"Let the cartoooooooooooon begin!" Sorry, but for my generation William Marshall is best remembered as The King of Cartoons from Pee Wee's Playhouse, but little did I realize that he was originally the super cool vampire Prince Mamuwalde AKA Blacula! Marshall returns in this sequel that's surprisingly good. Having been vanquished at the end of the first film, Blacula is resurrected by a drug dealer who wants to use Blacula to exact his revenge. Blacula instead turns the dealer into part of a vampire army he commands for his own ends, part of which is securing Pam Grier, who hadn't broke out yet with "Coffy" which was released this same year. The vampires are creepy, the voodoo themed storyline is entertaining, and the film features a strong leads in Marshall and Grier. Overall, this is pretty silly blaxploitation film, but it's also quite entertaining in a camp sort of way. And look fast for Craig T. Nelson as a police sergeant.

Fortunately, this cult horror movie is nowhere near as bad as its title suggests, nor is it really a blaxploitation film in the proper sense of the word, rather it is a typical reworking of the vampire genre. Here we see an African Prince of Darkness who turns up in America biting people's necks as his kind usually do, only he is not happy being cursed to walk forever in darkness, he wants out. How can he achieve this? A voodoo exorcism, and he has found the priestess he hopes will perform it, if he can convince her not only that he could never harm her but that he is really a thoroughly decent chap who has no free will. How can it not be so if he despises what he does? This is in stark contrast to the pleasure he exhibits when murdering a couple of pimps, but heck, if you call the guy a faggot, what else can you expect?There are complications of course, and these are entirely of his own making, he has left so many bodies in such a small geographical area in such a short period of time that even the Keystone Cops would figure out something big was happening in that mysterious house in the 'hood. The final scene sees the police turning up at the house to do battle with the powers of darkness, but this isn't so much a shoot-out as a stake-out. All good clean fun, but if this one scares you, whatever you do, don't watch "The Omen".

The revived Prince Mamuwalde yearns to be cured of his bloodsucking habits and, to this end, seeks the help of a voodoo-practicing young woman. The raison d'etre behind this inferior sequel (directed by the man behind the two "Count Yorga" movies) to a surprisingly successful "Blaxploitation" take on the vampire myth only comes to the fore during the last fifteen minutes of the film; the rest is taken up by standard thrills, even more humdrum detection and, hilariously, copious use of – no pun intended – colorful slang: at one point, 'Blacula' himself is described as "an interesting dude"; met by a "What's happenin'?" greeting when he overhears the intentions of one of his newly-fanged acolytes to go against his direct orders – who also pleads with his master to tell him if he looks good now that he can no longer cast a reflection in the mirror!; and dismissed as an alcoholic hallucination by an inebriated partygoer with a cry of "Shiiiiiit!" As intimated earlier, the pacing is a bit off for most of the film's running time and, while William Marshall is as commanding in his role as the first time round, the welcome appearances of Pam Grier (as Blacula's would-be savior) and an unrecognizable Bernie Hamilton (as a tramp whose actions set the narrative in motion) do not help matters much.

I just bought "Scream, Blacula, Scream" from '73 at Wal-Mart for $5.00 dollars. I LIKE IT! I already bought the original Blacula several years ago but, I had never seen the sequel until today. I thought it was done rather well. I fully enjoyed the film. William Marshall is VERY convincing as a scary vampire who is evil as sin. In a way, two films of this nature is enough for William Marshall; no need to drag-it-out and over-stay your welcome. I feel two movies was enough. In considering that the film is that of the early 70s with little special effect abilities, I still say it was done well enough for any horror fan to admire. I am STOKED that I bought this DVD.. Prince Mamuwalde / Count Blacula is kool... He's a strange, scary dude... Cheers....MR.BILL, RaleighNOTE:I do, however, think that the ending scene in the original film was more satisfying than that of the sequel...