In the "What are you thinking?!?!" department, at the beginning of Zoltan, Hound of Dracula (1978; also known as Dracula's Dog), soldiers are in the middle of training, setting off bombs, when the underground tomb of the Draculas is discovered and the guard left to watch over it responds when a tremor causes one of the caskets to fall out by opening it and removing the stake stabbed in the body inside it! Because that's what any of us would do, right? He stays in the damn tomb while it appears to be on the verge of a cave-in, certainly not saying much about his common sense. But opening a coffin and removing the stake from the body under a burial wrap effectively places him in the category of boob.

I watched this maybe two years ago during October, writing a review for it on the blog. It takes the novel premise of a vampire canine interested in a LA descendant of its master, Count Dracula, Michael Drake (Michael Pataki, playing both roles). Drake takes a camping trip with his family in the RV, not knowing Zoltan and his master before Dracula (always creepy Reggie Nalder of Salem's Lot fame) are pursuing him. The family dogs, hitchhikers, and campers are in a heap of trouble. Inspector Branco (Jose Ferrer), from the "old country", the Van Helsing of the film, is trying to find Drake and hope to help rid themselves of Nalder and Zoltan.

Nalder, to me, is the real star, but Ferrer is rather cool as the all-knowing vampire hunter.  Nalder is a nasty piece of work. He encourages Zoltan on which person or canines to attack. Build help for Zoltan to successfully secure the master.  It is all done through telepathically, communicated from mind link. Nalder speaks with his face and eyes. There's plenty of insidious behavior. Nalder just has a face for horror movies. He can be cast under night, the moonlight spotting him, just looking intense and give you the creeps.

Not sure why Zoltan roars like a lion. Sending off his family, Drake joins forces with Branco and the two will need to take care of the dogs bitten by Zoltan, Zoltan itself, and Nalder. Liked the jazzy, electronic score. The poor hitchhiker who Nalder sicks Zoltan on is quite a mauling! Nalder and Zoltan, quite a pair! Directed by Albert Band, of all people, he might upset animal lovers with the pooch violence (mostly of the wild animals attack vein), but even more bizarre is how Zoltan sometimes screeches like a banshee.

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