Dracula in Thailand

[Sweeney Todd]

Apparently the bloody Count created in 1897 by Bram Stoker made some appearances in Asian cinema (including in HK, Korea, Indonesia and of course Thailand). Many years ago, in "Variety" I think, I got something about a Thai movie called "Dracula and Tok" (certainly not the original title), made in 1979, and starring Lo Tok, Krung Srivilai as Dracula, Naiyana Chivanand, and Mayura Tanabut. The director wasn't credited in the magazine, and to date I didn't find any additional information about this movie. Then, after a quarter of century, I found a little vignette in a Thai video catalog, it was for a VCD unfortunately "out of stock"... I'm not sure it is the same movie, although the word "Tok" appears in the title. Any idea ?

Here is the (bad) reproduction :



... and as you can see, a krasue also appears in this movie...

[Sweeney Todd]

... and, more recently, I found this other ad :



A friend of mine, who is German and married to a charming Thai woman, told me the title can be read as "Hak liam Dracula", but perhaps it's another spelling, as I didn't find anything on the Web. It's apparently a comedy, I just hope it's not one of these "xxx" movies - if this is the case, just tell me and I'll erase the post.

[TK]

Hi again I think they are both comedy; the kind of horror+comedy type i.e. not scary but may contains horror(or "yucky") scene. LorTok (ล้อต๊อก) or Sawong Sabsamruay (สวง ทรัพย์สำรวย) played main characters in both films. He also directed 1st one (Dracular Tok 1979). He was one of the great comedian in Thailand and been awarded national artist status (ศิลปินแห่งชาติ).

Here are the films' name in Thai which may help you in searching for more info. (as you already knew, you may get more hits than when you used English name, plus it should reduce the confusion of their English spelling)

1st one:
The name on poster written as แดร๊กคูล่าต๊อก (2522/1979) but I also got result from spelling this way ... แดร็กคูล่าต๊อก

I am not sure that we can assume it is the same movie as dracular and Tok that you've mentioned because Krung Srivilai was not in this film. Anyway, like I've said, LorTok himself directed it and was the Dracular on that poster. The casts are different from what you've mentioned.

The cast of this film are (I've been to Wikipedia ) ล้อต๊อก, นัยนา ชีวานันท์, นิรุตต์ ศิริจรรยา, วิยะดา อุมารินทร์, สมพงษ์ พงษ์มิตร, ชูศรี มีสมมนต์ (I think you are now find the way to transliterate them in English yourself so I'won't do it here, since there are too many way to write them in English)

I've also noticed that there one film in 1979 that have all the casts you've mention i.e. LorTok, Krung Srivilai, Naiyana Chivanand, and Mayura Tanabut. But then it has nothing to do with Dracular at all : It is มนต์เพลงลูกทุ่ง (2522/1979) Directed by อนุมาศ บุนนาค and ล้อต๊อก

Note that recently there is a thai animation that also called แดร็กคูล่าต๊อก which is based their characters on LorTok and many other Thai comedians.

2nd one: You friend's Thai wife is correct.
The name on poster written as หักเหลี่ยมแดร๊กคูล่า (2529/1986) or you can also search for หักเหลี่ยมแดร็กคูล่า. But I found no information apart from starring Lortok and Sinjai Hongthai (สินจัย หงษ์ไทย, she is now also knowed as สินจัย เปล่งพานิชย์, she is married to Chatchai Plengpanitch ฉัตรชัย เปล่งพานิชย์)

[Sweeney Todd]

Thank you, as always, for the precious informations. For the first movie, I think the mistake came from "Variety" itself, they probably mixed two different movies starring Lor Tok in one ! it wasn't unusual, especially for Asian movies, sadly neglected in the 1970s.
Concerning the second one (1986), it's curious, as you said "Hak Liam Dracula" was a correct transliteration, but when I submitted the Thai words to Thai2English (the two versions of the title given in your post, in fact) I get the following informations (for both) "hak-hay yom koo"... which seems rather different from the "German translation"... Strange !
Incidentally, do you know if the website of the Thai Movie Database is closed temporarily - or for ever ? it's really a shame, as the movies from Thailand are becoming box-office triumphs everywhere, when American producers are concocting inferior "remakes"... We need a database, even if the different spellings of a name give us headaches

[TK]

I think thai2english cannot transliterate the 2nd film's name properly because it is not all thai words as in dictionary. The Dracula word in there confused it.

you can split the words like this -
หัก => Hak (means 'to break')
เหลี่ยม => Liam (on its own means 'edge' but actually it shorten from เล่ห์เหลี่ยม which means 'trick/crafty' )
แดร๊กคูล่า => Dracula (obviously you would not find it in Thai dictionary)

I use sealang dictionary this time. http://www.sealang.net/thai/dictionary.htm

So the whole thing means 'break the craftiness of Dracula'

[Sweeney Todd]

I understand, but it seems a little complicated, at first view...

You probably know the old joke:
- I'm so happy I was not born in Japan...
- Oh ? and what for ?
- ...' cause I don't speak Japanese !

Well, a little Aspirin and to the bed...