Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (1966) Embassy Pictures/Horror-Western RT: 73 minutes No MPAA Rating (violence, scary moments) Director: William Beaudine Screenplay: Carl K. Hittleman Music: Raoul Kraushaar Cinematography: Lothrop B. Worth Release date: April 14, 1966 (US) Cast: John Carradine, Chuck Courtney, Melinda Plowman, Virginia Christine, Walter Janovitz, Bing Russell, Olive Carey, Roy Barcroft, Hannie Landman, Richard Reeves, Marjorie Bennett, William Forrest, George Cisar, Harry Carey Jr. Box Office: N/A
Rating: *
Most people regard Edward D. Wood Jr. (Plan 9 from Outer Space) as the worst director of all time. Have these people never seen the work of William Beaudine? He earned the nickname “One Shot” because of his predilection for doing a single take of each scene regardless of flubbed lines or noticeable gaffes.
In his distinguished career, he churned out over 250 movies. Billy the Kid vs. Dracula was his next-to-last film. It was shot in eight days and released theatrically on a double bill with his final film, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter. All I can say is “WOW.” Just WOW. And not in the positive sense of the word either. This horror-western hybrid is bad in so many ways that a single review won’t do it justice, but I’ll try anyway. I love me a challenge!
For starters, it’s obvious that Beaudine got his start in silent films by the way he directs his actors. Everything, from the facial expressions to physical gestures, is wildly exaggerated. I almost busted a gut cracking up at Count Dracula’s wide-eyed stare at his intended victims. He’s played by John Carradine whose credits range from the sublime (The Grapes of Wrath) to the ridiculous (Hillbillys in a Haunted House). It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess which category Billy the Kid vs. Dracula falls into.
The movie opens with a fake bat attacking a family of German immigrants as they sleep under the stars. As an example of this movie’s non-existent budget, we never see an actual transformation. The bat always lands behind a covered wagon or stagecoach and Dracula emerges from the other side. When he magically appears in a room, it’s an obvious edit. Now you have an idea of what we’re dealing with here.
Anyway, the Count ends up on a stagecoach with a few passengers, including the mother (Bennett) and uncle (Forrest) of Betty Bentley (Plowman), the head of the Bar-B Ranch and fiancee of one William Bonney aka Billy the Kid (Courtney). After an Indian war party attacks the stage and slaughters all the passengers, Dracula assumes the identity of Uncle James and heads to the ranch. After seeing a picture of the lovely Betty, he decides to take her as his mate for life. What he didn’t count on was the infamous gunman working at the ranch. He claims to be reformed, but soon finds that he must return to his old ways to defeat the vampire.
Of course, this being the enlightened 19th century, nobody really believes that vampires exist. Expect for the German immigrant couple (Christine and Janovitz) who lost their daughter to the evil bloodsucker. Conveniently, they end up working at the ranch where Betty dismisses the grieving mother’s warnings. Billy slowly begins to realize there must be something to their wild story. By this time, fake Uncle James has fired him and chased him from the ranch. The only other person who believes the truth is the local doctor (Carey) who knows a little something about vampirism from one of her medical books (?!). The climax takes place in an abandoned silver mine where Dracula tries to put the final bite on Betty. It’s Billy the Kid to the rescue!
Okay, I always thought that to kill a vampire, you must drive a wooden stake through his evil heart. If you go by Billy the Kid vs. Dracula, a metal scalpel is equally effective. I call BS! I think Beaudine didn’t do his homework. This whole pitiful excuse for a movie is a fine example of complete ineptitude. Take the whole one-shot thing. There’s a scene where Dracula explores the mine shaft holding a torch. The off-camera prop guy shines a flashlight everywhere but the vampire’s face. Isn’t that where the light would fall in real life? If that’s not bad enough, the immigrant woman is often referred to as “Mrs. Olson” NOT “Mrs. Oster” which is actually her character’s name. Mrs. Olson is the character she played in the old Folger’s coffee commercials. You really should have broken your one-shot rule and stopped the cameras, Mr. Beaudine.
The cinematography is fuzzy and the lighting poor. All of the acting is positively atrocious. It isn’t even worth commenting on the historical accuracy because the film is called Billy the Kid vs. Dracula. The title says it all regarding that facet of this turkey. The title is also the best thing about it. It does have its entertainment value, but for all the wrong reasons. It’s funnier than most of what passes for comedy at the multiplexes these days. A movie this bad makes any of Ed Wood’s movies look like fine art cinema. I think Tim Burton (the Ed Wood biopic) should seriously consider a remake of Billy the Kid vs. Dracula. It’s time a new generation experiences a bad movie this awesomely bad.
