended). But… this movie… it’s just bad.
Nilsson plays the half-human son of Dracula, Count Downe (get it?) who is to be crowned as the king of the monsters (Godzilla placed a close second). The problem is, he falls in love and decides he wants to be human. That’s pretty much the plot, and it’s as thin as some of the acting. Everyone gives it the old college try, but lots of the performances are amateurish and half-baked.
Oh, and did I mention that Ringo Starr plays Merlin? Yes, THAT Merlin – from King Arthur. He’s Count Downe’s “spiritual advisor.”
Sigh.
The highlight, of course , is the music – Which I knew already, because (as I stated) I’ve had the album for a while. Songs like Daybreak, Remember, and Jump into the Fire make the film more endurable and almost come to life (again, pun unintended) but even then it’s mostly flat.
Son of Dracula should stay buried. But if you want to watch it, here ya go: