BILLY THE KID VS DRACULA

      I was thinking the other day about how exploitation movies, pulp novels, cheap horror comic books and cheap horror-exploitation VHS/DVDs  have a lot in common. They have catchy titles. Eye catching art and often the book/movie/comic book is a second or third rate work. But you don't find out that part until they get your money.

     BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA is one of those works. 

     I'm sure that no one went to that film believing that it was going to be seeing a masterpiece in cinema but it manage to be below par as both a horror film and a western. (That last line reads snobby. But sometimes I feel snobby)

    Once again John Carradine is brought in to give a third rate film some class and B movie star power. I always said that John Carradine was one of the greatest actors to appear in third rate movies.      In an interview he said this was the worst film he appeared in. I disagree since the film features him in a lead role. I think that his roles in THE VOODOO MAN and ASTRO ZOMBIES were a waste of his talents. I enjoy both films but he was wasted in them.

     Another film that wasted John Carradine was FRANKENSTEIN ISLAND. It was the last film of director/producer Jerry Warren. Carradine played the ghost of Dr. Frankenstein and I'm sure that all his scenes were shot in one day. He would appear out through the  film in double expose special effect shots and rant silly lines. It was like Lugosi's role in GLEN OR GLENDA.