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Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966)

Grab the wolfsbane!  Get the garlic!

Cult filmmaker William Beaudine takes aim and squeezes the B-movie trigger again!  From The Ape Man to Voodoo Man, the director constantly drums up a lot of B-movie mayhem.  Here, he takes on the mythos of the Old West and adds a bit of Transylvania to the genre mix.  The results are, as you can imagine, as hilarious and as cringeworthy as they sound.  Billy the Kid vs. Dracula is as outrageous and as goofy as it sounds.

"The results are, as you can imagine, as hilarious and as cringeworthy as they sound"


The fastest gun in the west has just met his match because when James Underhill (John Carradine) flies into town, well, out flies all the law and order.  It is up to Billy the Kid (Chuck Courtney) to save the town, the Native Americans, and his fiancée from the curse of this bow-tied Dracula.  With really bad acting and some seriously strong stage lighting leading the way, this B-movie might just become (if it isn’t already) one of your favorites.

The opening scene in Billy the Kid vs. Dracula explains it all.  There is a wagon and there are settlers laying on the ground.  It is night on the plains.  Suddenly, a vampire bat is circling above the wagon.  You might want to think it is a vulture, but not here.  Not in Billy the Kid vs. Dracula. {googleads}

Wickedly intriguing, the opening few moments here are equally hilarious and strange.  The film comes across as a television production, especially when you see the western costumes, but BOOM when Dracula makes his appearance, all bets are off.  Especially in a Dracula movie because, on the plains of the Old West, there is indeed a vampire on the loose and, as the bat swoops behind the wagon, out steps our Dracula in this movie, complete with a top hat.  And, soon enough, he is stooping over a beautiful woman on the ground.  Except a cross falls from out of her clutched hand and he recoils in terror. Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966)

Only the immigrants seem to know what is happening here.  They have all the stories and while everyone tries to dismiss their superstitions as just talk, the townspeople know something is amiss.  There are stagecoaches attacked; women killed; and strange bite marks are at their throats.  Something is going wrong in this one horse town. 

Yeehaw!  Get yer Betty away from Dracula!  Call up Billy the Kid!  And hurray, hurry!  Billy the Kid vs. Dracula is now available on blu-ray thanks to Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

4/5 beers

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966)

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Kino Lorber
Available on Blu-ray
- August 20, 2019
Screen Formats: 1.66:1
Subtitles
: English SDH
Audio:
English: DTS HD MA Mono
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

Kino Lorber Studio Classics presents Billy the Kid vs. Dracula on blu-ray with a splendid transfer.  Bright and colorful, the 1080p transfer here is crisp and crackling with fine details.  Presented with an aspect ratio of 1.66.1, it is the punched-up color you will notice first.  The reds are delicious and the greens are fertile.  The blues go deep, too.  The old west vibe is strong with this one and the town surrounding the landscape is bright and speckled with good detail.  The transfer has the film loaded with details and fresh-looking life.  The sound is presented in a choice between DTS HD MA Mono track.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • There is one audio commentary by Film Historians Lee Gambin and John Harrison that genre fans are going to want to check out.

Special Features:

Only trailers fill in the blank space here.

  • Trailers

Blu-ray Rating:

  Movie 4/5 stars
  Video  4/5 stars
  Audio 4/5 stars
  Extras 2/5 stars

Overall Blu-ray Experience

3.5/5 stars

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[tab title="Film Details"]

Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (1966)

MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime:
73 mins
Director
: William Beaudine
Writer:
Carl K. Hittleman
Cast:
John Carradine, Chuck Courtney, Melinda Casey
Genre
: Horror
Tagline:
The Newest in Terror-tainment! SHOCKORAMA.
Memorable Movie Quote: "My Lisa is dead. The marks of a vampire are on her throat."
Theatrical Distributor:
Embassy Pictures
Official Site:
Release Date:
April 10, 1966
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
August 20, 2019
Synopsis: Traveling by stagecoach, Dracula (the great John Carradine) plots to convert Billy the Kid’s (famed stuntman Chuck Courtney) fiancée, Betty Bentley (Melinda Casey), into his vampire bride. When the sinister bloodsucker kidnaps Betty and takes her to an abandoned silver mine, Billy must confront the Count, but soon realizes his six-shooters’ bullets are no match for the undead—and an all-out battle of good vs. evil ensues.

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[tab title="Art"]

Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (1966)

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