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A Blacula reboot is in development

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We’ve all heard of Dracula. The big daddy of all vampires. But the biggest problem with Dracula and his homeland of Transylvania, Romania, is that it’s too white. And sometimes in this world of increasing equality, we need to give people of all backgrounds a vampire to look up to and be inspired by. Or fear, I guess?

This was the idea around the creation of Blacula, a 1972 blaxploitation film that centred on an 18th-century African prince named Mamuwalde (played by William Marshall) who was turned into a bloodsucker by Count Dracula and would go on to lead a new generation of black vampires. And despite neither this original movie nor its sequel, Scream Blacula Scream, being any good, it did at least inspire several black-led horror films back in the day and as such, left somewhat of a legacy on the genre as a whole.

Blacula is an ancient African prince who is cursed by Dracula after he fails to agree to end the slave trade. Blacula is entombed and awakens 200 years later ready to avenge the death of his ancestors and of those responsible for robbing his people of their work, culture and heritage as they appropriated it for profit.

And now, according to Variety, it looks like we will be getting a Blacula move once more, as MGM is preparing to reboot the franchise with Deon Taylor set to direct this new take on the character. There are no details on what this new film will entail and how or whether it will build on the first two films or perhaps do something completely different with the character, but out of all the remakes we are getting these days, this is certainly one of the more bizarre.

Given the world has perhaps not changed as much as we would have liked with regards to racial equality there is still a good political message that a film like this can make. The creators will hopefully also lean into its bizarre premise and perhaps make this reboot more of a comedy, rather than trying to simply emulate a Dracula film and be a full-blown horror. The original films ended up not being too scary anyway and perhaps neither should any new attempt try to be.

Last Updated: June 21, 2021

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