Dracula and Son (1976)

Dracula and Son (1976). 1h 18m | PG

“Dracula and Son (1976) u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e* 1/2 (out of 4) u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCount Dracula (Christopher Lee) seduces a woman into giving him a child. As an adult that child, Ferdinand (Bernard Menez) decides to try and live his own life and before long Dracula and son are separated. Dracula ends up landing in London where heu0026#39;s a successful actor. Ferdinand, on the other hand, ends up in Paris where he struggles to make much of a living.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDracula AND SON is out there in a couple different versions. I watched the uncut French version, which clocks in around 95-minutes and Iu0026#39;m going to guess that this is what most people will want to watch. The film was released in an American version, which apparently ran 79-minutes and featured someone other than Lee dubbing him. Even worse from what Iu0026#39;ve read is that some of the scenes appear to have been arranged out of order. The dubbing issue is an interesting one since in the French version thereu0026#39;s a second done in English and Lee does his own voice.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWith that out of the way, this film comes from director Edouard Molinaro who also did the landmark LA CAGE AUX FOLLES. Sadly this film isnu0026#39;t in the same league, ballpark or planet for that matter and itu0026#39;s really too bad because this could have been an interesting idea. This was meant to be a comedy and sadly itu0026#39;s one of the unfunniest that youu0026#39;re going to see on the subject with there only being one great laugh and thatu0026#39;s when Dracula goes to bite a woman and then notices that he has bitten the neck of a blow up doll.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe majority of the film really drags at times and I must say that there wasnu0026#39;t a pinch of style to be found and Iu0026#39;d also argue that the film is incredibly lifeless and really doesnu0026#39;t have any energy to it. The direction is certainly flat throughout. All of that is too bad because Lee actually gives a good performance in the role, although one shouldnu0026#39;t be expecting to see the same type of Dracula that he did in his Hammer pictures or his film with Jess Franco. This was the final time he played Dracula on the big screen so that reason alone makes it worth watching. I also thought Menez was good in his role but he honestly wasnu0026#39;t given too much to work with.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s doubtful either version of Dracula AND SON is going to appeal to many people. Fans of Lee will probably be the ones tracking down copies of the picture but sadly thereu0026#39;s nothing overly good here outside of his performance.”