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{{Infobox film
| name = Lady Dracula
| image = Lady Dracula 1978 Logo 001.svg
| caption =
| director = [[Franz Josef Gottlieb]]
| producer = 
| writer = Brad Harris <br> Redis Reda<!--Pseudonym?-->
| narrator =
| starring = [[Evelyne Kraft]] <br> [[Brad Harris]] <br> [[Theo Lingen]]
| music = [[Horst Jankowski]]
| cinematography = [[Fritz Baader]] <br> [[Ernst W. Kalinke]]
| editing = [[Gisela Haller]]
| studio = IFV Produktion 
| distributor =
| released = {{Film date|1977|03|16|df=y}}
| runtime = 79 minutes
| country = West Germany
| language = [[German language|German]]
| budget =
| gross =
}}
'''''Lady Dracula''''' is a 1977 West German [[comedy horror]] film, directed by [[Franz Josef Gottlieb]] and starring [[Evelyne Kraft]], [[Brad Harris]], and [[Theo Lingen]] in his final film appearance.<ref>Flynn p.199</ref>

The film is initially set in 1876, when [[Count Dracula]] kidnaps and bites an adolescent [[countess]]. Dracula is killed shortly after, and the girl is sealed in her tomb before having a chance to turn into a [[vampire]]. In 1976, she is accidentally released from her tomb and quickly changes into an adult form. The vampiress has to adapt to the changes in her life, while also working for a living. An inspector investigating a series of vampire murders quickly falls in love with the attractive vampire woman.

==Plot summary==
In [[Austria-Hungary]], 1876, [[Count Dracula]] emerges from his castle and raids a girl boarding school, kidnapping the young Countess Barbara von Weidenborn. A posse pursues him, but Dracula is able to bite Barbara and drain her blood before he is cornered and staked inside his tomb. Unwilling to defile Barbara's corpse, the citizens bury her in a coffin sealed with a cross to prevent her from rising as a vampire herself.

In 1976, a hundred years later, two construction workers accidentally unearth Barbara's coffin, and one of them steals the cross to trade it for a drink of beer before they report their find to the police. In the meantime, however, the coffin is stolen and sold to an unscrupulous antique dealer. Barbara emerges the following night and kills the dealer; but after having consumed his blood, she turns into a beautiful adult woman.

Barbara eventually finds employment with Theo Marmorstein, an undertaker, where she secretly drains the corpses of their blood for later consumption. However, during a [[Carnival|carnival party]], her supply of blood runs out (mostly thanks to Marmorstein's bumbling assistants), and in her thirst she attacks and drains Irene Ruhesanft, Marmorstein's love interest. When Marmorstein catches her in the act, she moves to attack him as well; Marmorstein accidentally knocks over a bunch of chemicals which set the building ablaze, forcing Barbara to flee and sustain herself on blood banks and the occasional human victim.

The vampire murders are investigated by [[Federal Police (Austria)|Austrian police]] Inspector Harris and his assistant Eddi. They encounter Barbara while she is still working for Marmorstein, and while Harris falls in love with her, Eddi gradually begins to suspect that the murderer is a vampire, which Harris dismisses.

After the undertaker's firm has burned down, Harris is delighted to find Barbara still alive, but as they spend one evening together, she attacks and tries to drain him. The imminent sunrise forces her to retreat to her coffin stored inside a secret room within her apartment; when Harris incautiously follows her and bends over the coffin, she pulls him inside and the lid falls shut. When Eddi, after having deduced that Barbara is the vampire, arrives right afterwards and comes upon the shaking coffin, he ends the film [[Fourth wall|by nervously asking the audience]]: "I wonder if I should disturb them now?"

==Cast==
* [[Evelyne Kraft]] as Countess Barbara von Weidenborn / Lady Dracula
* [[Marion Kracht]] as Young Barbara
* [[Brad Harris]] as Police Inspector Harris
* [[Theo Lingen]] as Theo Marmorstein 
* [[Eddi Arent]] as Detective Eddi
* [[Christine Buchegger]] as Irene Ruhesanft 
* [[Walter Giller]] as Mr. Oskar 
* [[Klaus Höhne]] as Mr. Hubert 
* [[Roberto Blanco]] as Karli 
* [[Stephen Boyd]] as [[Count Dracula]]

==Production==
It was shot in 1975 [[location shooting|on location]] in [[Vienna]], but the release was delayed to 1977.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* John L. Flynn. ''Cinematic vampires: the living dead on film and television, from The devil's castle (1896) to Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)''. McFarland & Co., 1992.

== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|0076290}}

{{Adaptations of Dracula}}
{{Franz Josef Gottlieb}}

[[Category:1977 films]]
[[Category:1977 comedy horror films]]
[[Category:Films set in 1876]]
[[Category:Films set in 1976]]
[[Category:German comedy horror films]]
[[Category:West German films]]
[[Category:1970s German-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Franz Josef Gottlieb]]
[[Category:Films set in Austria-Hungary]]
[[Category:Films shot in Vienna]]
[[Category:Dracula films]]
[[Category:1977 German films]]
[[Category:Films about kidnapping]]
[[Category:German vampire films]]
[[Category:1977 comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:German-language comedy horror films]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Lady Dracula|access_date=2026-03-04}}