Billy the Kid vs Dracula

I've loved bad movies long before I discovered that MST3K made hundreds of them watchable with their hilarious gags and commentaries. I’ve long held that the only truly “bad” movies are those that fail to deliver any kind of entertainment value at all. Whether you’re laughing with it or at it, if you’re enjoying your precious time, the film is redeemable. Stretching that limit, though, is William Beaudine’s Billy the Kid vs Dracula, starring Chuck Courtney and John Carradine as our headlining hero and villain. 

Shot virtually back to back with Beaudine’s other notorious Western/Horror mashup semi-stinker, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter (plot twist: it’s Frankenstein’s Granddaughter!), Billy the Kid vs Dracula was shot over a swift eight days - not sure if that time was both films or eight days each - and on a flimsy budget of $25k, and no cent was spared. There’s little need for a plot breakdown when the title is everything you need to know. Like so many Dracula interpretations, the Vampire who is never actually called “Dracula” sets his fang-ful desires on Billy the Kid’s number one gal, Betty (Melinda Plowman), and now it’s up to the West’s best outlaw to stop the blood-thirsty beast. 

Widely known as the one film John Carradine actually regretted making, it has an understandable reputation. The film is a silly mess from start to finish. Numerous editing errors, day-for-night shots that are brighter than the noon sun, hammy performances, low-rent effects - you name it; it’s rough. But it’s hilariously entertaining. Evidently, the makeup effects budget didn’t include cheap plastic teeth, so as Carradine goes in for a bite, he practically looks at the camera, waiting for the cut so they can move to a shot of the victim’s throat with a couple of little paint drops for blood. Watching the film again, the rented costumes, the rubber bat, and that blood paint easily busted the meager budget. 

However, through its numerous story and execution failings, Billy the Kid vs Dracula is a fun ride through the dusty trails of Western/Horror B-Movie cinema. It’s better viewed as a double feature to the even worse Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter. Since the pair were cinematic bedfellows occupying a double-bill release slate in drive-ins and theaters, they’re best viewed as a one-two punch. They're probably also best viewed with a few drinks on hand or other legalized substances, but as is, they’re the epitome of “so-bad-it’s-good” filmmaking. If John Carradine was embarrassed by it, you know it’s got to be good! 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray 
Haunting Blu-ray for the second time is a new bare-bones Region Free release of Billy the Kid vs Dracula from Shoreline Entertainment. The film is a MOD BDR-25 disc (and uses less than half that space) and comes housed in a standard case. There is no menu at startup, just launches right into the film. 

Okay, so when you check in for a film like Billy the Kid vs Dracula, it’s good to have expectations set. It’s not a great film, so a quality disc is a bit of a long shot. To that point, Kino Lorber Studio Classics actually did a fairly good job with their 2019 Blu-ray. It was bright, clean, detailed, and overall an impressive presentation. This disc from Shoreline? It barely qualifies as HD. Technically, this disc is encoded in HD, but dollars to donuts, I’d wager this master was ripped from YouTube - but not even that good. There are actually some impressively good-quality versions of this film on YouTube in full HD - this disc can’t even match those! It’s loaded with compression artifacts, hazy nondescript details, often muddy-looking colors, and crushed black levels. I wasn’t expecting high quality here; it’s a budget release, but I was hoping for something comparable to the KLSC disc, as I hadn’t picked that up. This is just flat terrible, and for what looks like a “budget quality” effort, it shouldn’t command a price tag twice the amount that the KLSC disc is going for.

On the audio side, the film comes in with an anemic, tinny, Dolby Digital 2.0 track. Sure, you can hear the dialogue, and the sound effects are okay. But that’s the best I can say. I had to pop my levels up just for the track to be audible. The track sounds limp and lifeless, with no appreciable imaging. It might work under extreme circumstances, but like the video, there’s a better option out there.

There isn’t even a main menu, so no, there aren’t any extra features. 

I don’t dunk on a disc release unless it’s warranted. I may not like a film or an A/V presentation might not be amazing, but I’ll do my best to find a few positive points to highlight. This edition of Billy the Kid vs Dracula is a fancy-looking coaster. The best thing I can say is that yes, the film is technically on the disc, but it’s of such a low quality that it’s virtually unwatchable. Especially when compared to the KLSC disc from seven years ago. Hell, even compared to what you can watch for free on YouTube, this doesn't even measure. This is the kind of disc that would otherwise be found at a truck stop bargain bin. Except it’s not at a bargain price. If this were only a couple of bucks, I’d calm down a bit. But as of this writing, this disc is running more than twice the current Amazon price of Kino Lorber Studio Classic’s far superior effort. I don’t think I really need to say it, but treat yourself and your wallet better - Skip It