SHANNON’S DRIVE-IN: BILLY THE KID VERSUS DRACULA

Shannon watches the horror-western BILLY THE KID VERSUS DRACULA, but is it fit for the drive-in?

Former outlaw Billy the Kid is pitted against Dracula for the love of a woman in the old west.

Director: William Beaudine

Writer: Carl K. Hittleman

Stars: Chuck Courtney, John Carradine, Melinda Plowman, Virginia Christine

One of the best things about 1966’s Billy the Kid Versus Dracula is the fake novelty bat which appears periodically throughout the film, flapping its rubber wings, an omen in the sky signaling something is afoot. It’s a small piece of charming camp in a movie which could have used more of it.

Billy the Kid Versus Dracula is a horror-western mashup pitting outlaw Billy the Kid against that legendary vampire Count Dracula. It’s a showdown featuring one of the most famous western outlaws of all time against one of the most beloved monsters from classic literature turned icon in many film and TV re-imaginings. Director William Beaudine took these two and created something that could also be called Billy the Middle-Aged Former Outlaw Versus Creepy Old Man Dracula.

The movie plops Dracula down into the American old west, only to set him up with that enduring vampire storyline of finding a bride. While traveling by stagecoach, he meets a woman who shows him a picture of her daughter. Dracula immediately starts salivating over the eighteen-year old’s photo and that’s his motivation for the rest of the film.

Then there’s Billy the Kid (Chuck Courtney), now a former outlaw turned ranch foreman, engaged to Dracula’s crush, Betty (Melinda Plowman). It’s a wholesome and sanitized version of the outlaw, making him a hero who looks about forty (the real Billy the Kid was shot and killed when he was only twenty-one, so there was some retconning of history here). Dracula comes to town and poses as Betty’s uncle, James Underhill (awfully convenient she has never met her uncle before and doesn’t know what he looks like). Throw in a German immigrant family who spouts out vampiric lore to help the story along, a small town full of classic western film tropes, and one fake bat from the local novelty store and you got yourself a movie.

The movie works best when it’s being ridiculous, but those parts are few and far between. For the most part it’s a quickie western following the typical formula, moving through dialogue-heavy scenes and traditional western set-pieces, such as the local saloon. There’s not a hell of a lot to make the film unique other than the bits of camp that are the only reason to watch. If there was more creativity, more time, and less budget constraints, more could have been done. It feels like the movie is full of missed opportunities. Case in point: it’s disappointing there wasn’t a high noon-style shoot-out between Billy and Underhill for an ultimate showdown, and it could work in this movie because we see Underhill walking around in broad daylight without getting the vampire equivalent of a sunburn.

Overall though I can forgive the flaws because Beaudine shot this in the same week as Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter, so it’s obvious the goal was to shoot fast and cheap. The two movies were paired as a double feature for drive-in distribution, so getting two horror-westerns for the price of one, no matter how flawed they are, is always a great deal.

Carradine had played Dracula twice before in 1944’s House of Frankenstein and 1945’s House of Dracula, so he’s no stranger to the role. He gives it all in this movie, presenting Dracula as somewhat charming, but also tries for intensity which becomes laughable when he bugs out his eyes like some kind of weird reptile while he also is lit by a strange red light, making Dracula look as if he’s trapsing through an Argento movie.

It has been said Carradine spent most of the shoot drunk and has been quoted as saying, “I have worked in a dozen of the greatest, and I have worked in a dozen of the worst. I only regret Billy the Kid Vs. Dracula.” In regards to this movie, I can be quoted as saying, “Eh, I’ve seen worse.”

Shannon Grant is a writer, performer, adventurer, and horned cryptid living in the wilds of upstate New York. Her work can be found in many small press anthologies such as A Guide to Useless Sidekicks, Catskill Chaos, and The Lizzie Borden House Anthology. She is currently at work on a vampire novella. When not writing, she can be found haunting drive-in movie theaters, karaoke bars, and looking for ghosts in the woods.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.