Zoltan, Hound of Dracula

I was quite intrigued by the idea of “Dracula’s dog” on the pursuit of his “new” master, a descendant of Dracula (Michael Pataki, a psychologist living in a California suburb with his wife and two children). Reggie Nalder is perhaps known for his ugly (and really creepy) vampire in Salem’s Lot, and director Albert Band (father of Full Moon’s Charles Band) loves framing and shooting his face in various moods (especially at night when he is telepathically communicating with Zoltan). Nalder—and I mean this with the utmost respect—has a face that can give pause and cause nightmares, so his casting is perfect as this villager (and owner of Zoltan prior to its suffering the bite from Dracula in the form of a bat) who seeks a new master for him and his dog.

Pataki’s modern age father takes his family on a camping trip (some nice California locations used, too), loses his pet dogs to Zoltan, and must participate with an inspector “from the old country” in a “staking party” so that the human race will be spared savage attacks in the night. Albert loves shooting the moon as a motif for his vampire dogs, particularly during one major siege upon Pataki and José Ferrer (as the aforementioned inspector) who wait out the night in a fisherman’s lodge, with Zoltan atop the roof as it tries to get inside.

Zoltan is most of the time shot while its eyes are “aglow” to give it a more otherworldly look, while its teeth are often at a bloody snarl. The vampire dogs are rather scary to me; one of them even attacks Pataki’s daughter, and Zoltan really gets ferocious while mauling a passing hitchhiker eating some grub near his own set campfire. The plot doesn’t get too complicated, and the gist of it all is Nalder and Zoltan trying to “claim” Pataki as their master, willing to kill or attack anyone that stands in their way.

The dog is properly shot as a scourge needing to be exterminated (it doesn’t show a hint of remorse for anyone that is in its trajectory) while Nalder often urges it (maybe provoke is a better term) to tear anyone apart besides Pataki (he does try to get it to bite Pataki, but the sun rises right before it can; the roof caving in is a nice bonus that sets up the potential for Pataki to be bitten). You know, I have read certain people groan at the thought that Ferrer would wind up in a film like this, but he wasn’t so out of place to me. He takes that stake and plunges it into those dogs, too!

I had to say that it was kind of cool seeing Ferrer and Nalder scuffling with the intention on a stake going through the heart of the “half-vampire” (Ferrer informs us in a conversation with a woman in the old country where the hidden mausoleum with the tombs of the Draculas were discovered that Nalder was not a full vampire and doesn’t need blood for sustenance). Overall, though, the film isn’t exactly any great shakes, but it is a different kind of Dracula film.

 

 

 

The idea of vampire dogs was certainly unique; I can’t imagine anyone would want to come in contact with these bad boys in the dark of night where few are present. Pataki and Ferrer do get some help from a couple of campers who lose their own dog to Zoltan. This is probably the first time I can recall a vampire dog “willing” a human to obey its command (Pataki dropping his stake in the goal of goring Zoltan in the heart).