Dracula and Son (1976)

Synopsis

The movie Dracula and Son (1976) is a French comedy horror film directed and written by Édouard Molinaro. The film is about a vampire father and son. Christopher Lee reprises his role as Count Dracula from the Hammer Films Dracula film series. This was the 9th and final time Lee played the role of Dracula on film [¹].

In the film, Count Dracula and his son are driven into exile by angry Transylvanian villagers. The father settles in London, and the son settles in Paris¹. They are reunited when both father and son feel an attraction to the same girl.

With angry villagers driving them away from their castle in Transylvania, Count Dracula (Christopher Lee) and his son Ferdinand (Bernard Ménez) head abroad. The Prince of Darkness ends up in London, England where he becomes a horror movie star exploiting his vampire status. His son, meanwhile, is ashamed of his roots and ends up a night watchman in Paris, France where he falls for Nicole, a French girl. Naturally, tensions arise when father and son are reunited and both take a liking to the same girl [¹].

Cast

Christopher Lee as Count Dracula
Bernard Ménez as Ferdinand Poitevin
Marie-Hélène Breillat as Nicole Clement
Catherine Breillat as Herminie Poitevin
Bernard Alane as Jean
Jean-Claude Dauphin as Cristéa
Anna Gael as Miss Gaylor
Raymond Bussières as the ANPE old man
Mustapha Dali as Khaleb
Xavier Depraz as the majordomo

Trivia

This was the tenth and final movie in which Sir Christopher Lee played a vampire Count [1].

Contrary to what the title implied (imposed by the producers after the film had been shot just as ‘Père et fils’, literally “Father and son”), not once the character was identified nor portrayed as Dracula [1].

Reviews

According to a review on Taliesin Meets the Vampires, there are two very different versions of this movie that you may come across: “The two films are very different experiences. One, DaS_B, a gentle comedy with some languid moments that amount to poor pacing. The other much better paced but with the most ridiculous dub and some very silly humour – that does work on certain levels but does come across as a bit student/puerile.”

Another review on Mike’s Take On the Movies describes the film: “While not out right funny, this satire on the vampire genre has a few amusing bits to it and the casting of Lee makes it a must see. ”

A review on Movies and Mania: “The film is notorious for being brutally re-edited and re-dubbed with crass humour for the US market, and for supposedly ‘tricking’ Christopher Lee into starring. Lee apparently believed himself to be playing a different vampire but found his character renamed ‘Dracula’ when the film was released.”