Zoltan... Hound Of Dracula
aka Dracula's Vampire Dogs
EMI Films (1977)
The story of Count Dracula's doberman, and the movie that taught me that one movie can sometimes go by more than one name, hit the big screen for the first time 35 years ago today.
Zoltan... Hound Of Dracula premiered in theaters in the UK on May 8th, 1977, where reviewers of the time questioned if the title character would scare the audience, or if they would be rooting for the vampire pooch.
Less than a year later, the movie crossed the ocean to come to the United States. It premiered in theaters in North America on March 29, 1978 where it was released under the title Dracula's Dog.
I didn't know anything about this movie when I came across it for the first time. There was a shop at the Hometown Farmer's Market that had an excellent selection of television shows and movies on VHS and DVD. Almost everything that was for sale was previously viewed, but some of the movies that he had were pretty obscure and his prices were very reasonable. The shop has unfortunately closed, but there are at least 20 or 30 VHS tapes in my home video library that came from this place, and a lot of them are ones that I hadn't seen for sale anywhere else before or since, including these two:
I bought both of these movies at the same time along with a few other horror movies that I had never seen or heard of before. They had different titles, they were released by different companies, and the box even had them listed with a different runtime (85 minutes for Zoltan and 90 minutes for Dracula's Vampire Dogs). They obviously look similar, but I figured that they were just two different movies about a vampire dog, or maybe one of them was the sequel to the other, but... nope. They're the exact same movie.
EMI Films (1977)
The story of Count Dracula's doberman, and the movie that taught me that one movie can sometimes go by more than one name, hit the big screen for the first time 35 years ago today.
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| Greenford and Northolt Gazette - Ealing, West London (May 6, 1977) |
Zoltan... Hound Of Dracula premiered in theaters in the UK on May 8th, 1977, where reviewers of the time questioned if the title character would scare the audience, or if they would be rooting for the vampire pooch.
 |
| New York Daily News (March 29, 1978) |
Less than a year later, the movie crossed the ocean to come to the United States. It premiered in theaters in North America on March 29, 1978 where it was released under the title Dracula's Dog.
I didn't know anything about this movie when I came across it for the first time. There was a shop at the Hometown Farmer's Market that had an excellent selection of television shows and movies on VHS and DVD. Almost everything that was for sale was previously viewed, but some of the movies that he had were pretty obscure and his prices were very reasonable. The shop has unfortunately closed, but there are at least 20 or 30 VHS tapes in my home video library that came from this place, and a lot of them are ones that I hadn't seen for sale anywhere else before or since, including these two:
I bought both of these movies at the same time along with a few other horror movies that I had never seen or heard of before. They had different titles, they were released by different companies, and the box even had them listed with a different runtime (85 minutes for Zoltan and 90 minutes for Dracula's Vampire Dogs). They obviously look similar, but I figured that they were just two different movies about a vampire dog, or maybe one of them was the sequel to the other, but... nope. They're the exact same movie.
This is one of those movies that is so cheesy that it's great. I'm not sure where to suggest you look to find a copy, but if you ever happen to find one for a couple of bucks at a flea market or a yard sale, I highly recommend it.
