Boo! Dracula in Spanish Sucks Them in at Southampton Playhouse

Hill Street is haunted. A screening of the 1931 Spanish-Language Dracula screamed and screened Tuesday night at the Southampton Playhouse. The film starred the grandmother of directors Chris and Paul Weitz (About a Boy, and American Pie) and they joined by Zoom for an after screening Q&A.

Their grandmother was the actor Lupita Tovar. “She went to Universal and convinced them to film a Spanish language version of the film,” Paul explained. “They could go into the studio at midnight and use the same sets and film a version for the Latin American market,” Chris added. “She came from Mexico and got work as a hand model at first. She almost went back,” Paul told the audience of about 30 devoted horror fans.

“It was such a thrill to introduce Dracula in Spanish to an audience predominately composed of native Spanish speakers,” Playhouse honcho Eric Kohn explained. He also moderated the chat. “They were seeing it for the first time,” he added. “Paul and Chris are Hollywood veterans, but they’ve rarely spoken about their grandmother’s legacy so we were honored to give them the excuse,” he said.

This kind of niche programming is putting the Playhouse at the forefront of ‘out of the box’ thinking for East End filmgoers. As a charitable foundation they are more concerned with offering unique film experiences. But they’re not unhappy when large audiences show up.

“We had an incredible crowd for the original Scream with producer Cary Woods, whose son surprised him in the audience,” Kohn continued.

“Then the Long Island Paranormal Investigators showed up to look for supernatural things in our projection booth,” he said with a smile. A late night showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show happened Thursday night, October 30, at 9:30 p.m. The Dracula event was offered in collaboration with OLA of Eastern Long Island & Cinema Tropical.

And there’s more in store for Long Island themed films next month. “Our November series ‘East End Cinema’ kicks off November 4 with a free screening of short films shot in the area. The following week we’ve got Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and a 50th anniversary celebration of Grey Gardens in the lineup.”

For the record, nothing supernatural was found in the projection booth. At least that’s what they said for the record.

Bill McCuddy writes about entertainment for The New York Post, New York Daily News, GoldDerby.com and the scary folks here at Dan’s. He lives in Bridgehampton but refuses to give kids with toilet paper the address.