Above is a rare promo poster for Yaguz Figenli’s thriller Kara Boga, aka Black Bull, 1974, with Behçet Nacar and Yonca Yücel. You might not deduce this from the art, which features a woman sensually eating what looks like a Tostitos chip, but this is actually a vampire movie, a sort of polyester clad take on the legend of Vlad Tepes, aka Vlad the Impaler.
Like a lot of Turkish movies from the seventies, this one has numerous flaws: the acting is over the top, the sound effects are bad, the music is distractingly symphonic (except for the percussive slow burners used for the love scenes), and the original celluloid has yellowed, which makes every frame look like it was shot through a slice of lemon.
But there’s action aplenty and a lot to laugh at. Wanna see a guy get stabbed in the back but for some reason clutch his stomach before falling over dead? Got ya covered. Wanna see a hunchback whose hump is clearly two day’s worth of laundry stuffed under his shirt? Check. Wanna see Vlad Tepes—Vlad the frickin’ Impaler—suffer a brutal beatdown from a guy who looks like Mark Spitz? Then look no further. Let’s just say this one really bites, but in an entertaining way.
