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Deluxe Wide Screen Edition
Charles Manson reincarnated as Count Dracula?Well, not exactly, but The Deathmaster comes pretty close.
After successfully essaying the role of an aristocratic Bulgarian vampire stalking modern-day L.A. in Count Yorga, Vampire (1970) and The Return of Count Yorga (1971), actor Robert Quarry became a new favorite amongst legions of monster movie fanatics.Although Quarry's tenure with American International Pictures (AIP) lasted for six films, the company actually picked up The Deathmaster from outside producers for a 1972 summer release (Quarry himself served as associate producer).
Directing the film was the former Hollywood character actor turned director, Ray Danton (1931-1992).Danton became a sort of low budget horror specialist in the '70s, also helming the atmospheric foreign-lensed Young Hannah, Queen of the Vampires (aka The Crypt of the Living Dead) and the all star oddity The Psychic Killer (1975) that featured his wife at the time, Julie Adams (The Creature from the Black Lagoon).
The primary ingredient that makes The Deathmaster so appealing is Robert Quarry.Having already perfected his suave vampire count, the actor this time traded in the traditional Dracula threads for a longhaired wig, goatee, and some flower robes (of course, the classic fangs stayed the same).A vampire posing as a Mansonesque cult leader (with possible shades of the Mahareshi Mahes Yogi as well) was a trendy, ingenious concept at the time, and Quarry pulls it off with complete competence.
A drive-in film classic in every sense of the word, The Deathmaster had at one time also been a Saturday afternoon and late night TV staple and then vanished into thin air liked a stake vampire's ashes.Never before available on home video in the U.S., this deluxe (and I mean Deluxe) DVD edition resurrects The Deathmaster for a whole new generation of Khorda cultists.
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