Dracula Sucks (1978)

This is the second film Seka made after Blonde Fire, but her first to actually be released. It's a hardcore version of Bram Stoker's novel with Jamie Gillis playing Count Dracula. He moves into a castle next to a mental institution and proceeds to feed on the patients. Yes it's a porno film, but it's well made with some good camera work, and great settings and costumes. It feels like a 'normal' B movie with an amazing cast of some of the top porn stars of the day: Annette Haven, Serena, Kay Parker, John Holmes, John Leslie, Paul Thomas and of course Seka (although she was such an unknown at this point that her name did not even appear on the movie poster). This film shows just how close the adult industry in the 1970s came to being mainstream.

Original movie poster

Seka later recalled her first day on the set. “I walked into the castle… and all the guys were sitting at a table off to the left having breakfast. There was Jamie Gillis, John Holmes, John Seeman, Paul Thomas… I walked in and those guys turned around and looked at me, and I was just frightened to death because it was as if I was just a big side of beef hanging there. It was like, ‘Oh baby, there’s new meat!’ It just really scared me, and the majority of the men got up and said, ‘Hello,’ and introduced themselves and I was very star struck because after all it was John Holmes and Jamie Gillis, for God’s sake. I mean, what else could a girl want?”

“I was certainly intimidated to work with John Holmes and his thirteen inches. But the pay was a lot better than the loops I was doing and I was about to meet my idols… But I was also terrified because I would have to speak lines for the first time, and figured these veterans would blow me out of the water… I just didn’t see myself as an actress.”

The history of this movie is convoluted and there is no definite version of it. Initially two versions were released: softcore and hardcore. Both under the title Dracula Sucks. Then, in 1980, the film was re-edited and re-issued as Lust at First Bite. This version removed most of the plot but added roughly 30 minutes of hardcore footage that hadn't been used in either earlier cut of Dracula Sucks. 

Original movie poster

It was re-mastered and re-issued in 2014 as two versions. According to IMDB, the longer 95 minute version was titled Dracula Sucks. While this version was never theatrically released, it was the first edit of the film according to its screenwriter, and was considered by the DVD producers to be the most coherent version of the film, and contains all of the hardcore sexual content and death scenes, and its structure more closely resembles Bram Stoker's "Dracula".

The shorter Lust at First Bite runs at 74 minutes, and contains alternate footage different from the original version of the film. Several scenes were reordered and edited differently, the sex scenes were longer and more explicit, all blood and biting scenes were removed, and the ending was different.

Neither version is perfect, and it's a shame a definite 'Director's Cut' couldn't be released that included all the plot and all the sex. However, a very patient person named Retrobi edited the two most recent versions together in an attempt to come up with an unofficial complete film. It's not perfect and the audio is out of sync in places, but it's the only version that includes all the available sex scenes. This is the version uploaded to the blog as watching the sex scenes is what most of us are interested in. All credit to Retrobi.

 

 

Original Trailer

 

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079074