“His bite was outta site!”

ms-blacula-doll


It is a stormy night without rain in 1780! At Castle Dracula! The wicked Count is entertaining royalty from “the dark continent,” as he calls it, as if he thinks he’s some sort of colonial patriarch, and yet he refuses to do proper business with the Africans. In fact, he supports slavery! Who knew the Count was a slave owner? No, none of this makes any sense, but blaxploitation films are not revered for their plots. What matters is the Count bites this “dark prince,” and thus creates BLACULA, the film world’s only black vampire (to my knowledge) until Vamp came along in 1986.

Below is the opening sequence to the movie:


Why resurrect Blacula now? Because Amok Time and Sideshow Replicas have released a 12″ articulated replica of the Prince (see photo at top of post). What makes this figure rock is he’s got three interchangeable heads, including my favorite, the rotted corpse look. Every doll should come with this, particularly Bratz dolls. What makes this not so special is the price is $65, which puts it out of the reach of all but serious collectors.

Oh well, even if you can’t afford it, click through and take a look at the awesome work that went into modeling the three heads.
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May 19, 2009 | Filed Under Movies, Shopping, Vampires, dolls | View Comments 

Scotland Yard considers opening its “Black Museum” to the public

When serial killers and other violent criminals terrorize Britain, their possessions–equipment, souvenirs of victims, personal belongings, or simply crime scene evidence–are stored away in the Crime Museum, also known as the Black Museum, a 120-year-old  private collection that Scotland Yard’s investigators have access to, but not the general public*. That may change if Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, has his way. He wants to open up at least part of the collection as a tourist trap, noting, “If we had a Black Museum, we would have tourists queuing around the corner.”

No, this is not an exhibit from the Black Museum.
No, this is not an exhibit from the Black Museum.

Among other things, the museum contains notes alleged to be from Jack the Ripper, items owned by Dr. Hawley Crippen (an American doctor hanged in London in 1910 for murdering his wife), the clothing that Police Constable Keith Blakelock was killed in when a mob tried to behead him in 1985, various nooses used to execute men, and death masks of executed criminals. I’m trying to imagine what they’re going to be able to sell in the gift shop without looking completely tasteless.

* although special appointments can sometimes be made

Official Crime Museum page at the Metropolitan Police website

(Photo: eschipul)

May 7, 2009 | Filed Under Crime, Places | View Comments