5/13/2007

In view of the fact that today is Mother’s Day (and a happy day to all you Moms out there)-maybe last night’s movie should have been “Dracula’s Mother!” Actually, I don’t think there ever was a movie with that title…there was a flick called “Old Dracula” (which was a sideways reference to “Young Frankenstein”)-not that all moms are old!- and the well-worn public domain flick ‘My Son the Vampire”- which might seem to indicate a Dracula mom, but really doesn’t have much to do with any mom, other than “Mother Riley”- a character played by a guy named Arthur Lucan in a series of wacky British comedies. The title was attached to the film, originally known as “Mother Riley Meets the Vampire” when, for its US distribution, they added a title theme by song parody king of the early 60s Allan Sherman- who had done an album called “My Son the Folk Singer.” (Are you following all this?!) This film actually starred our old pal Bela as the vampire, who had a robot that chased the old “woman” around. And, no, I don’t recall Bela having a mother in this flick.

The “Old Dracula” movie –sometimes known as “Vampira”-and no relation to the 50s horror hostess of the same name- is a real “drive-in “ movie- starring, of all people, the dapper David Niven as Dracula- who is looking for a woman with the correct unique blood type to revive his wife, Vampira. When a Playboy magazine shoot takes place at his castle (sounds just like the E! series “Girls Next Door!”) one of the models has the perfect blood type, and Drac uses her blood to revive Vampira- only to find that she is now -black!(and played by former “Laugh-In” cast member and the star of “Get Christie Love”- Teresa Graves!) this whole thing sounds like a Benny Hill skit waiting to happen. Maybe if you haven’t already gotten Mom a gift, you can run out and find this masterpiece.

In thinking about it- while we have various monster movies that are “Son of…” and “(blank)’s Daughter”- we never really have any flicks that are about moms –other than “Gorgo”-where the giant reptilian mother comes to reclaim her scaly offspring. The closest we get is “Bride of Frankenstein”- but, those two weren’t together long enough to hear the pitter-patter of stitched-on little feet. Perhaps motherhood –and dealing with kids from day-to-day- is too scary for most monsters to handle. So, let’s salute the courage of all the women out there who truly are brave enough to take on that challenge. Happy Mother’s Day to you all! Oops- forgot to get a gift…you think she’d like ANOTHER rubber chicken?