There's a moment early in the improbably named 1966 film Billy the Kid Vs. Dracula where the Count (John Carradine), whose actual name is never said aloud, stifles a yawn while riding in a stagecoach. Do vampires yawn? That’s doubtful; more likely it’s just the veteran Carradine, still wearing the same top hat he wore for the role in both House of Dracula and House of Frankenstein more than 20 years earlier, exhibiting his utter boredom with the whole thing.
Half of a double feature that was tailor-made for the drive-in era, Billy the Kid vs. Dracula went out on the same bill six decades ago with the equally silly-sounding Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter. Both were directed by William Beaudine, a journeyman who churned out a reported 178 features in his career, of which these two were the last before he passed. Neither film is any damn good, but both arguably helped plant the seed for one of the most interesting genre hybrids out there: the horror Western, which has yielded entertaining — and sometimes outstanding — titles such as Bone Tomahawk, Ravenous, and Near Dark.
