I have to echo previous commentators' reviews and proclaim NOCTURNA as one of the best unseen exploitation films of the 70s! Where late-70s flicks like VAMPIRE HOOKERS, LUST AT FIRST BITE and Dracula aren't too hard to find, NOCTURNA has been unavailable for years. Contrary to popular belief, it is not because of music rights issues, but because of other behind-the-scenes issues. Hopefully they can be rectified and this cult-classic-waiting-to-happen can finally be unleashed to a brand-new audience of Midnight Movie lovers!
The Nai Bonet nude scene was shot separately from the rest of the film and tacked on to spice up the movie. Other than this sequence and a sex scene with Tony Hamilton, this could have been rated PG. NOCTURNA is a feel-good vampire comedy with good-natured jokes, almost wall-to-wall disco music and a charming love story. Bonet is a very bad actress, but is simply stunning and definitely has a unique statuesque presence in her many flowing costumes. Sy Richardson, familiar from playing the jive-talking Fairy Godmother in Michael Pataki's Cinderella, is a jive-talking vampire pimp here, and Brother Theodore (whose bloodthirsty voice was lent to Dracula VS. FRANKENSTEIN and the trailer for MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND) hams it up magnificently as Hotel Transylvania's manager. John Carradine seems a little lost, but Yvonne De Carlo acts like she's having a grand time (as she did in the pretty abysmal BLAZING STEWARDESSES) and is given some juicy one-liners here. Look fast for a 42nd Street adult movie marquee advertising the classic A COMING OF ANGELS!
NOCTURNA's double-disc soundtrack LP can still be found pretty easily in cutout bins and eBay auction listings, and I would recommend picking up a copy even if you haven't seen the film! Tracks by Gloria Gaynor, Vicki Sue Robinson, The Moment of Truth, Jay Siegel and The Heaven 'n' Hell Orchestra are wonderful and generally very hard to find elsewhere!
The Nai Bonet nude scene was shot separately from the rest of the film and tacked on to spice up the movie. Other than this sequence and a sex scene with Tony Hamilton, this could have been rated PG. NOCTURNA is a feel-good vampire comedy with good-natured jokes, almost wall-to-wall disco music and a charming love story. Bonet is a very bad actress, but is simply stunning and definitely has a unique statuesque presence in her many flowing costumes. Sy Richardson, familiar from playing the jive-talking Fairy Godmother in Michael Pataki's Cinderella, is a jive-talking vampire pimp here, and Brother Theodore (whose bloodthirsty voice was lent to Dracula VS. FRANKENSTEIN and the trailer for MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND) hams it up magnificently as Hotel Transylvania's manager. John Carradine seems a little lost, but Yvonne De Carlo acts like she's having a grand time (as she did in the pretty abysmal BLAZING STEWARDESSES) and is given some juicy one-liners here. Look fast for a 42nd Street adult movie marquee advertising the classic A COMING OF ANGELS!
NOCTURNA's double-disc soundtrack LP can still be found pretty easily in cutout bins and eBay auction listings, and I would recommend picking up a copy even if you haven't seen the film! Tracks by Gloria Gaynor, Vicki Sue Robinson, The Moment of Truth, Jay Siegel and The Heaven 'n' Hell Orchestra are wonderful and generally very hard to find elsewhere!