Dracula (1979) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - July 8, 1979

Thanks in very large part to the massive success of the Edward Gorey designed revival of the Dean/Balderston penned play, both on Broadway and as a national tour, Universal dusted off the gothic horror property that launched its famous monster line-up and released this "all-new" cinematic version of the classic story in 1979.

There were also three or four Dracula movies that came out during the summer of 1979, depending on whether or not you count (heh, "count") Werner Herzog's Noserfatu the Vampyre. Love at First Bite, a rom-com take on Dracula that starred George Hamilton as the Count, preceded this film's release by 3 or so months. The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula, a delayed by five or so years retitled release of Hammer Film's Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, would open the Wednesday before this film's release.

Because the movie looked "old" to me, in that it was set in the 19th century and 12 year-old me preferred movies and stories set in time periods with electricity, indoor plumbing, and motor cars, I was disinterested in seeing this on the big screen. Too bad for younger me.

I did catch up on during a Halloween night sleepover with a whole bunch of friends. An independent pay TV outlet had an awesome marathon lined up. What I remember being shown that night was the animated film Wizards (1977), followed by The Amityville Horror (1979), Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980) and Dracula (1979). There may come a time when I might be able to fact check this, by checking the Oakland Tribune's TV listings, but who knows if, or when, that will ever occur.