This film essentially begins with a dispute over who will take the place of the dying leader of a voodoo cult with her son "Willis Daniels" (Richard Lawson) angrily denouncing the more popular practitioner "Lisa Fortier" (Pam Grier) and threatening all those who oppose him. To make good his threats, he visits another voodoo priest who gives him the bones of an African prince by the name of "Mamulwade" (William Marshall) and tells him that, by following certain instructions, he can summon an entity so powerful that nobody can stand in his way. Naturally, being an extremely arrogant person, he does exactly what he is told. What he doesn't count on however, is that rather than having a powerful demon at his command, the newly resurrected vampire known as Blacula subjugates him to his will instead. Not only that, but rather than destroying Lisa Fortier like Willis so desperately wants, Blacula decides to do the exact opposite and protect her--for reasons known only to him. Needless to say, this infuriates Willis but, since Blacula is so powerful, there is little he can do for the time being. Even so, he remains adamant in his desire to destroy her the very first chance he gets. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film started off rather well but seemed to lose its bite a little further on. That being said, while I don't consider William Marshall to be quite as good a vampire as Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee, I suppose he played his role well enough, and I have rated this film accordingly. Average.
Review of Scream Blacula Scream
