Count Down (Harry Nilsson), the son of Dracula, is "into just about every kind of music there is." The Count is about to be crowned the "Overlord of the Netherworld" when he has a change of heart. Dr. Van Helsing (Dennis Price) proposes an operation which will make the Count mortal and give him the capacity to love - and force him to relinquish the Netherworld throne. Throw in Baron Frankenstein (Freddie Jones), "Daybreak," and some tracks from Nilsson Schmilsson and Son of Schmilsson and you have Son of Dracula.
"It is not the best film ever made, but I've seen worse." -- Ringo Starr
Of the nine songs in the soundtrack, only "Daybreak" was written especially for the film.
"Jay Fairbank," who is credited with the screenplay for Son of Dracula is actually actress Jennifer Jayne.
Harry Nilsson was not the first choice to star in Son of Dracula. According to director Freddie Francis, Ringo Starr's original choice for the role was David Bowie. (Source: Curtis Armstrong)
In 1998 Q Magazine solicited its readers for questions to ask Ringo Starr. Michael Cooper of Delmar, New York, asked: "In 1974, you made a movie with Harry Nilsson called Son of Dracula directed by Freddie Francis. Any plans to release it on video?"
Ringo's response doesn't directly answer the question:
I produced it for Apple. We had this script, Drac takes the cure, marries the girl and goes off into the sunlight - and it was the only movie we wanted to make. I called Harry because he was a blonde bombshell and we had his teeth fixed, which his mother was always thankful for. We had a lot of fun, there's a lot of musicians in it - John Bonham, Keith Moon, Peter Frampton. We had the premiere in Atlanta, the first movie since Gone With the Wind to open there, and we had 12,000 kids screaming, we had bands ... but we left town the next day, and so did everyone else. In America, the movie only played in towns that had one cinema, because it it had two, no matter what was on down the road, they'd all go there! It's a bit of a shambles now - we went into a studio with Graham Chapman and re-voiced a lot of it, so it makes even less sense now.
The film's premiere took place on April 19, 1974, at the Cherokee Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.
Harry Nilsson and Ringo Starr at the Son Of Dracula Premiere
The Los Angeles premiere was on November 27, 1974. at the Beverly Canon Theater in Beverly Hills.
The film was retitled "Young Dracula" when shown in some theaters to capitalize on the success of "Young Frankenstein."
