Dracula Exotica (TVX) Review

Distributor: TVX Home Video Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Feature Film, Comedy, Golden Age Classic (1980s Shot on Film) Run Time: 97 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1980 Director: Shaun Costello (as Warren Evans) Written by: Kenneth Schwartz (as K. Schwartz), Shaun Costello (additional material) Director of Photography: Bill Markle (as William de Main) Cast: Samantha Fox, Vanessa Del Rio, Roger Caine (as Mark Dexter), Eric Edwards (as Erik Edwards), Jamie Gillis, Gordon G. Duvall, Bobby Astyr, Murray Bukofski, Alba Bonn, Leigh Hope, Terry Yule, Carol Markoe, Inez de Falla, Denise Sloan, Diana Sloan (as Dianna Sloan), Herschel Savage (as Joel Kane), Donald Blank, Christine De Shaffer, Ron Hudd, Ron Jeremy, Tony Mansfield, Ashley Moore, Dave Ruby, Robin Sane, Marc Valentine, Randy West, Marlene Willoughby, Gloria Leonard, Amber Hunt, John Leslie, Michael Masone (as Michael Thorpe), Victor Colicchio (as Pepe), R. Bolla, Susaye London Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

Dracula Exotica is an incredibly fun adult film that came out in the eighties. Leopold Michael Georgi Count Dracula (Jamie Gillis) is in love with Surka (Samantha Fox), but forbidden to marry her because she is the groundskeeper's daughter. One night he drunkenly rapes her, causing her to take her own life. Upon seeing what he did, Dracula curses himself and stabs himself, creating the bloodsucking legend. In modern day, Dracula sees a CIA spy Sally Iancu (Samantha Fox), who looks just like Surka, and follows her to America.

Dracula Exotica is an extremely ambitious film that works and is a fun adult film to watch. Shaun Costello has said that he is not happy with the final edit of the film, which he said was chopped by the editor. It is too bad that audiences will never get to see Costello's imagining of the film. However, the version we do get to see is well worth it.

The film boasts impressive locations and set work along with an all star cast, in both the acting and sex departments. Gillis puts in a wonderful performance as the incredibly long named titular Dracula. The story is well developed and the sex scenes are sure to please fans of the era. To top it all off, the humor in the film works as well, making for a well rounded film.

Despite the rape scene, for the most part Dracula Exotica is light-hearted, especially compared with some of Costello's earlier films. While Dracula Exotica doesn't stay true to the Dracula stories, or any known cinematic version, this film is well worth seeing.

TVX Home Video has done a horrible job with this release. Dracula Exotica is presented in the full screen aspect ratio of 1.33:1, despite it originally being shown in cinemas in widescreen. The master was obviously an old video tape, with a lack of fine detail throughout the film. The picture is too dark as well, sometimes hiding the locations and set design in murky darkness. There are video glitches as well. Dracula Exotica is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural track. The sound is clear and easy to hear throughout. TVX Home Video hasn't included any extras on this release at all.

While this release is watchable, I can't recommend it to anyone. Hopefully in the future the release this classic film deserves will come out.

Dracula Exotica is a fun film from the beginning of the eighties. It combines a fun original story, with nicely done sex scenes, great locations, and some light comedy to create a film that is definitely worth checking out. The release from TVX Home Video is sadly very poor and is not worth picking up.

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