'I knew I'd see you again, but how did you get in?'
Welcome back to my Dark Corner of this Sick World.
‘But of course I haven’t read your book’
You haven’t? Well there’s a link in the description below.
‘You’re exhausting my patience as you always do.’
Lucifer’s Women, directed by Paul Aratow is a satanic horror, inspired by George Du Maurier’s Trilby,
with added softcore sex. #
‘Positively naughty.’
Released in 1974, it vanished quickly, but 4 years later, Dark Corners favourite Al Adamson snipped out the positively naughty bits,
shot some new footage featuring John Carradine
'Fascinating gentleman.'
Re-edited considerably and released the result as Doctor Dracula,
which is what we’re reviewing.
‘I delight in your misery.’
The blending of footage works slightly better than many we’ve looked at
because Adamson got original star Larry Hankin – that’s Mr Heckles from Friends –
back for the new footage so his Svengali provides a link.
'I thought that was totally understood Waynright.'
'Is it necessary to put her through such torture?'
Which doesn’t stop this from being utterly baffling.
‘I have no defence against you Dracula.’
We open with Dracula killing a woman,
then jump to a Wizard of Gore-esque stage show.
'I think something is wrong.'
'Well it's too late to stop now.'
Which was the conclusion of Lucifer’s Women,
it was big re-edit.
John Wainwr ight is the man responsible, captivating his audience,
#sound of on hand clapping#
performing under the gimmick of being the 2nd Svengali, but...
‘No one imagines you’re the real Svengali’
This is Sir Steven who interrupts Wainwright’s date with dancer Trilby.
‘Life gave him a small brain and a big appetite.’
and delivers a body blow.
‘We need a pure soul. She’ll do’
with vague consequences.
‘How long do we have’
‘Seven days.’
Meanwhile in Adamson’s movie, Svengali meets Stephanie.
‘Look into my eyes… deep into my eyes.’
Who hopes he can make contact with her late mother who died in mysterious circumstances.
‘Her blood being drained from her’
It’s unclear if he helps her.
‘Speak to me’
Probably not. So she goes to psychiatrist Dr Gregorio instead.
But he has a secret.
Gregorio is Dracula, luring women back to his home.
‘Your place really is spooky doctor’
Adamson regular Regina Carroll.
‘It’s as though it were designed by the devil’
The devil’s windchimes.
Ends badly for her but she kind of asks for it.
‘I’ve always wanted to make love in a coffin’
Now we get more hints as to why Sir Steven and Svengali need Trilby.
‘I must pass onto another incarnation’
Okay.
‘Do you realise if you don’t follow my commands your incarnation as John Wainwright will be cancelled’
Okay.
‘I’ve been having difficulties with doctor wainwright’
‘Difficulties? of what sort?’
‘He’s trying to re-emerge’
This is starting to sound like one of those things that would be better left unexplained
and I have a horrible feeling they are going to explain it.
‘The only thing that can save us is the aggressive incorporation of a new psychic energy source’
Okay. Elsewhere, Stephanie has her first session with Dr Gregorio.
You wanted to see your mother, there she is.
'Mother, whats happened to you.'
'Leave us.'
Having fallen for Trilby, Svengali is loath to hand her over to Sir Stephen,
but he needs her to survive, which is making their dates awkward as he tries to work around to the subject.
‘Well murder is a very hard term to define’
Red flag! Red flag!
‘I need your soul’
Would that be that okay?
‘I gotta go’
Oh, I always ask girls for their soul too soon.
Despite this, They are somehow still dating, but…
‘Trilby you have to leave right now’
Something is wrong and Svengali checks his books.
'An alien soul is using your body, to reverse the process and gain control of the alien soul use the weakness of the alien.'
Well that’s cleared that up.
What the hell.
‘I’ve exorcised him. It worked’
Is the movie over?
‘Your rational powers are nothing compared to ours Dr. Wainwright’
Dr Wainwright has managed to temporarily break free from Svengali and now tries to warn Trilby.
‘This is going to sound strange but... I’m going to try to kill you’
Now why would you think that sounds strange?
Trilby heeds the warning. Unfortunately…
She is taken to be sacrificed,
luckily for her, she’s now being played by a stand in as the cultists queue up to kiss her good bye.
But Dracula is among them,
and...
‘She’s dead you fools’
Well that was a satisfying conclusion. Maybe John Carradine can save it.
‘You will perish with us’
Not John Carradine’s finest onscreen death.
Now, when you’ve got this many loose ends whirling around there’s only one thing to do.
'Destroy the creature who made her the what she is. You Gregorio.'
#BOOOOOOOOM!#
The re-edit and reshoots obviously don’t help the film’s coherence.
‘What do you mean you’re responsible for Roland’s death?’
Roland, played by porn star Paul Thomas, barely appears,
we certainly don’t see him die.
While in the final ritual Adamson tries to tie the footage together by repeatedly cutting to confused reaction shots of John Carradine.
But the real issue is that the plot of Lucifer’s Women was so baffling that it needed acres of tedious explanation.
‘And that is how reincarnation is possible if the spirit is strong’
and all Adamson has done is add more threads to it.
‘I’m not really sure why I’m here’
None less than Kim Newman has pointed out that there is potentially something interesting in people being possessed by classic fictional characters –
should note that Sir Steven is borrowed from The Story of O,
but, sadly, that’s not what this is.
‘It’s an old joke’
It’s a mess.
'Leave me be.'
Thanks for watching. For more Al Adamson reviews click here.
So much more to say on this one it’s just very hard to explain in concise terms so do join us on Patreon
and we’ll try to make more sense of it.
What films make the best use of reincarnation?
Let us know in the comments below.
'You can't stay, you can't stay here.'