Blacula (1972) [35mm] – Vampiric Projections III: The Image-Vampire, at a frequency

Blacula USA 1972 Regi William Crain Manus Joan Torres, Raymond Koenig, Richard Glouner Foto John M. Stephens Med William Marshall, Vonetta McGee, Denise Nicholas, Gordon Pinsent 1t 33m 35mm Engelsk tale, utekstet Aldersgrense 18 år

Chapter III of the Vampiric Projections, titled ‘The Image-Vampire, with a frequency’ starts with the screening of Blacula, by William Crain.

In the year 1780, prince Mamuwalde pays a visit to Count Dracula in his Transylvanian castle, and seeks his help to end slavery. The encounter, however, results in the ‘birth’ (or creation) of the undead Blacula, cursed with the Count’s name. The black prince is then awoken in the early 1970s.

One of the early blaxpoitation films, Blacula is, more importantly, probably the first film to tackle the capture of a vampire’s image on camera.

Can a vampire be photographed or filmed? If so, will it be an exact image of the vampire? Probably not.

A core part of Oscar Debs’s film essay Vampiric Reflections, this chapter aims to lay the ground for the imaging of the vampire. The constituents of the vampire image, whether analog or digital, are to be deconstructed, taking into consideration the technology of the camera used. Since the vampire casts no reflection in the mirror, the camera will behave towards a vampire according to the presence (and ‘nature’) or absence of a mirror in the camera’s components.

Bram Stoker, the author of the novel Dracula, had actually in early drafts addressed the trope of photographing a vampire with a camera. This was one of many headnotes which he eventually dropped from the final work.

After the screening, Oscar will elaborate more on these theories in a short presentation and Q&A. The essayistic vampire project intersects with his work as a curator at Cinemateket.