Wanted: Undead or Alive – Billy the Kid Versus Dracula and Billy the Kid and The Green Baize Vampire

About Wanted: Undead or Alive – Billy the Kid Versus Dracula and Billy the Kid and The Green Baize Vampire

A double-bill of stakes and six-shooters abound as we finally expose a mysterious phenomenon from the vast history of popular cinema; legendary American gunslinger icon Billy the Kid was pitted against Bram Stokers’ immortal gothic villain Count Dracula not once, but twice.

In our first lean 74 minute feature Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966), John Carradine’s Dracula has fiendish designs on Betty Bentley, the fiancé of Chuck Courtney’s Billy the Kid. What follows is a classic B-western adventure from under-seen genre splicer William Beaudine, mixed with traces of the classic horror novel.

But the main feature of the night is Alan Clarke’s seminal Billy the Kid and The Green Baize Vampire (1985), presented on a rarely-seen 35mm print, commemorating the 40th anniversary of its UK release.  ‘Loosely’ based on the real life snooker rivalry between Ray Reardon and Jimmy White, this film is a phantasmagoric Brecht-meets-The Long Good Friday with a dash of Bugsy Malone genre mashup. Hot-shot snooker player Billy the Kid (Phil Daniels, Quadrophenia) enters a grudge match challenge against vampiric world champion Maxwell Randall (Alun Armstrong); the loser of which can never play professional snooker again. Dripping with leering smokey gangsters amongst stark expressionist sets, it can reliably be described as the only Snooker-Horror-Western-Musical ever produced.

We’re pleased to present these films alongside two newly commissioned essays from our friends at Cinema Year Zero, working as the perfect introduction and re-visit for new and old fans alike.