I’d seen DRACULA (1931) and it’s sequels on my local TV station’s Creature Feature. I loved the atmosphere. I loved Bela Lugosi as Dracula. Even when he played characters similar to Dracula, he was Dracula so the characters became Dracula. But there came a day when Bela Lugosi was Dracula no more. That was the day I saw Christopher Lee in HORROR OF DRACULA (1958).
I was 14 or 15 years old, talking to a girl I liked who liked monsters too. We were listening to the radio on external speakers in the gas station parking lot, across from the high school. The DJ announced that, Friday night, at our home town theater, we were going to have a horror double feature. Not a lot happened on Friday nights in our hometown. This was going to be cool...especially when I heard that the films were HORROR OF DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD.
Since I rarely got to hear the rock n roll station at home, this was the first time I’d heard this ad. I was grinning ear to ear.
“Are you going?”, she asked me.
“I don’t know...Lugosi is Dracula. No one else is Dracula”, I replied.
“Well, Mama said that if you were going, I could go too.”, smiling and twisting her hair.
I leaned in towards her, “Amy, I...”
About that time, my mom pulled up in the station wagon.
“Hi, Amy! Billy, the ice cream is melting...we have to go! Tell your Mama I said hello.”
“I will, Mrs. Jones. Call me, Billy.”
“Will do.”
On the way home, I came up with a plan. I’d research the movies. Learn everything I could before Friday so I could impress Amy. I got home and grabbed my Famous Monsters out and started pouring over the pics. I knew FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD mainly because I'd seen it already, but I’d avoided Hammer’s Dracula because he wasn’t MY Dracula. But now I HAD to learn more...I was going to watch HORROR OF DRACULA Friday night and betray Bela Lugosi.
Friday afternoon came. I was excited about the double feature, but I wanted to watch the afternoon movie, GODZILLA VS. THE THING. Mom told me to get a shower and get dressed. I grabbed my Led Zeppelin t-shirt, threw on my jeans, and my high tops. I ran to the station wagon and jumped in. Mom saw me and said, “Is that what you’re wearing tonight?”
“What do you mean, Mom?”
“Nevermind.”, she said smiling at me as we drove off.
We got to Amy’s house around 6:30. I ran to the door and Amy opened it before I knocked. She was wearing a really nice dress. Her hair was pulled up. And she smelled like honeysuckles.
“Hey, wow, um….”
“Shouldn’t we get going, Billy?”
“Um, yeah...I..I..”
‘Come on, y’all! ‘Movie starts at 7:15”, mom yelled from the station wagon.
We climbed in the back seat. I started rambling about GODZILLA VS. THE THING. For some reason, perhaps it was my upcoming betrayal of Lugosi, I felt nervous. Amy moved closer to me. I began to sweat. My worries about my betrayal of Dracula were worse than I thought!
HORROR OF DRACULA began and I really enjoyed it. I didn’t feel as though I was traitor to Lugosi. I felt like everything was going to be alllllllrrr….. FANGS. I wasn’t expecting the female victim to ENJOY the FANGS...to enjoy the FANGS oh so very much. I began to sweat again. I glanced over at Amy who was twisting her hair and staring at ME instead of the FANGS! Suddenly something clicked in my head...Dracula was just a movie. Amy was real. Amy is right here in front of me. Our eyes locked. She leaned in….I leaned in and
POP!!! CRACKLE!!!! Pitch black darkness. My heart was racing. The house lights came on, “Sorry folks, the film broke. You will be refunded at the door.”
I called my mom on the pay phone to come and get us. Everyone was in the parking lot talking and waiting for their rides to arrive. “I hated we didn’t get to see the rest of the movie, Amy.”
“That’s alright, Billy. I enjoyed getting to hang out with you.”
“Amy, I...”
“What, Billy?”, she asked with a grin, moving in closer.
“I think I dig Christopher Lee more than Bela Lugosi.”
“Why?”
“Fangs.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Ha! Come here.”
Amy moved closer to me. The crowd seemed to vanish. No chatter or theater lights. Just she and I waiting in a parking lot. I began to kiss her. “Ow! Billy, you bit me!”
“Fangs for letting me know”, I said as my fangs flashed under the neon sign of the small town theater on a Friday night.
FANGS copyright 2021 Vance Capley
Grab Monster Magazine at https://indyplanet.com/visual-comics
I believe I was smiling throughout the entire read. This gave a great feeling of time and place. I look forward to reading more.
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