Deafula (1975) User Reviews

Deaf Dracula

[Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki · 5/10 · 7 October 2016]

Disorienting take on Dracula, its entire story told through sign language, giving the film a uniquely weird touch, making its lead seem even more alien, and bizarre, even with his sillier than normal appearance (why the silly looking moustache, and painted on eyebrows?)

This film also benefits from putting the Count in the foreign surrounding of a major, metropolitan area, rather than his Transylvanian abode, and in the (then) present day.

The problem, however, lies in putting Drac into a setting which has aged so poorly, (the mid 1970s) and such a weird twist as having Dracula signing his way through the story of the search for a killer.

Still worth watching, if you know what you are getting into, but I wonder if sticking to a more traditional Dracula plot, in American Sign Language might have worked more successfully?

Strange and silent

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 11 September 2020]

He first - and as far as I know only - horror film shot using American Sign Language, I've been looking for Deafula for a long time to see just how weird it is. The good news is that it's totally strange and exactly what I hoped that it would be. In truth, it's also the first ASL film ever made.

It was written and directed by - and stars - Peter Wechsberg, using the stage name Peter Wolf. As a student at the deaf-friendly Gallaudet University, he went on to be in the National Theater of the Deaf. In the world of Deafula, everyone is deaf.

Steve Adams (Wolf) is a theology student who starts to believe that he's a vampire. His best friend, a detective, has hired an inspector who has already battled - and defeated - Dracula to discover who is behind the 27 murders that have already gone done.

Man, there's so much weirdness in here that I barely know where to start. Steve has always been a vampire and his preacher father has been able to feed him with his blood until his heart gives way. Steve's mother also left his father for Dracula and sleeps in his grave, while her mother's best friend Amy - who disappeared many years ago - has a magic ring that tells her when Steve is a bat. Where has she been? Oh, she's just been living with a handless servant named Zork.

This is the only movie I've seen where a vampire prays to God to forgive him.

While this movie was originally silent, they later dubbed it for hearing audiences, adding a really bad Bela Lugosi impression for Dracula.

Wechsberg signed an agreement with the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to receive twelve copies of the film to show it to audiences. They would eventually bootleg the movie and start sending out VHS tapes, so the creator of this film had to sue the U.S. government for stealing from him.

This is worth tracking down if only to see how a deaf creator sees vampirism.

Agonizingly dull Deafula.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 4/10 · 20 November 2010]

The story of "Deafula" focuses on Steve Adams,a young theology student who just happens to turn into a vampire from time to time,but has no memory of doing so after the fact.After a chat with a friend who is investigating the bloodless corpses turning up around town,Adams begins to have flashbacks to his childhood-including one scene in which his bloodlust causes him to rip out the throat of his puppy.Having previously believed he had just been an unusually anemic youngster and the son of a simple minister these memories prompt Adams to investigate his past;he finds that he is actually the son of Count Dracula himself."Deafula" is a perfect cure for insomnia.It's silly and pretentious flick with plenty of psychotronic weirdness.The special effects are bad and the action moves at snail's pace.4 deafulas out of 10.

Yay! The only movie in sign language is a vampire flick!

[boris-26 · 20 November 2001]

DEAFULA is by far, the strangest adaptation of Bram Stoker's vampire novel ever! The entire film is in sign language. It rarely plays. When I saw the film at the Museum of Modern Art, the entire audience was dead silent. All I could think was the film-maker's intent. They felt, deaf people need to enjoy movies more, and what's more enjoyable than a vampire movie?

You don't hear much about this one.

[BA_Harrison · 2/10 · 27 April 2024]

Diagnosed with a rare disease when born, Steve Adams (Peter Wolf) requires monthly blood transfusions from his father Reverand Adams (James Randall); failing that, he transforms into the vampire Deafula, for Steve's real father is none other than Count Dracula!

Produced for deaf and hard of hearing audiences, Deafula's cast uses sign language throughout (with a voiceover for those of us who don't understand sign language); this makes it an undeniably unique viewing experience, but one that I found extremely tedious, the whole movie being cheap and amateurishly made, with a terrible script, crap acting, a leaden pace, an embarrassingly naff vampire (that fake nose!), and long periods of total silence.

Deaf viewers may appreciate the effort made, but I imagine most people will struggle to stay awake. For me, this ranks up there with William Shatner's Incubus (which is entirely in Esperanto) as one of the strangest yet most boring horror oddities.

I'm all ears.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 6/10 · 15 October 2015]

With Halloween coming up,I started looking round for off-beat Horror movies that I could give to a friend as a gift.Talking to a DVD seller,I was happily caught by surprise,when he revealed that he had recently tracked down the only title to be filmed in "Signscope",which turned out to be a Horror film for the deaf! Which led to me getting ready to listen closely to Deafula.

The plot:

Being unable to catch a serial killer who has murdered 30 people,the local police force decide to hire an expert in catching serial killers from the UK.Looking at the evidence gathered,the cop notices that all of the victims have bite marks,despite Dracula having been killed years ago.As the cops continue to search for the killer, Steve Adams begins to focus on his childhood,and starts to place the fragments of his childhood memories together,which leads to Adams discover that his preacher dad may have given him an earful of vampirism.

View on the film: Filmed in fuzzy black & white,writer/director and lead actor Peter Wolf gives the movie a wonderfully peculiar atmosphere,by splashing voices interrupting the sign language over the screen,which gives the film a fascinating disembodied appearance.Along with the waves of dubbed vocals,Wolf gives the movie a smooth touch of stylish weirdness,which go from basking Deafula in elegant light,to using deep dark lights to turn the characters into Gothic monsters.

Despite the name of the film nodding to Dracula,the screenplay by Wolf takes the movie into a rambling Melodrama direction with a hazy religious bite.Whilst the title largely stays on the Melodrama side,Wolf does allow some Horror fangs to sink into the film,with the screenplays uncovering of Deafula's half faded memories giving the film a strikingly chilling vibe,whilst Deafula's attacks on his "silent" victims gives the film a strong, eerie,surprisingly unsettling sting.

Final view on the film:

A fascinatingly strange film that everyone should hear.

If you like B movies at all, you'll fall in LOVE with this movie!

[ItsAllGolden · 10/10 · 26 October 2005]

I had low expectations of this movie. I knew it'd be a B movie. I thought it would be cheesy and fun to watch, yet still make me cringe at times. There are no cringing moments; this is spectacular cinema! As mentioned in the movie's description, this is done with all sign language. There are no speaking actors, yet the hearing viewer isn't lost because there are voice overs. I was shocked at the attention to detail. There are great camera angles, a good plot, interesting characters, and just a lot of plain old good times! This is a twist on the classic Dracula films that works so well. It has all the shock value and drama needed to make it the classic B, as well as the cheese factor that makes you fall in love with it. I adore this movie, and am so grateful to a friend for giving it me. I've never seen anything like it, and apparently never will again, being as it currently is the first and only deaf based movie. The whole movie is an experience that defies description; it's a must see on anyone B movie lovers list!

Understand signlaugauge

[tomsaywer1 · 21 April 2004]

Good film that was done in sign, make-up was a downfall to the movie but understandig that this was the directors first film on his own. I can understand some of the mistakes. Visually the movie is shot in black and white giving this picture a classic look. For a fist time film, I have to give this picture a 10 for sheer attempt at something new, since this is the first film ever shot in american sign. The film from I understand is in the New York Film Institute. They reconized this picture as do most of the hearing-impaired culture as the first film in american sign, try to find a copy at SignScopePictures.com, I heard that a 30th annivesary ed. will be comming out later this year or next year.

True Deaf Classic ... for Deafies Only!

[ssdamaged · 10/10 · 28 February 2006]

I loved Deafula! This movie was made for Deafies, not the hearing. They do not and cannot understand us! I would rather watch this film (our deaf community film) than any captioned hearing movie. It's old, but for us ... it's a classic. If the hearing don't understand us, they shouldn't discriminate against us with their mocking. The Deaf look at the world in a different way and they should not be ashamed of it. Watching Deafula always makes me feel good, like I belong. When I watch hearing movies, I always feel like I am an outsider watching the hearing world from a distance. I know my Deaf friends feel the same way. True Deaf Classic ... for Deafies Only!!

"...a moment ago, I ordered peanuts."

[ivanproton · 20 February 2004]

The first and last film to be shot entirely in sign language, DEAFULA is probably one of the most earth-shattering works of all time. Other IMDB users waste their breath on insults, but I dare you to find a better example of: *a toddler tearing the throat out of a puppy. *a policeman flapping his arms like a bird *hippies stabbing priests *hunchbacks with tin cans for hands *a tiny troll-like policeman that rightfully makes a mockery of all the people of England. ...If you can't enjoy this movie, you are not a human being.

A True Cult Classic!

[stars-of-the-galaxy · 10/10 · 30 November 2021]

I had zero expectations when viewing this film however I was quite amused throughout. The deaths throughout this film were cheesy however I really enjoyed watching this. Definitely meant for those more immersed in the Deaf community though!

Unheard of sign-language vampire movie.

[EyeAskance · 29 September 2003]

DEAFULA is an interesting curio, the first-ever film made for a deaf audience in sign language(with audio for those unfamiliar with sign). That said, it's also one of the weirdest and most unprofessional vampire films ever made. Nonetheless, its quirky catawampus charms should be highly embraceable to most fans of schizoid cinema.

The off-kilter story concerns Deafula(a pretty creepy looking aquiline-featured fellow), who is Count Dracula's son, at large in contemporary America. Bringing deliberate confusion to the story, it also seems that Deafula is actually(I think...?) a college student's manifest alter-ego of some sort. Nevermind, though...this picture takes plenty of liberties with traditional vampire lore(we witness our bloodsucker casually roaming about in the blaze of the afternoon sun, unless that was just some exquisitely botched day-for-night filming).

For something as outrageously off-hand and ill-administered as it is, DEAFULA does bear a few small strokes of efficacy...it generally maintains a stylish classic horror affectation(the black/white filming was certainly a thoughtful touch), and it can't be said that it's not entirely ORIGINAL. To card-carrying members of the Outre Cinema Club, I'd say DEAFULA is well worth a look...there was clearly a noble intention behind it, and although the finished product is beggarly in many directions, it appeals in a rather askew way.