Taste the Blood of Dracula

1969's "Taste the Blood of Dracula" was intended to introduce Ralph Bates as the vampire's disciple Lord Courtley, with Christopher Lee occupied in Spain finishing Jesus Franco's "Count Dracula." Having come as close as possible to playing the character as conceived by Bram Stoker, he was naturally reluctant to essay his 4th performance in the role for an increasingly penny pinching Hammer Films, only relenting under pressure for American financing from Warner Brothers. The previous Freddie Francis outing, "Dracula Has Risen from the Grave," was the best of all the sequels, allowing plenty of hair raising moments for Lee to assert Dracula's power, in particular the spectacular and controversial act of removing a stake from his own heart because the hero is an atheist without spiritual beliefs. Here, even after a hasty rewrite by usual screenwriter Anthony Hinds (as John Elder), he is reduced to mere cameo status with truly no need to speak any lines at all, quite a comedown so far as his mere presence is concerned. A traveling salesman (Roy Kinnear) happens to see the Count perish on the giant cross from the previous film's gory climax, stealing the vampire's signet ring, cloak, clasp, and a sample of his blood before returning to his London shop, where Lord Courtley has found three suckers eager for more impressive kicks than a drug induced evening at the local brothel. Willingly paying an astronomical price for Dracula's possessions ("may the devil take good care of you"), Courtley sets everything up in a dilapidated church intending that all four of them ingest the blood of Dracula to ensure the master's revival, only for the others to pass up the gruesome sight and Courtley imbibing himself. Falling to the floor in agony, he's beaten and left for dead, slowly transforming into Dracula (finally arriving at the 44 minute mark), who curiously decides that the trio must die for what happened to his servant, an extremely petty and simple minded motive for the supposed lord of the undead, despite being present in an obviously decadent Victorian London. So wicked are the so called killers that they present themselves to high society as pillars of the community doing charity work on the side, their children becoming the instruments of their own demise. Linda Hayden as Alice makes a strong impression in just her second film role, the daughter of Geoffrey Keen's loathsome Hargood, a knowing smile as she wields a deadly spade against him to lethal effect, followed by Isla Blair as Lucy, daughter of Peter Sallis' Paxton, the first time that Lee actually bites the throat of a victim on screen (Paxton is the one getting staked for a change). John Carson's Secker is stabbed to death by his son, vampirized by Lucy mere moments before, but not before leaving a note for Anthony Corlan's Paul Paxton, informing him how to gain knowledge to destroy Dracula, later finding the discarded corpse of sister Lucy before engaging in final battle for sweetheart Alice's soul. Again, Hinds is able to build a nice preamble but everything falls apart once Dracula sets out to corrupt the children to atone for the sins of the fathers, apparently still good enough to require another ruined church for a similar ritual in "Dracula A. D. 1972." Many critics praise this entry for its excellent production values and fine cast, but without a strong Dracula to propel events Lee is left with top billing and a meager bit part; though most decry the follow up "Scars of Dracula" as the worst of the Gothic sequels at least there the actor enjoys his largest role in any Hammer entry, happily recreating some of the passages in Stoker's novel.

A trio of seemingly respectable, well-to-do Victorian gentlemen (played by Geoffrey Keen, Jonathen Secker, and Peter 'more cheese, Gromit?' Sallis) form a secret club in order to experience the wildest thrills that life has to offer. However, their limited imaginations mean that they soon become bored, and so they decide to take their lead from disgraced aristocrat and practising Satanist Lord Courtley (a marvellously slimy Ralph Bates), who suggests that they attempt a ritual to bring the infamous Count Dracula back to life.

When the three men panic during the ceremony, and beat Courtley to death, they flee the scene, not realising that Count Dracula (Christopher Lee) has indeed returned from the dead, and now seeks retribution for the killing of his loyal acolyte.

Although Hammer's Dracula movies rarely strayed far from their well-worn formula—Dracula lives; Dracula kills; Dracula dies—their lush Gothic atmosphere, fine ensemble casts, and sumptuous cinematography usually meant that, even when the script was somewhat lacking, there was still plenty to enjoy. Such is the case with Taste The Blood Of Dracula, which features a so-so story and a surprisingly unremarkable turn from Lee (who is forced to deliver some particularly dodgy dialogue), but manages to keep fans entertained with some gloriously camp performances from the rest of the cast, some fine direction from Peter Sasdy, and loads of Hammer's trademark Gothic trappings.

Plus, this entry in the series also stars the gorgeous Linda Hayden—one of my favourite actresses from the late 60s/70s—whose presence makes it a must-see as far as I am concerned. Her transformation from wide eyed innocent to slutty vamp slave (with cleavage on display, naturally) is reason enough to seek this one out!

Taste the Blood of Dracula is neither the best(Horror of Dracula) or worst(Satanic Rites of Dracula from what I recall, the film needs a re-watch though) of the Hammer Dracula series, for me it's somewhere in the middle as a flawed but very enjoyable film.

One of Taste the Blood of Dracula's biggest flaws is the ending, which is one of the series' most unimaginative and is far too protracted and drawn out, Dracula's demise is also too easy and the silliest of his demises in the series. The script is flat and far too talky, some of the talk not adding much, while Dracula's few lines of dialogue are rather ludicrous. While not as bad as in the films following it, the pacing in the first half is on the pedestrian side too.

However, the photography is incredibly stylish with lots of vibrant and creepy colour and use of camera that adds to the atmosphere. The sets and period detail are very evocative and splendidly Gothic, while the effects are decent(thankfully no laughably fake bats like there were in Scars of Dracula). The music thunders thrillingly, has a lot of personality, is orchestrated beautifully and cleverly and is deliciously spooky. It is a great score on its own and adds a lot to the film. Not all of the story works, but there are some cool death scenes, some chilling violence, gore that doesn't get too gratuitous and once the film does pick up there is a good deal of suspense and a real sense of horror and dread, something that Hammer excels in better than most horror films(before, during and now).

Taste the Blood of Dracula boasts some fine direction from Peter Sasdy, and as long as one doesn't expect any development the characters at least serve a point to the story and engage. The acting is good, with Ralph Bates making the most of his deliciously hammy and sinister character, Geoffrey Keen being appropriately stiff and shady and Linda Hayden is alluring and spunky. Anthony Higgins is very likable too, not the most well-developed of characters but one of the better-acted hero characters in the Hammer Dracula series. Christopher Lee does not have very much screen time and has to work with lines that are too few and pretty bad, meaning that he doesn't have a lot to do, but the suave and incredibly intimidating presence that he brings to Dracula really captivates so he is still memorable.

All in all, an enjoyable entry in the Hammer Dracula series, without being one of the series' best or worst. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This was the only Dracula/Lee movie that I saw on the huge theater screen and it was pretty cool. My mom would never take me to these things so I had my dad drop me and my friend off, then pick us up later. It was a double feature along with Trog. The theater was not packed, but it had been playing for at least a week. Now some kids are going to rate this lower because they've all seen much bloodier and scarier stuff. No kidding, really????? When this came out it was very good in terms of gore and horror.

My most memorable scene was when the hardened dust broke in half and Dracula's face filled the screen with those red eyes. I just purchased the DVD and it includes some restored footage of the brothel T&A and during each victim's death they look up at the standing figure of Dracula. The first victim's shovel-gashed face was restored on the DVD, the second victim's bloody face and the third victim too. This version was never released in the US. It would have been rated R, instead it was GP (before they called it PG).

I think it's bull for another commenter to say it's obvious that Dracula was never intended to be in this. No, what is obvious is that a certain commenter read some of these movie facts before claiming they "knew all along." Yeah, they were going to have Bates as Dracula, thank god that fell through. Lee was talked into it again. They had to rewrite it to insert Dracula in there, and his presence was awesome though some of his lines were bad. Hmmm, Dracula can count to 3. I'll give this one 7 stars. The DVD quality is spectacular.

William Hargood (Geoffrey Keen), Samuel Paxton (Peter Sallis) and Jonathon Secker (John Carson) are respectable gentlemen in the community and they are devoted to charitable work. But they are actually a trio of hypocrites that go to brothels instead of charity. One night, they meet the arrogant Lord Courtley (Ralph Bates) in the brothel and they decide to invite him for a drink. They tell that they have boring lives and are looking for excitement. Courtley promises him pleasure if they make a pact with the devil and asks them to buy some Dracula's belongings from the merchant Weller (Roy Kinnear), including dried blood. They go to a derelict church where Courtley asks them to drink the blood of Dracula. They refuse to drink but Courtley drinks and falls on the ground, and Hargood, Paxton and Secker beat him to death. They leave the church and Courtley's body transforms in Dracula (Christopher Lee) that promises to kill them. Meanwhile Hargood has a friction with his daughter Alice (Linda Hayden) because she is in love with Paxton's son Paul (Anthony Corlan). When she leaves home, Dracula meets her and controls her mind. What will happen to Alice?

"Taste the Blood of Dracula" is another great vampire movie from Hammer. The story is very conventional as usual, with Christopher Lee in the role of Dracula and the vampire afraid of crosses and holy water. The explanation for Dracula's appearance is confused but his revenge using the sons and daughters of the men that killed his servant is dark. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not available on DVD or Blu-Ray

Note: On 03 September 2017 I saw this film again.