Rating: **
Review Date: 10/24/21
Cast: William Marshall, Pam Grier, Richard Lawson, Janee Michelle
"As for kicking my ass, I'd strongly recommend you give it careful consideration before trying."
Cinema's sweatiest vampire returns when Mamuwalde (William Marshall) is resurrected with a voodoo spell by a power-hungry man named Willis (Richard Lawson). And it's quite a powerful spell, as it not only regenerates his flesh and soul, but his clothes as well. Willis wants to take over the voodoo throne from his sister Lisa (Pam Grier), but ends up becoming Mamuwalde's undead servant instead. Wanting to free himself from his vampiric curse, Mamuwalde implores Lisa to perform an exorcism on him with her voodoo powers, but the police (and Lisa's boyfriend) keep interfering. The film ends on a confusing note with little resolution, and it would be the last time Blacula would appear on the silver screen.
While it's a better made film than the original, it's also less enjoyable due to the weak story, poor dialog, and painfully slow pacing. Mamuwalde has also lost a lot of his charm and personality, and comes across as a sinister caricature of his former self. Christopher Lee's Dracula films suffered the same problem. William Marshall gives an entertaining performance, but he doesn't have much to work with. Richard Lawson gives a compelling and enthusiastic performance as the egomaniacal Willis and Pam Grier is always a treat. It's just unfortunate that the story is so bad.