My Life with Count Dracula (2003)

Many years ago in a small house in South Central Los Angeles, a childlike little man with a wobbling gait and a high pitched voice abandoned his law books to dedicate his life to giving Sci-Fi and Horror films, "a little bit of dignity." In 1962, Dr. Donald A. Reed created The Count Dracula Society, and soon thereafter was named the world's authority on Count Dracula. From Fritz Lange to Rock Hudson, Elsa Lanchester to Ray Bradbury, Hollywood's glitterati all showed up (many wearing fake fangs). Within the decade, his campy Count Dracula Society evolved into the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films. The capes and fangs morphed into tuxedos and golden Saturn Awards, and by the late 70's his award show was on every TV set in the United States. Today, genre filmmakers such as James Cameron, Dean Devlin, and Bryan Singer dominate the box office, each never failing to recognize the importance of this eccentric little man's undying support for their films and their careers. Time and time again, he is introduced as the man responsible for bringing genre filmmaking to the mainstream, but unlike the filmmakers and authors he supported, Dr. Reed never made a dime from his work. Like a young boy, monster movies, not money, were his passion. In 1999, Dr. Reed underwent triple bypass surgery. As a chocolate cake eating diabetic, he wasn't given long to live. His award shows were no longer being televised, and he was scratching out a meager existence in a run down house in the ghetto of Los Angeles preparing for his 26th Annual Saturn Awards dinner. MY LIFE WITH COUNT DRACULA documents the final days of the man who brought the undead to American pop culture as he faces the grim realities of his own mortality.