Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1974)

_**Cult flick of dreamy gothic horror with Cheryl Smith**_

In early 30’s America, a girl (Smith) who lives with a minister is summoned by letter to the town of Ashtaroth to visit her dying father, a gangster. There she encounters horrific beings in the woods and the curiously calm and collected Lemora (Lesley Taplin), who welcomes her into her Victorian mansion. Horror ensues.

“Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural” (1973) is colorful dreamlike horror by one-shot director, Richard Blackburn, a college student who concocted the story with a pal inspired by “Count Yorga, Vampire” (1970). Blackburn, by the way, plays the minister.

An alternative title is “Lady Dracula,” which is fitting since the story is reminiscent of the first part of Dracula, just exchanging a teenage blonde for Jonathan Harker and Lemora for the Count, not to mention switching the setting to Prohibition Era America. It’s similar in ways to the haunting “Messiah of Evil” (1973) except with a younger protagonist and the milieu of the early 30s. Francis Ford Coppola presumably borrowed bits for his horror fantasy “Twixt” (2011).

The lovely Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith was only 17 during shooting and has a genuine innocent quality. She appeared in many ‘B’ flicks throughout the 70s/early 80s, but fell prey to hard drugs and contracted hepatitis, which ultimately killed her by the too-young age of 47 in 2002.

The film runs about 1 hour, 25 minutes, and was shot in Pomona, California, e.g. the Phillips Mansion, and nearby San Dimas (to the north), both a 20-minute drive east of Los Angeles.

GRADE: B-/C+