·S2 E48

Episode 48: Dracula (1931) & Count Yorga, Vampire (1970)

May 9

1h 25m

Episode Description

Welcome to episode 48 of The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we pair two movies to create something greater than the sum of their parts.

This week after a short break and several episodes of ambiguity, we are exploring the much more direct and explicitly supernatural world of the vampire, with one movie that started the Universal monster series in the 1930s and another which reinvigorated vampire mythology at the start of the 1970s.

First, we have Dracula from 1931, directed by Tod Browning. This stars Bela Lugosi, Edward Van Sloan, Dwight Frye, David Manners, and Helen Chandler.

Then we jump forward to 1970’s Count Yorga, Vampire, directed by Bob Kelljan and starring Robert Quarry, Roger Perry, Michael Murphy, Judy Lang, and Donna Anders.

Along the way, we will be discussing the life and careers of the legendary Bela Lugosi, co-star Dwight Frye and Robert Quarry, how Dracula was brought to the screen, the horrors of typecasting, how a 1970s exploitation movie redfined vampires for the 1970s and much much more

Recommendations

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)

Island of Lost Souls (1932)

The Black Cat (1934)

The Raven (1935)

Son of Frankenstein (1939)

Dark Eyes of London (1939)

The Body Snatcher (1945)

References

Universal Horrors: The Studio’s Classic Films, 1931 to 1946 by Tom Weaver, Michael Brunas, and John Brunas

Tod Browning’s Dracula by Gary D. Rhodes

American Gothic by Jonathan Rigby