The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)

Director:

Roy Ward Baker

Writer:

Don Houghton (screenplay)

Release Date:

June 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy | Horror

Tagline:

Deadly Horrors! Dragon Thrills! The First Kung Fu Horror Spectacular!

Plot:

Count Dracula journies to a remote Chinese village in the guise of a warlord to support six vampires...

Plot Keywords:

Village | Vampire | Dracula | China | Vampire Hunter

Cast

Peter Cushing	...	Prof. Van Helsing
David Chiang	...	Hsi Ching / Hsi Tien-an
Julie Ege	...	Vanessa Buren
Robin Stewart	...	Leyland Van Helsing
Szu Shih	...	Mei Kuei (as Shih Szu)
John Forbes-Robertson	...	Count Dracula
Robert Hanna	...	British Consul
Shen Chan	...	Kah / Dracula (as Chan Shen)
James Ma	...	Hsi Ta (as James Ma)
Chia Yung Liu	...	Hsi Kwei (as Liu Chia Yung)
Hak On Fung	...	Hsiu Sung (as Fong Lah Ann)
Tien Lung Chen	...	Hsi San
Han Chen Wang	...	Liang Han (as Wong Han Chan)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chuan Chen
Chi Cheng Ho
Hsia Hsu
Ha Huang
Pei Chi Huang
Chun Fai Lau
Hoi Sang Lee
Hui-Ling Liu	...	Buren's attendant (as Liu Hoy Ling)
Wai Lo	...	Liang's cohort
Te Hsiang Teng	...	Doomed Rickshaw man
Chiang Wang

Also Known As:

7 Brothers Versus Dracula
7 Brothers and a Sister Meet Dracula
7 Brothers of Dracula (UK)
7 Golden Vampires (UK)
Dracula and the Seven Golden Vampires (Singapore: English title)
Seven Golden Vampires: The Last Warning (UK)
The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula (USA) (poster title)
The Last Warning (UK)
The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (UK) (alternative spelling)
The Seven Brothers Meet Dracula (USA)

Runtime:

USA:83 min

Country:

Hong Kong | UK

Language:

English | Mandarin

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | UK:15 | UK:18 (original rating) | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:18 (re-rating) | Argentina:X (original rating) | Australia:M | USA:R

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Trivia:

WILHELM SCREAM: During the big fight scene at the village (at 1hr 12mns) when Van Helsing shoves a zombie into the fire pit.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the battle with the bandits, the archer shoots one of them in the neck. The angles of entry and exit of the prop arrow are clearly different.

Movie Connections:

Remade as The Era of Vampires (2002)

Excellent Hammer Entertainment!

Well as you have been reading the reviews of this film, two definite trends seem to emerge. One is that this film has been critically panned for a couple of decades, and, two, this film seems to be genuinely liked by those that take actual effort to watch it. The film surely has its faults, but the overall effect it creates diminishes its shortcomings. The film is about a small town in China that has been ravaged for many years by a band of seven vampires. Professor Van Helsing, giving a lecture in China, is approached by someone from that village that requests Van Helsing's assistance. The rest of the story concerns Van Helsing, his son, a lady benefactor, and seven Chinese brothers and their talented sister trekking across China to get to the village and face the seven deadly vampires in the charge of the one and only European Count Dracula. Along the way, we the audience are treated to some first-rate martial arts, scary atmospheric settings which include zombie servants rising from fog-filled cemetaries, and the ultimate climax of good fighting evil. All in all it is one exciting piece of entertainment. The story at the end is a bit weak, as is the character of Van Helsing's son, who seems to manage to stay alive despite being a weakling.