Blacula is a film about a prince that was turned into a vampire. A gay couple bought his tomb and wanted to sell it but they opened and he was released and he killed them turning them into vampires. I think Blaculas main goal was to find his princess and make a living with her but he was hungry and wanted to protect his identity, which is why he ended up killing the photographer at Michelle’s birthday. The love story between Tina and Blacula was weird in the beginning because he was just chasing her and came to the club at night and returned the bag to her and she just welcomed him as if he didn’t just chase her but i grew to understand it. He didn’t want to turn Tina into a vampire, he wanted a genuine partner. My favorite line from the movie was “well you must come to me freely with love or not at all. I will not take you by force and I will not return” then slowly walks towards the door and turns around and says” I’ve lived again to lose you twice”. I felt that line in my heart. Oh i’m a sucker for a good romantic movie line. Sadly she had to die and he was seen as a bad guy. I loved the black lead cop role. He saved everyone even when people didn’t believe his skills of being a cop. The makeup for the film need more work.
While reading “Blaxploitation horror films’ by Harry Benshoff we learn about the history of how black people are portrayed in Horror films. There is mainly always crime involved and the bad guy doesn’t go to jail which crumbles the code. In Blacula, It was about being in survival mode and having a romantic storyline. Grodan was a black cop working in a dominantly white police station that doesn’t really see him capable of doing his job which he does really well. A point that stood out to me was the name change between the change in time periods. The prince’s name is Mamuwalde and people of the time movie took place names were Tina and, Michelle and Grodan and skillet. Black people adapted to America’s style of living and took on the names too. In the reading “Rethinking Blacula” by Brooks E. Hefner and Deadlier than Dracula we learn about blaxploitation has become a popular thing and touch on many subjects. In the film, Skillet was the only stereotypical character in the film but he was funny in a way. The film had a mixture of genres. A new image of black people emerges. Their was topic of homosexuality and race that was talked about especially when the film opened up with gay characters and how they were killed in the very beginning. In the reading “The Cult Cinema Marketplace” we learn about the political economy and labor and funding of the blackmarket. The movies were made to be over the top and professional care goes into making films. If local authorities had to fund movies sex and gore scenes would not be out.
Cult Movies 
That was an odd part of the film. How did Tina pull a 360 like she did? She was so worried about being followed and changing her locks because someone is after her and then at the club, she welcomes the stranger for returning her purse. I think it would be odd to be chased one night and then the next night welcome this stranger to join you in the celebration. I know if that was anyone else, the cops definitely would have been called for some stranger stalking them. Maybe they didn’t do that because of the distrust in the cops that they might have had.
” I’ve lived again to lose you twice”
This was such a great line from the film to show the humility of Blacula and how he loves her and doesn’t want to force her into anything. He lets her decide if she wants to join him and doesn’t force anything until he has no choice. He waited to transfer his curse to her when it was the only option to save her. Then when she does again, he can longer deal with the pain of losing her again and takes his life. Even when he tries to save her, he ultimately losses her and cannot stop what happened in the past.
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I agree the shift in Tina’s character was quite shocking. She went from afraid to in love in less than ten minutes and it almost was unbelievable, like a new person had switched with her. Perhaps it was the time, people felt safer and were more willing to forgive such an intense scene. Being chased at night is utterly terrifying. Perhaps, I feel that way because I was raised in a completely different culture, where meeting a stranger at the bar to get your purse back usually doesn’t end with falling in love, it could end up being kidnapped and no one knowing what happened to you.
Mamuwalde’s moment with Tina after she dies was heartbreaking, which I did not expect in a film I had found so comical up unto that point. His last words to her were so sad, and I truly felt bad for him. Mamuwalde never seemed like the evil monster type like Dracula was. He seemed genuinely in love with Tina and wanted the best for her. It’s quite tragic how it ends and vaguely reminded me of Romeo and Juliet’s ending as well.
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