Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Peter Sasdy

Writers:

Anthony Hinds (writer)
Bram Stoker (character)

Release Date:

7 June 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Romance

Tagline:

DRINK A PINT OF BLOOD A DAY

Plot:

Three elderly distinguished gentlemen are searching for some excitement in their boring borgoueis lives...

Plot Keywords:

Dracula | Ceremony | Revenge | Aristocrat | Pentagram

Cast

Christopher Lee	...	Dracula
Geoffrey Keen	...	William Hargood
Gwen Watford	...	Martha Hargood
Linda Hayden	...	Alice Hargood
Peter Sallis	...	Samuel Paxton
Anthony Higgins	...	Paul Paxton (as Anthony Corlan)
Isla Blair	...	Lucy Paxton
John Carson	...	Jonathon Secker
Martin Jarvis	...	Jeremy Secker
Ralph Bates	...	Lord Courtley
Roy Kinnear	...	Weller
Michael Ripper	...	Inspector Cobb
Russell Hunter	...	Felix
Shirley Jaffe	...	Betty - Hargood's Maid
Keith Marsh	...	Father

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content/nudity and brief violence. (2004 re-rating)

Runtime:

USA:91 min | UK:95 min (uncut)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

UK:15 (video rating) | UK:X (original rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Australia:M | USA:GP (certificate #22364) (original rating) | USA:R (re-rating) (2004) | Ireland:15

Filming Locations:

Aldenham Country Park, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Trivia:

Some writers have claimed that Vincent Price was going to play a fourth member Of Geoffrey Keen's Thrill Seekers but budget cuts removed the character so his part was shared among John Carson, Peter Sallis and Keen.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Hargood has forbidden Alice to go out and sends her to her room, he goes back to his newspaper and reads it upside down. (about 9'30" after beginning)

Quotes:

Dracula: Alice...
Alice Hargood: Who are you? How d'you know my name?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook (1991)

More Style rather than Substance

MORD39 RATING: **1/2 out of ****

This is a gorgeous-looking film to behold. It is absolutely glowing with Victorian richness and gothic beauty.

As for the story itself, it's another weak one. It starts out admirably with a group of thrill-seeking businessmen purchasing the powdered remains of Dracula and joining the eccentric Ralph Bates in an unholy ceremony wherein Dracula is revived via the death of his servant. When the resurrected Count angrily warns: "They have destroyed my servant...they shall be destroyed!" all credibility as to his motives go out the window; Dracula could not be renewed without his servant's death, so why the desire for revenge? Why does he even care about a peasant like that?

Dracula was not originally intended to be in the story, so he appears to be out of place. Chris Lee's screen time is again brief, and he's not given much to do except be the orchestrator for revenge as he makes the children of the businessmen kill their parents for him.

The film, as stated earlier, is beautiful to behold and still fun to watch despite the Dracula flaws described above. Lee kept vowing never to play the part again sequel after sequel, yet he still hung on for the next few.