Dracula in Pakistan (1967)

This is exactly the type of stuff you expect the good people over at Mondo Macabro to release under their formidable DVD-label: Obscure, horror-themed curiosities from all over the globe! These movies aren't necessarily good, but definitely unique in some way and they at least always feature aspects that appeal to avid cult collectors. This particular oddity, for example, is a Pakistani vampire movie (how many of those do you know?) and it's one of the only horror films ever to be heavily censored not because of the horrific subject matter but because the female characters act & dress too provocatively! The Mondo Macabro DVD restores all the cut footage in which the women dance "too" sensually, although sometimes you wish it hadn't because these parts are overlong, dreary and serve absolutely no purpose. The story introduces Rehan (interesting how some of these actors have last names and others don't) as an overly ambitious scientist striving to become immortal. He develops an elixir that does the job, but the side effects involve an allergy to daylight, pointy teeth and the incontrollable hunger for human blood. In short, the poor man transforms into a vampire (although he doesn't seem to mind) and nobody in a large area around his mansion is longer safe, especially not when he sets his mind to drinking the blood of Dr. Aqil's beautiful fiancée. The first half of the story is involving and occasionally even atmospheric & suspenseful, but then it turns into a dull family drama with hardly any noteworthy moments, apart from the virulent man vs. vampire showdown in the end. The popular title "Dracula in Pakistan" is obviously the best choice for marketing purposes, but "The Living Corpse" is of course far more accurate since there's no actual blood relation between Professor Tabani and the legendary count of Bram Stoker's novel. The film does try really hard to be reminiscent to "Dracula", however. The main star, Rehan, could easily pass for Christopher Lee's brother from another (Pakistani) mother, the "brides" also look familiar and the script even bluntly copies famous quotes that are irreversibly linked to the original Dracula ("Children of the Night … What music they make"). In fact, the absolute most suitable title for this movie would be "The Pakistani Vampire Musical". There really are a LOT of musical interludes. Some of the songs are truly misfit (La Cucaracha in a horror film?), others are sexy (the bride's dance to a song that sounds like "The Shadows") and just plain goofy (the women's overlong beach song), but they practically all are redundant and exclusively added to stretch the running time. "The Living Corpse" is a curious find for people with a wide interest in global cult cinema, but not necessarily fundamental viewing for horror fanatics.