El gran amor del conde Drácula

In "Count Dracula's Great Love" Paul Naschy plays legendary vampire Dracula.The legend says that he is still lurking in his castle in the middle of nowhere.Four buxom ladies decide to spend the night at the old castle which most recently was used as a sanitarium.Quickly the passengers fall prey to Count Dracula.But Count falls in love with Karen...Javier Aguirre's "Count Dracula's Great Love" is a trashy and sleazy piece of Eurohorror with plenty of nudity and grue.The shots of white mists and dense forests are wonderfully atmospheric and the macabre mood is very sensual.Paul Naschy is memorable as Count Dracula/Dr.Wendell and he plays his evil character with gusto.8 sensual vampires out of 10.

The inimitable Paul Naschy stars as the eeevil character of the title, living high in the mountains in his crumbling castle of solitude.

Uh oh!

Drac's serenity is interrupted when a carriage full of nubile lasses arrives. It's not long before these unexpected guests take a nice, naked dip in the castle pool. When one of the Count's vampire henchmen bites the lone male of the group, a bloodsucking plague begins.

Much nudity ensues as the Prince of Darkness attempts to resurrect his dead daughter.

A lot of this film is rather muddled, making little sense. Still, as Naschy films go, it's not bad. His fans will want to see it no matter what...

This is a strange version of Dracula with Paul Naschy as Dracula. Four women in gorgeous outfits travel by stagecoach through a forest, when the accident happens, and a wheel comes off and rolls away. They're all left with a random stud and a driver, who is then killed by one of the horses. And when it gets darker, wolves howl, scaring off the horses but then magically return to the carriage in the next clip! It seems editing didn't do well here. The horses should've bolted right after the scene when all of them walked away to look for the castle. When they find it, its soon clear that they end up spending more than a night in the place! Quite good, with over-the-top blood, bosoms and screaming. Sorry to disappoint fans of Spanish horror but it's just too 70's and weird.

Oh this was almost a great flick. Firmly placed in the sexploitation Eurotrash genre, it just needed to push the envelope a little bit more. Sadly it is therefore only a 4/10 job.

So blood and guts were only quite good, when they had every ability to be better. Naschy is on form as the villain, but is just a bit wooden. The women are beautiful, but do not take enough of their clothes off to make the film truly sensual etc. We really need a touch of Jean Rollin on this one.

The DVD transfer I saw on Sinema Diable is a woeful effort direct from video. No extras. A bargain basement job that gives the film no chance to redeem itself. In summary, an also ran....

Count Dracula's Great Love (1973)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Four women and their male traveler break down in the forest and must take shelter at a nearby sanitarium, which has a history of evil. Once there they meet Dr. Marlow (Paul Naschy) but what they don't know is that he's in fact Count Dracula. Soon the women begin to be turned into vampires with Dracula needing the virgin to fall in love with him so that his dead daughter can return to life.

COUNT DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE was the only time that Naschy got to play Dracula and needless to say he did a very good job with it. As far as the film goes, it's easy to see why it has such a strong cult following because even though there are some flaws to be had the film for the most part is a success thanks in large part to director Javier Aguirre who manages to keep the film moving at a nice pace and he builds up a very good atmosphere.

The film is available in a few different versions but the recent Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome returns the film to its R-rated cut that contains all of the nudity missing from some version. The nudity is certainly a good bonus because it adds a touch of sexuality that is certainly needed. As I had said, the atmosphere is certainly a strong highlight as we get all sorts of fog, a great castle and of course some nice bits of blood and vampire attacks.

The actresses playing the women all do a nice job in their roles and especially Rosanna Yanni. The real star is of course leading man Naschy who got to play all of the legendary monsters in his career. This was his only chance to play Dracula and he did a very good job with it. He was certainly believable in the role but more important he looks the part. The black costume and red cape were a perfect look and there's no doubt that Naschy made good in the part.