VAMPIRES IN 1979! (DRACULA, NOSFERATU, SALEM'S LOT, LOVE AT FIRST BITE, THIRST, VAMPIRE)

DRACULA (1979) d. John Badham (USA)
NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE (1979) d. Werner Herzog (Germany)
LOVE AT FIRST BITE (1979) d. Stan Dragoti (USA)
THIRST (1979) d. Rod Hardy (Australia)
VAMPIRE (1979) d. E.W. Swackhamer (USA)
SALEM'S LOT (1979) d. Tobe Hooper (USA)

**CLICK LINK TO VIEW FULL YOUTUBE EPISODE**

 

The year was 1979, and it was a time of disco, political unrest, walkmans, and vampires. No fewer than six major film and TV projects premiered across the globe, providing a spectrum of bloodsuckers not seen before or since. Played for laughs (Love at First Bite) or steeped in social commentary (Thirst), from tortured souls (Nosferatu) to top of the food chain (Vampire), adapted from literary works old (Dracula) and new (Salem’s Lot), or completely original storylines, you just couldn’t keep the undead dead, and the shock waves have continued to reverberate throughout history.

DRACULA (1979) Blu-ray Review

Dracula (1979) d. John Badham (USA) (109 min)

Fresh from his Broadway triumph in the titular role, a young and handsome Frank Langella smirks and smolders his way into the hearts of heroines Mina Van Helsing (Jan Francis) and Lucy Seward (Kate Nelligan), leaving the former bitten and drained, the latter smitten and stained with his tainted blood. Donald Pleasance provides a busy and eccentric turn as Dr. Seward, head of the local loony bin, while Laurence Olivier lends estimable gravitas as an aging but feisty Van Helsing, wrestling with undead demons and an unplaceable European accent (Dutch? Swiss? German?) with equal fervor.