Cineanalyst
Despite the ludicrous premise laid out in its title, "Billy the Kid Versus Dracula," of a historical Western gunfighter battling a supernatural, bullet-proof vampire from a Victorian-age gothic horror novel, the film isn't so bad that it's good, and it's not good enough to be other than bad. The filmmakers seem to have taken it seriously, which is often a recipe for such silly screenplays to become unintentionally funny, but the problem is that the film is competently made, despite its silly story and low budget. Yet, preventing the film from being good is that there's nothing intelligent in it, and its relative competence is due largely to it imitating Universal's Dracula series--the wolf's bane, which Universal substituted for garlic from Bram Stoker's novel, gives it away.Director William Beaudine had directed films since 1915, including Mary Pickford vehicles in the mid-1920s, so the technical competence of this B-picture should be expected. The plotting is especially decent, creating most of the drama during the Discovery and Confirmation phases of the Complex Discovery Plot--the usual plot employed for horror films, as outlined by cinema scholar Noël Carroll. And, the runtime is thankfully short for a feature. John Carradine starred as Dracula in Universal's "The House of Frankenstein" (1944) and "The House of Dracula" (1945), so, of course, he's perfectly credible in the role once again this time, and he, at least, seems to have tried to camp it up some. Chuck Courtney also looks the part of Billy the Kid, and the rest of the cast is serviceable, as well. Even the vampire's mesmerizing stare, the fake bats and the stop-substitution appearances for Dracula have been done amusingly worse in films before and after this one. The stereotypical Native Americans, the scenes filmed during the day that are supposed to be set at night, and the bland dialogue are too routine.I did find the scene of Dracula hitching a ride in a horse carriage a bit amusing, as it reminded me of Jonathan Harker's ride to Castle Dracula in Stoker's novel, where fellow passengers warned Harker about the vampire. Instead, the passengers in this film are rightly a bit spooked that they're sharing a carriage with the undead. In addition to the wolf's bane, the film borrows some other parts from other movies. Dracula as an identity thief had been used in "Son of Dracula" (1943) and "The Return of Dracula" (1958). And Dracula being fascinated by an image of a woman is a common trope in Dracula movies which originates from the 1922 "Nosferatu."(Mirror Note: The doctor confirms Dracula's vampirism by revealing his lack of a reflection in a mirror. The through-the-mirror shot shows Betty, whom Dracula is carrying, to seemingly be floating in mid-air.)
ferbs54
New York City-born director William Beaudine didn't acquire the nickname "One Shot" for nothing. Working at a furious and efficient pace, Beaudine managed to helm no fewer than 178 films, starting in the 1920s and extending all the way to 1966. In his final year as a filmmaker, Beaudine brought all his vast experience to bear and managed to come up with two entertainments that have been flabbergasting audiences for over half a century now. The two films--"Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter" and "Billy the Kid Versus Dracula"--served as a perfectly well-matched double feature, both in name as well as subject matter. I had previously been surprised at how decent a film the first had been, exceeding my minimal expectations in terms of both filmmaking skill and entertainment value. And now that I have finally caught up with the latter, I am surprised to find that it is NOT the campy lowbrow experience that I had been led to believe was the case. A fairly unique hybrid of both horror and Western--a combined genre that the Mexican cinema of the late '50s and early '60s seemed a lot more willing to explore than the American movies of that same era--the film, though hardly anyone's idea of a quality picture, yet remains a moderately fun outing that should just manage to please fans of both categories. No, it is not "High Noon" and it is surely not a film guaranteed to shock and frighten the viewer, but still, it DOES manage to amuse.In the film (which Beaudine shot in just five days!), John Carradine plays everyone's favorite neck nosher (he had first played the Count in the classic Universal films "House of Frankenstein" and "House of Dracula" more than 20 years earlier), here traveling through the Wild West of the 19th century. As one of four passengers in a stagecoach (apparently, after he has become too tired to turn into a bat and just take wing to wherever he's going), he meets the mother and uncle of a young blonde woman whose picture he is allowed to see in a locket, and realizes at once that this young woman is destined to be his eternal, undead bride. The stagecoach passengers are later massacred by an Indian raiding party (the Native Americans being goaded into violence after Dracula attacks one of their own), and the vampire soon arrives at the Bar-B Ranch, where pretty Barbie doll Betty Bentley (Melinda Plowman, an actress more known for her extensive TV work, here in one of her few feature films) lives. He pretends to be the uncle, one James Underhill, whom she has never met, while preparing for her a wedding suite in the abandoned silver mine nearby. But Dracula also makes the mistake of slaying the daughter of an immigrant German couple in the area, the Frau of which (Virginia Christine as Eva Oster) is immediately suspicious of him. And after the reformed gunslinger Billy the Kid (former stuntman Chuck Courtney), now just plain ol' Billy Bonney, who is working as foreman on the Bar-B ranch and is soon to be engaged to Betty (turning her into Betty Bentley Bonney?!?!), is also made suspicious, both by the strange uncle's actions and by the good Frau, a showdown in that creepy underground cavern looms....Today, "Billy the Kid Versus Dracula" labors under a fairly miserable and, it seems to me, undeserved reputation. The "Maltin Movie Guide" calls it "campy nonsense," and even my beloved "Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film," which usually has a high tolerance for such fare, deems it a "hopeless horror Western." Personally, I think the editors at both these esteemed volumes are being a bit too harsh. Sure, the film is patently outlandish, and its special effects are practically nonexistent (we never do see Dracula transform into a bat or vice versa, and his physical decomposition in the film's final scene is brought about in the crudest of expedients), but putting those matters aside, it IS otherwise well put together, displays some assured talent both behind and in front of the camera, and--bottom line--is a lot of fun to watch. I didn't laugh AT the film once; it is hardly a camp fest, despite the inherent and admitted loopiness of the plot. The film, to the viewer's surprise, boasts some unique touches, for both a Western and a horror film. For one thing, our hero Billy gets the living crap beaten out of him by his (human) adversary in one scene; he is hardly the ablest fighter with his mitts. Too, he displays self-doubts as to how to proceed in his battle with the Count. To be sure, the film's title is something of a misnomer, suggesting as it does an almost equal contest; as it turns out, both Frau Oster, with her greater vampire knowledge, as well as the town doctor, would have been more worthy adversaries. And most interestingly, that town doctor in the film, who renders invaluable aid to Billy in terms of both book learning and practical weapons, is a woman...and an elderly woman, to boot (played by silent film star Olive Carey)! As for Carradine himself, though a bit long in the tooth (I would ordinarily say "long in the fang" here, except for the fact that we never do see his canines on display), he does manage to be occasionally intimidating, going so far as to SNARL like a rabid dog when he attacks his victims! The picture also features some nice outdoor scenery, shot in pleasing color, and that Indian attack scene is actually very well done. And as for Billy and Betty, their relationship seems so very wholesome that the viewer almost expects Betty to call Billy "Archie" at some points. Still, as I say, the film IS fun to watch, and its 74-minute running time just flies by. Bottom line: William "One Shot" Beaudine may have taken a while to refine his craft, but at least he went out with a pair of entertaining pleasers.
gavin6942
Dracula travels to the American West, intent on making a beautiful ranch owner his next victim. Her fiancé, outlaw Billy the Kid, finds out about it and rushes to save her.My biggest question is, would people in the Old West know what a vampire was? Obviously the concept goes back a long time, but did Americans really know about vampires before Bram Stoker? I am not so sure. And yet, they throw the term around like it is common knowledge.That being said, this film seems to have a very low critical reception... unfairly. While not great, it is far from bad and really puts a new spin on the western. Were there many horror westerns before this? I think not, which makes it ground-breaking if nothing else.
