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Originally Published February 15th, 2005
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During the 1979 midseason NBC premiered an unusual hour-long series consisting of a trio of of twenty-minute serials. Each serial, broadcast in "chapters," ended in a cliffhanger that was resolved in the following week's episode. NBC had high hopes for the series, which was heavily promoted by the network. Michael Nouri starred in The Curse of Dracula, a dark, gothic tale about the dark prince and the college students attempting kill him.
In The Curse of Dracula, the good Count Dracula is a professor of East European History at Southbay College in San Francisco. Dracula, as played by Michael Nouri, kept a diary in which he recapped the segments, venting his frustration at the insufferable Kurt von Helsing (Stephen Johnson) and his lust for Mary Gibbons (Carol Baxter). He wanted nothing more than to possess Mary, just as he had possessed her mother.
He had brought twenty containers of soil with him, and as the first chapter unfolded, thirteen had been destroyed by Kurt and Mary. Without his soil, Dracula couldn't sleep - and everyone knows sleep is important, especially for a vampire.
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Because The Curse of Dracula started so late in the story (it began with Chapter VI) it was the only serial that aired a conclusion before the series ended. Thus, unlike the other two serials, there were no unaired segments of The Curse of Dracula leftover.
In March of 1979, Cliffhangers was one of the least-watched programs on the three networks, alongside other new midseason entries like Flatbush on CBS and The Osmond Family Show on ABC [1]. When NBC announced its fall schedule for the 1979-1980 season, Cliffhangers was absent [2]. The final broadcast was on May 1st, 1979. An additional episode was never aired by NBC.
Following the cancellation of the series, The Curse of Dracula was edited into a made-for-tv movie. The first four installments of The Curse of Dracula were turned into the hour-long Dracula '79.
Additionally, a two-hour telefilm was made out of the full ten chapters, called The World of Dracula or simply The Curse of Dracula.
NOTE: The following summary of The Curse of Dracula is taken from the compilation telefilm (also called The Curse of Dracula) and may omit scenes from the serialized television version.
While pouring holy water into a container of Transylvanian soil, Kurt von Helsing and Mary Gibbons ran into Dracula, who lit the place on fire, burning it to the ground. He was furious at them for destroying his native soil and madder still that the two simply would not leave him alone. Thankfully, our hero and heroine were able to escape the blaze.
Mary's mother, Amanda, had been killed by Dracula, fueling her rage towards the Dark Prince. During her first face to face encounter with Dracula, Mary learned that he had loved her mother, very much. He killed her, but at least he loved her. When he reached for her neck, Mary thrust a cross at him, burning his arm.
But there was no escape for Mary, no way out. Everywhere she turned she ran into another vampire, a student Dracula controlled. It looked like the end for Mary, as Dracula prepared to feed. As for Kurt, a fuel line in his car was rigged to explode. Could he escape the impending explosion and still find a way to save Mary? The serial's first chapter ended thus ended, in a double cliffhanger.
Kurt escaped the explosion, thrown from his car as it burst into flame, and Mary escaped from Dracula, smashing a lamp over his head and running from the castle. The two were reunited in the woods. But Kurt had been hurt in the explosion. With a head injury, perhaps a concussion, Mary took Kurt to the hospital for help.
While in the hospital, Mary had a hard time getting Dracula out of her head. She kept seeing him in her mind, hearing his voice. Confused, and hungry, Mary went down to the hospital's cafeteria to get something to eat and while she was away, two of Dracula's students entered, with evil intentions. Mary returned, only to be grabbed!
She watched in horror as poison in Kurt's IV moved ever closer to his veins. Another cliffhanger! They survived, again, but Mary then returned to Dracula and was bitten for a second time. Kurt followed her straight into a trap. Dracula had anticipated his move. But then something unexpected happened.
Mary's mother, long presumed dead, returned and saved Kurt from one of Dracula's students. She took Mary with her but left Kurt, who had been knocked out, in the castle. Amanda took Mary to a mission, where she thought the nuns could keep her safe. But Dracula ordered his students to find and capture her.
Amanda wasn't dead but she was a vampire. She had been in hiding for a good ten years and only returned to save her daughter from Dracula. Sparks still flew between the two and they returned to the place where they had first joined, to spend the night together once more.
It looked like they were going to have a grand old time, but then Amanda trapped Dracula inside of a walk-in refrigerator. She hated him for turning her into a vampire, for forcing her to live a life of evil and mayhem. Amanda left Dracula to the dawn, knowing he would die once the sun rose.
It was at that moment, when Dracula seemed doomed, that Kurt showed up. At first, his resolve was strong, content in knowing that Dracula would die. But slowly, Dracula broke him down, making him believe that Mary was in danger. Kurt opened the door and Dracula escaped.
Kurt made his way to the sanctuary but he had been beaten there by several of Dracula's students, who were ready to kill Mary. Kurt managed to save her but the students escaped. Mary, still partially under Dracula's control, had to stay in the mission. Kurt went after Amanda alone, knowing she was the only one who could help them now that Mary was so far gone.
Kurt thought Mary would be safe, surrounded by garlic. But Dracula was able to come to Mary's window and entice her. Seconds before Dracula was going to bite Mary for a third time, Amanda burst in and attacked Dracula. She picked up a cross and used it to keep Dracula away, even as it burned her hand own hand.
Kurt showed up just as Dracula left and Amanda told him how to keep Mary from going back to Dracula. It was a long and painful experience of sunlight and holy water. In her mind, Mary allowed Dracula to bite her again, which caused her to attack Kurt and run off. As she ran, she was bombarded by images in her mind, of her mother, of Dracula, of her past and her future.
This mental assault was enough to purge Mary of Dracula's influence. There was still more to accomplish, however: Mary had to kill someone Dracula had turned. Doing so would allow her to fully renounce Dracula and be freed forever.
So, off Kurt and Mary went to the crypt. And then Dracula showed up. Kurt pushed Mary into the crypt and turned to face Dracula alone. Inside the crypt, Mary opened a coffin. Inside, she found her mother. Amanda was willing to sacrifice herself to save her daughter. In a way, to save herself, Mary would also save her mother, by freeing her.
As Kurt fought to keep Dracula away from the crypt, Mary fought her mother, convinced that she could never do what her mother was telling her she had to do. Dracula tossed Kurt aside and burst into the crypt, just as Mary was hammering the stake into her mother's heart.
Even after watching Mary kill Amanda, Dracula could not stop loving her. But dawn was approaching and he had to flee. With Dracula still alive, Mary and Kurt couldn't rest. They had to go to his castle, find his journal, and use it to locate the remaining coffins. Destroying those would end Dracula's reign of darkness.
As for Dracula, he knew that his time in San Francisco was rapidly coming to a close. He had his students make plans for an immediate escape while he slept through the day. While the students did his bidding, Kurt and Mary searched the castle for the journal. After finding it, they proceeded to track down and destroy each coffin, knowing that they had only a matter of hours.
With only four coffins left, Mary and Kurt were nearly rid of Dracula forever. But then Antoniette showed up and tried to kill them. The two managed to manhandle her into one of the coffins and destroy it. With only one coffin remaining in the basement of a museum, Mary and Kurt were attacked by Christine. They fought her off and opened the coffin, revealing Dracula.
Mary grabbed a crossbow but was unable to fire. Kurt took the weapon and shot a wooden stake through Dracula's heart. Then Dracula began to burn. And the museum began to burn. As Mary and Kurt looked on, Christine sobbed over the burning Dracula, and the museum came apart around them.
Finally, the two ran off, leaving Dracula and Christine. But Dracula wasn't dead. With flames leaping around him, the vampire pulled the stake from his body and rose from his coffin. Gathering what soil he could carry, Dracula ran from the burning museum, off to terrorize another town.
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It was finally over for Mary and Kurt. To them, Dracula was gone.
Cliffhangers fan Eric passed on the following information about the end of The Curse of Dracula and the final (unaired in the United States) episode of Cliffhangers:
First, there was never any intent to stagger start another serial in conjunction with the conclusions of "Secret Empire" and "Stop Susan Williams". The last aired episode on NBC clearly indicates that *both* concluding chapters of "Secret Empire" would air the following week, and the presentation of the unaired episode on the international broadcast looks perfectly normal with no alterations from before. Michael Nouri as Dracula is still seen in the series title symbol in the Main Title but the announcer (Brad Crandall) reveals that there will be two episodes of "Secret Empire" that night and the end of "Stop Susan Williams."
The end credits for this last episode in using the Cliff Hangers logo, substituted Michael Nouri's image with one of the goofy looking but friendly reptile creature that Billy came attached to.
1 Brown, Les. "ABC Sweeps Ratings." New York Times. 21 Mar. 1979: C22.
2 Pace, Eric. "NBC, CBS Release Schedules for Fall." New York Times. 2 May 1979: C17.
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