"This canine is no pal of mine." by Megan Seling 6. MAN’S BEST FRIEND?: This canine is no pal of mine. Zoltan: Hound of Dracula There are better movies you can watch for Scarecrow’s “Man’s Best Friend” category—Cujo, Frankenweenie, Pet Sematary if you’re more of a cat person. But wanting to watch something I’d never seen before, I bravely reached for Zoltan: Hound of Dracula (known as Dracula’s Dog in the US), which was released in 1977 and has earned a whopping 14 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.  It’s a pretty simple premise: A vampire dog, a Doberman named Zoltan, was released after some nearby excavating shook his tomb loose in Romania. Zoltan and his owner—an innkeeper who Dracula turned into a fractional lamia—head to America to track down a distant relative. It just so happens that this distant relative lives in California with his family and… DOGS! And they’re all heading out on a camping trip, where, of course, there are so many more dogs because dogs love to camp! With the encouragement of the undead innkeeper, Zoltan sets out to turn every dog he finds into a vampire. And oh boy, all the of the dogs are so, so good. Zoltan, a Doberman, is obviously having so much fun when he eats a random camper. Soon, he meets up with a bird dog who is smart enough to open the door to an RV. It's very cute when dogs open doors! There are two German Shepherds, Samson and Annie, who just had a litter of adorable puppies, and I don't want to spoil too much, but, yes, there are VAMPUPIRES. Zoltan: Hound of Dracula is a low-budget '70s movie with bad sound and shitty effects, but here’s the trick: Watch it with your pet as though it’s a scary movie made for dogs by dogs. When the narrative is flipped, it becomes a story about a curious canine who comes back to life and sets out to build an army of blood-thirsty good boys to take the world back from selfish humans who sometimes lock them in the garage. Hero behavior, tbh. Best quote: “You have a funeral car, mister.” Recommended snack: Chili, served in a dog bowl The Stranger is participating in Scarecrow Video’s Psychotronic Challenge all month long! Every October, Scarecrow puts together a list of cinematic themes and invites folks to follow along and watch a horror, sci-fi, or fantasy flick that meets the criteria. This year, Stranger staffers are joining the fun and we’re going to share our daily recommendations here on Slog! Read more about Scarecrow’s 2024 challenge—and get the watch list—here. And you can track our daily recommendations here! 💀