Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

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:

Revenge | Sequel | Reverse Footage | Brothel | Good Versus Evil

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:

Martin Jarvis was first offered a more major role then was not free for the dates.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Ralph Bates is supposed to wear the actual Dracula's cloak. The one he is wearing is far shorter than the one Dracula is wearing in the film.

Quotes:

William Hargood: [to Alice] I haven't beaten you since you were a little girl.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Wicker Man Enigma (2001) (V)

Another fine example

Always been a big fan of Hammer Horror and this is one of the best of the Dracula series.A travelling salesman(Roy Kinnear) comes across the Count(Christopher Lee as always) impaled on a giant gold crucifix(as the previous film ended) - he collects the cloak,ring and the dried blood and returns to England. There we meet three late Victorian gentlemen - Hargood(Geoffrey Keen),Carson(Jonathen Secker) and Paxton(Peter Sallis) - by day they are respectable Church-goers but at night go to the East End for "Charity" work - of course this means they go whoring in brothels but have found their experiences becoming jaded - they seek new excitements. This arrives in the form of Lord Courtley(Ralph Bates)a dissolute aristocrat who dabbles in black magic and realises he can get the 3 to buy the goods from Kinnear and summon up Dracula. The 3 are dubious but Courtley persuades them and in a disused churchyard the summoning takes place - the 3 realise they are way out of their depths and when Courtlery dies they flee. What they haven'r realised is that Dracula has returned and blames them for Courtley's death - he seeks them out to destroy them...

Direrected by Hammer regular Peter Sadsy the film mines a deep vein of Victorian hypocrisy - Hargood rules his family with an iron fist preaching Christian values and one the films most effective threads is how Dracula uses the the children of the 3 to achieve his ends - corrupting them so the Fathers can see the direct consequence of their actions. Lee is excellent as always(but not given enough screen time) and there is fine support from Linda Haydon(who was in the notorious Baby Love and so effective in Blood on Satan's Claw) as Hargood's daughter Alice who Dracula uses to trap and then destroy the 3 Fathers.

There is almost a Greek tragic element to it as the thing they hold most dear is the thing that kills them - it can also be read as the bourgious dabbling in forces beyond their control and unleashing a power that will destroy them. Terrific stuff.