Die sieben goldenen Vampire

The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires marries two disparate genres - the period horror film and the martial arts film - with surprisingly entertaining results. It features a lovely performance from Peter Cushing, as Professor Van Helsing, who is travelling around China trying to convince its people of the worldwide threat of vamprism in 1904. Not many of the Chinese academics believe him, but one young man does.... he comes from a village in the Chinese interior cursed by seven deadly vampire warriors. He hires Professor Van Helsing to travel with him to this desolate place to rid it of its vampire curse. Guess who the main vampire is behind the horrid happenings in the village? Well, it wouldn't be a Peter Cushing/Hammer horror film without everyone's favourite Count Dracula, would it?

The film is badly acted by everyone except Cushing. Julie Ege plays a Norweigan noble woman, but her performance sucks. The Chinese and Hong Kong actors look distinctly uncomfortable in the talky scenes, chatting away about Transylvanian vampire lore but struggling to get their tongue around much of the dialogue. However, when the martial arts action kicks in, they are good value for money. It's a shame Christopher Lee wasn't available to play Dracula in this one.... I'm not sure who the guy is playing the evil count, but his performance is an embarrassment.

The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires is unusual enough and fast-paced enough to be entertaining. However, it's not a classic, so don't expect it to be.

This lovely Hammer Horror blending of the traditional vampire tale with martial arts stars Peter Cushing as Professor Van Helsing. The plot follows Van Helsing, who is drawn into a plot involving a legendary seven golden vampires, the prince of darkness; Dracula himself, the undead and a load of martial artists. Our hero must, along with his son and an escort of kung fu fighters travel to a cursed village somewhere in China to rid it of the vampire curse that holds it. One of the reasons why Hammer horror is so brilliant is that it isn't afraid to make a film that most other film studios would regard as stupid and then make it work. The main reason why Hammer horror does work is that the films, despite showing many macabre images, are always good natured and made with a lot of heart so they're easy to like; and this one is no different.

The Eastern style makes for a very different vampire film to what we're used to, and Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires seems keen to capitalise on that as it changes many of the traditional vampire rules to suit the east (for example, the traditional cross to ward off vampires is replaced by the image of Budha). As usual with Hammer, the effects are hokey to say the least, the production values are low and everyone except Peter Cushing leaves a lot to be desired acting-wise...but without these traits, this film wouldn't be Hammer, so these things are not only forgivable, but welcome. Peter Cushing's performance in this movie isn't his best, but fans of his will still relish it. There's something about Cushing's persona that makes him very watchable, and every film with him in it is worth watching, if only for that reason. He also gets involved in some of the martial arts fights, which is nice to see. The fights themselves are very well staged, much better than I was expecting with this being a horror film with kung fu elements, rather than a full blown fight-fest.

This is the fifth film I've seen by Hammer director Roy Ward Baker and although it's not the best, it's still a very solid offering from the man who was probably Hammer's finest director. This film is a lot of fun, and I don't doubt that it will delight anyone who sees it, and therefore it comes with the highest recommendations from me.

In 19th century China Count Dracula takes the form of a Chinese tyrant who has control of a cult that contains six sword -wielding vampires and hordes of zombies. The legend is said that they mount a bloody reign of terror on a cursed remote village by taking young woman from the village to feed on them. Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) leads an expedition with some martial art experts, his son and a wealthy widow to the village to prove the legend is true and to rid the undead from this earth.

Hammer production gives us something a bit different in this film by making a far journey to the east: Honk Kong. Hammer horror meets Kung Fu for this outing, with a lot of exorbitance and flair to show. It might be a bizarre mix and ridiculously over-the-top hokum, but you can't deny the shocks and fun factor it achieves. It's rather silly stuff and that makes it enjoyable viewing. What's a Hammer film without Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, but Christopher Lee didn't return to play Dracula and John Forbes-Robertson took his place. He just lacked the charisma and gave a rather odd, if dour performance. Cushing on the other hand gave a solid performance and some value-added class to the film. Julie Ege is fine as the elegant Vanessa Buren the wealthy lady who funded the expedition. This film gives us what we expect, a lot of horror, flesh and blood.

The premise is a rather engrossing adventure even though it has a very formulaic narrative. The plot might be flawed, make not much sense and come across as disjointed. But it totally makes up for it with some unpredictable sequences of suspense and an intriguing mythology involving vampires of the East. Showing how their customs are far different to those of the traditional vampires. The colourfully taut action sequences are well set up and are terrifically paced. When these rather hectic martial art battles start they really do go on, but still don't overshadow the horror element of the film. The battles involving the golden vampires are dazzling and the zombies coming out of the ground was well established and a sight to see. The final set-up for the grand battle scene reminded me very much of "The Seven Samurai" and "The Magnificent Seven", especially in protecting them from an onslaught. The difference is that they weren't asked or paid to protect them. One thing it lacked was a seductive female vampire (there was one for 10 seconds or so). The plot's thin love story felt out of place in the overall context and so did Helsing's son Leyland who came across as nothing more then a annoying bystander. So was Dracula, as he didn't do that much and only had a small amount of screen time. The climax between Dracula and Helsing isn't much of a tussle. It was that brisk it felt like they wanted to get the film over pretty quickly.

The film was very atmospheric, especially at night with the howling wind, blankets of mist and menacing shadows. On the journey to the village the scenery provided by the countryside is fairly graceful. Ranging from the grassland, rocky terrain and the woodlands. The heart pounding score goes in hand to hand with the scenes. The production valves weren't great, but not bad. The set designs of Dracula's domain and the village are somewhat vivid. The effects were rather shoddy (rubber bats on strings) and props looked ludicrous (the weapons). The make-up and costumes on the vampires and zombies were rather fair. You get some close ups of rotting vampire's faces after dying. This is when you get some oozing, bubbling and steaming skin decay. Also there are cheesy sound effects and a glorious amount of blood splattering.

Rather entertaining, if unconventional horror by Hammer productions.

Vintage Kung Fu/Dracula flick with very well staged scenes , colorful ambient and stunningly directed . Hammer Film's last Dracula yarn was a co-production with Hong Kong's Run Run Shaw Brothers known mainly for their Chop-Socky pictures . Transylvania 1804 : Kah (Shen Chan), High Priest of a temple in Pang Kwei in the Szechuan province of China, has obviously traveled a long way on foot to look for the Prince of Darkness . Kah's temple has fallen out and he asks for Dracula's help (John Forbes-Robertson was furious when he discovered that he had been dubbed by another actor . Chung King 1904 , while lecturing in the Far East, Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) tells his students of a doomed village in China that becomes cursed every year at the time of the 7th moon . Van Helsing is persuaded by Hsi Ching (David Chiang) and his brothers , all of them Kung Fu experts , to rid the village of the 7 vampires that torment its citizens . Then , Van Helsing , his son (Robin Stewart) , a gorgeous wealthy woman (Julie Ege) and the Chinese brothers set out in pursuit Dracula and the seven golden vampires . As the motley group fighting a vampire cult located on a cursed village in China .

This classic flick was well produced by the famous British production company along with Run Shaw Brothers , as Hammer Films meets Chop-Socky Hong Kong . It displays creepy scenes , lots of violence , nudity , action filled , zooms , thrills and fierce combats . It is an exciting as well as original attempt to revive the Dracula long series , mainly played by Peter Cushing and Christophel Lee . This luxurious Kung Fu/horror film was wonderfully filmed with good production design , glimmer cinematography by John Wilcox , impressive combats and breathtaking scenes . This is a colourful , Hong-Kong set , mostly filmed in outdoors and quite budget movie ; leave no cliché untouched , though the fighting are magnificently staged . The picture is full of tumultuous sequences with terror scenes , frenetic action , surprises , climatic combats and groundbreaking struggles . Overwhelming and rousing fights with deadly use of fists , feet and palms , along with such weapons as swords, sticks , and lances . Highlights of the film are the notorious struggle between Kung Fu brothers and the seven golden vampires and and of course , the breathtaking final confrontation between Dracula and Van Helsing . Some critics have panned this film explaining that unless you are Kung Fu aficionado this outing will seem all too silly . This is the first of two Hammer productions shot back-to-back in Hong Kong, and the fifth and last time Peter Cushing would play Van Helsing. Although Christopher Lee was offered the role of Dracula, he declined after reading the script and he is is sorely lost . This is the first Dracula film from Hammer Film Productions to feature an actor other than Christopher Lee playing Dracula, although Lee was also absent for ¨The brides of Dracula , which did not feature the character . ¨The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires" also titled "Dracula and the Seven Golden Vampires" or "The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula" is a fine horror movie but isn't as good as the precedent films . It's the sixth part of Dracula series , the first is ¨Horror of Dracula¨ , the second is ¨Dracula , prince of darkness¨, the third ¨Brides of Dracula¨ and is followed by ¨Taste the blood of Dracula¨ and ¨Dracula has risen from the grave¨, continuing with two low budgeted , TV sequels directed by Alan Gibson : ¨The satanic rites of Dracula¨ and ¨Dracula A.D. 72¨ , most of them starred by the great Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing .

The cinematography by John Wilcox and Roy Ford is excellent and brilliant . James Bernard musical score is rousing as well as eerie and spooky . This Hammer film was rightly directed by Roy Ward Baker . Roy was a good professional , his first opportunity to direct a film, The October Man (1947). He then went to Hollywood in 1952 and stayed for seven years, returning to Britain in 1958, when he directed one of his best films, A night to remember (1958). During the 1960s and 1970s, Baker directed a number of horror films for Hammer and Amicus. He also directed in British television, especially during the latter part of his career.

By the beginning of the 1970s, Hammer Studios, once a world leader in horror, found itself struggling to compete with the harder hitting, more explicit fare coming out of the US. In a last ditch effort to appeal to a wider audience, the ailing studio began to experiment with horror 'cross-overs', injecting their traditional Gothic fare with elements from whatever other genres were enjoying global success at the time.

In 1974, the studio released two such genre-bending 'mash-ups': The Satanic Rites of Dracula, an espionage/vampire film in which Dracula was reinvented as a Blofeld-style villain intent on destroying the world, and The Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires, which saw Hammer join forces with Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers for some martial-arts monster fun.

For a Hammer film, Satanic Rites was an uncharacteristically drab affair, lacking visual flair and any sense of excitement; in fact, rather than turn the studio's fortune around, it probably helped to drive a few more nails firmly into its coffin. Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires, on the other hand, was a much more enjoyable effort: helmed by Roy Ward Baker, it delivered stylish colourful photography, great fight choreography by kung fu legend Liu Chia-Liang, sexy ladies from around the world (Norwegian babe Julie Ege and Taiwanese cutie Szu Shih), as well as blood, boobs, bats and bonkers action set-pieces. Despite the high fun-factor, however, AND another quality performance from Peter Cushing, it too failed to lure back the fans.

Count Dracula, it seemed, had finally met his match, not in Van Helsing, but in chainsaw wielding maniacs and possessed girls vomiting pea soup—a pity, because I would have loved to have seen more joint ventures from Hammer and Shaw Brothers, two of the greatest studios in the history of cinema.