Nocturna (1979)

Best movie of this year hands down!

the audience applauded

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

An aged Dracula (a frail, yet still lively John Carradine) has problems with money and taxes, so he has to turn his castle into a hotel in order to keep himself afloat. Meanwhile, his rebellious granddaughter Nocturna (stiffly played by the gorgeous, but hopelessly wooden Nai Bonet, who also wrote the silly story and produced this film) discovers that she loves dancing to disco music and goes to New York City to romance musician Jimmy (hunky Antony Hamilton) in the wake of falling in love with him.Writer/director Harry Horwitz keeps the blithely inane plot moving along at a brisk pace, maintains a goofy good-natured tone throughout, and provides a few inspired off-the-wall touches (blood cocaine, Dracula has lost his fangs and has to make do wearing dentures, Nocturna becomes mortal whenever she dances, and so on). While this movie suffers a bit from Bonet's painfully flat acting and awkward line readings in the lead role, the more capable and energetic supporting cast fortunately compensates for this: Yvonne De Carlo has a ball as Dracula's cheery old flame Jugulia Vein, the singular Brother Theodore hams it up deliciously as deranged and lecherous servant Theodore, and Sy Richardson contributes a spot-on sly portrayal of flashy pimp RH Factor. Cute former "Playboy" Playmate Monica Tidwell pops up in a small role as spunky disco bunny Brenda. As a yummy added plus, luscious brunette knockout Bonet smokes a joint, wears lots of fancy formfitting threads, busts some sexy belly dance moves, and, best of all, takes a steamy protracted bath. The cartoony bat transformation effects are hilariously cheesy. The funky-throbbing disco soundtrack hits the get-down groovy spot. Mac Ahlberg's garish cinematography provides a glittery Day-Glo look. A dippy hoot.

Yep, this is one BAD movie...but as others noted...strangely likable. The really difficult step in viewing and reviewing this film is finding a copy. It had one Media video release(VHS) eons ago and has been MIA for the last two to three decades. You might find a copy on Ebay but will spend a pretty penny. How did I see it finally? THANK YOU YOUTUBE! Anyway, we have Nocturna, played with beauty and an amazing lack of skill as any kind of a thespian, by Nai Bonet. Bonet's claim to fame as a half-Vietnemese and half-French belly dancer with dalliances with acting on the side has been strangely baffling. She had really no entertainment career that would merit a project like this, though one must be impressed that she found a way to make this film(and another called Hoodlums). Unfortunately for Nai, this film and the other were box office poison - and she essentially left this arena. Let's talk about what is wrong with the film quickly and then move on to what I liked. Nai Bonet cannot act. Period. Yes, English is clearly not her first language. That is obvious the first moment you hear her speak. But more than that is her total lack of displaying any kind of emotion. It was an incredibly wooden performance. Her male co-star(really stretching that word here) was equally as bad. The story, written by Nai, also borders on sophomoric tripe. It seems a very old Dracula has no longer a means to kill on his own and so relies heavily on his granddaughter Nocturna. A disco group comes to Hotel Transylvania and Nocturna kicks up her heels with some beefcake and falls in love. She follows him to New York and starts to turn into a human because of her love. Touching, isn't it? The special effects of vampires turning into bats is nothing more than really out-dated animation. It looks soooo silly even in a silly picture like this. There is an awful lot of disco music and disco dancing. What do you expect in a vampire disco film? Okay, clearly this is not Citizen Kane or even some of the great low- budget films of the seventies. It isn't Love at First Bite either. There is virtually no violence at all in the film. At its heart is a nice story - just one not very well executed. Despite all of this, I found myself liking the film overall. Nai is beautiful for a woman in her mid-to-late thirties. She looks like she is in her 20's. We get to see much of that beautiful body too. I had absolutely no problem with that at all. We also have a scene where Nai is visiting a pimp and his bevy of beautiful vampires who also share her free performance style in this regard. Actually, it was a pretty funny scene as well. The budget was obviously not huge but the film looks very good. The opening scene is quite atmospheric. The set locations were all done quite well too. The music was not all that horrible. The Gloria Gaynor opening theme, "Love is but a heartbeat away" was rather catchy. I thought the entire opening sequence was done with great aplomb. Nai was smart enough to get some names, lesser names, but names nonetheless for her film. John Carradine plays Dracula in a rather lackluster manner but he has a few intriguing lines. Yvonne De Carlo plays a vampire in New York who boards Nocturna and gives her advice. Another lackluster performance particularly in a somewhat thankless role. Both these thespians add some credibility. The other supporting players are all rather decent as well with one HUGE plus. The performance of Brother Theodore moves this picture up from being wretched to being somewhat endearing. He lusts after Nocturna and in one scene in particular(the bathtub scene) he gives one of the oddest, perverse, and hilarious monologues I have ever seen. That VOICE uttering some of the most ridiculous dialog and yet transforming it into something more. Just watch the way he rolls his eyes. So funny and creepy! I wish he had been in the film a bit more. So, check this film out while you have the opportunity. it is not great by no means yet is ... well, let me put it this way ...I would watch it again at some point.

I have to echo previous commentators' reviews and proclaim NOCTURNA as one of the best unseen exploitation films of the 70s! Where late-70s flicks like VAMPIRE HOOKERS, LUST AT FIRST BITE and Dracula aren't too hard to find, NOCTURNA has been unavailable for years. Contrary to popular belief, it is not because of music rights issues, but because of other behind-the-scenes issues. Hopefully they can be rectified and this cult-classic-waiting-to-happen can finally be unleashed to a brand-new audience of Midnight Movie lovers!The Nai Bonet nude scene was shot separately from the rest of the film and tacked on to spice up the movie. Other than this sequence and a sex scene with Tony Hamilton, this could have been rated PG. NOCTURNA is a feel-good vampire comedy with good-natured jokes, almost wall-to-wall disco music and a charming love story. Bonet is a very bad actress, but is simply stunning and definitely has a unique statuesque presence in her many flowing costumes. Sy Richardson, familiar from playing the jive-talking Fairy Godmother in Michael Pataki's Cinderella, is a jive-talking vampire pimp here, and Brother Theodore (whose bloodthirsty voice was lent to Dracula VS. FRANKENSTEIN and the trailer for MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND) hams it up magnificently as Hotel Transylvania's manager. John Carradine seems a little lost, but Yvonne De Carlo acts like she's having a grand time (as she did in the pretty abysmal BLAZING STEWARDESSES) and is given some juicy one-liners here. Look fast for a 42nd Street adult movie marquee advertising the classic A COMING OF ANGELS!NOCTURNA's double-disc soundtrack LP can still be found pretty easily in cutout bins and eBay auction listings, and I would recommend picking up a copy even if you haven't seen the film! Tracks by Gloria Gaynor, Vicki Sue Robinson, The Moment of Truth, Jay Siegel and The Heaven 'n' Hell Orchestra are wonderful and generally very hard to find elsewhere!

Amazingly, Media Entertainment DID release NOCTURNA to home video one time in 1982 as a rental-only item: at the time the tape would have set a store back about $145 ... I found one for about fifty, but I collect these things like old men collect stamps & am a nut. There are some underground outlets that will have recordings of it for about $15 - $20, though do not expect surround sound quality audio, and yes there are probably people who would want this movie just for the musical angle: other than the soundtrack from the film some of these songs may be utterly unavailable, and one or two are performed live on camera.And I delightfully agree with all of the other commentors: this is a film that could easily be re-discovered & made into an instant Midnight Movies circuit hit. The soundtrack is a disco lovers dream come true, with some interesting jams you won't find on those Rhino Records CD sets with Disco Hits of the 70's; this stuff was pretty much made for the film, and as such is the reason why the film went out of print almost immediately: Royalty issues. There are acts from like three different record lables on the soundtrack and that leads to legality issues when re-releases are sought -- the copyrights for the songs may be unattainable for licensing, a problem with a number of favorites [LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH & TERROR TRAIN being the most well known examples] that are long overdue for re-examination by the culture which spawned them.Tis a shame: this is one of the few really watchable fangers from this period of time. VAMPIRE HOOKERS is what those schooled in the genre usually think of when you mention late 70's, and while his rheumatism may have gotten worse, the great John Carradine nicely makes up for his role in that debacle with his few scenes. Nai Bonei is of course a marvel to behold, and yes, her bathtub & subsequent scented oiling is reason in itself to seek this one out, though I am drawn to the color & lighting schemes, which have a very "NYC" look to them. Nai also smokes a joint, by the way, and it is odd how the way drug use in movies have changed since 1979: she is actually allowed to enjoy it. Imagne that!I dunno about the disco dancing segments though: I would have been all of 12 in 1979 and never "got" disco. Unlike the clubbing we know these days, disco was a whole subculture, more like the modern country movement, with specific choreography for specific dances or moves that of course look silly, but are presented with such a tunneled vision that the film becomes about 1979, not just made in 1979, and one of the things that I like to look for in Vampiralia is seeing the conventions & trappnigs of the genre re-defined, and if it took disco dancing vampires to do it for 1979 well whatever.NOCTURNA may be silly, but is FAR more watchable than that wretched DRACULA with Frank Langella, made the same year, or the excereble VAMPIRE HOOKERS with it's flatulence jokes, gay jokes, Filipino jokes and John Carradine in a white Ugly American silk suit. I'll take the bell bottomed vampires over that junk anyday. Hell some of them a brothers too, and soul food vampires sounds like a pretty cool idea, as long as we're remaking STARSKY & HUTCH and all. I wish more time had been spent on Nocturna's vampirism and less on her quest to find a really good party to dance at, but girls will be girls, and while narcissitic to say the least, Nai Bonei does appear to know how to have a good time, and I always liked girls who liked to party. Especially when they willingly strip down to their bikini's for an attention grabber.Expect whatever recording you find of NOCTURNA to have some wear just before & after Nai's bath scene; it really is somethin' else, and I've sat through a lot of this stuff. For something to evoke that kind of a reaction from a mind as rotted by filth as mine is remarkable. Worth every penny of my $50 bucks.*** out of a possible ****