Ringo Starr had already acted in several movies besides the Beatles’ films, including Candy, 200 Motels and Blindman, and made his directorial debut with Born to Boogie featuring T. Rex. In 1972, Starr approached his pal Harry Nilsson to star in and compose songs for this hard-to-see rock spoof of the Dracula saga. Starr appears as Merlin the Magician. Nilsson is Count Downe, a vampire who wants nothing to do with the supernatural after the death of his famous father and has fallen in love with a mortal, Suzanna Leigh (Lust for a Vampire). Merlin goes on a quest to help his unhappy friend, enlisting aid from Baron Frankenstein (Freddie Jones, of The Elephant Man) and Dr. Van Helsing (Dennis Price, alumnus of many late sixties Jess Franco horror pix). The screenplay was credited to actress Jennifer Jayne (The Crawling Eye) and directed by none other than celebrated cinematographer – and sometimes horror movie director – Freddie Francis. Barely released and yet to appear on DVD, Son of Dracula remains a fascinating curio and amusing collision of pop music and the then current British horror scene.
Marc Edward Heuck discusses Son of Dracula on the New Beverly blog.
