The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires

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.

Van Helsing goes to China...and the result is ripping good yarn!

When this movie first came out, many Hammer fans were appalled at the idea of Hammer producer Michael Carreras teaming with Hong Kong movie mogul Run Run Shaw to create a Hammer/Kung Fu hybrid; it seemed like a desperate attempt to revive the declining Hammer brand by grafting it onto the ascendant Kung Fu craze. Looking back from the vantage point of 2011--after seeing Batman, Hellboy, Iron Man, The Mummy franchise, et. al. go to China--Carerras's cross-cultural gambit looks like genius, and 40 years ahead of its time...perhaps literally so, since the revived Hammer company is now talking about doing a remake.

If you fear this movie will be a Kung Fu actioner with lots of bone-crunching sound effects and nuggets of inscrutable wisdom, think again. It's pure Hammer from start to finish, with a reliable anchoring performance by Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. It seems the venerable doctor is doing some anthropological field work in China; when he lectures at a university, his unwelcome discussion of vampires draws catcalls but finds one receptive listener who knows the truth of the Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. Add a traveling European heiress with a taste for adventure and a fortune to fund an expedition into the hinterland, and the plot is off and running.

This is a work of high fantasy that draws not just on Bram Stoker but on a long tradition of English literature. The narrative brio reminds me of the adventure stories of H. Rider Haggard (here set in China instead of Africa). There's also a bit of Tolkien in the storytelling, with the 7 Golden Vampires reminiscent of the Nazgul, Dracula of Sauron, and Van Helsing of Gandalf, leading a motley fellowship on a journey to destroy evil. As the travelers draw ever nearer to their goal, they engage in repeated battles that take a terrible toll, right up to the final confrontation with the Evil One himself. (Lest you think the Tolkien parallel is a stretch, consider that the character of Van Helsing was one of Tolkien's inspirations for Gandalf, the keeper of secret knowledge who advises and motivates those who would rid the world of its greatest evil.)

The action scenes look quite dated, but only because we've grown used to seeing aerial martial arts performed with guy-wires against a blue-screen; in the old-fashioned Kung Fu films, acrobats were still subject to the laws of gravity.

Although Hammer's audiences [and budgets] were declining in the 70s, they still made some interesting movies which are ripe for reappraisal. This film is a case in point. A collaboration with the Hong Kong martial arts film studio Shaw Brothers[ there was also another one, the very poor Shatter, a routine modern day thriller], it mixes horror and martial arts to extremely entertaining effect. Yes, the idea of mixing the two genres was done better in later Hong Kong films like Spooky Encounters, but there is a great deal of trashy fun to be had here.

Shot in extremely lurid colour, the first half hour has two amazingly vivid scenes- Dracula possessing a Chinese priest in Transylvania, and a terrific setpiece in China soon after with a peasant trying to rescue some women from a castle and encountering the wonderfully decrepit looking Seven Golden Vampires and than an army of zombies who come out of the ground in a stunning sequence, the use of speeded up film to convey their movement oddly effective. Thereafter, as our bunch of protagonists sets off to rid China of this evil, the film does tend to become a series of very bloody battles, but they are blisteringly staged. David Chiang has little charisma as the main hero, but Peter Cushing is solid as ever as Van Helsing ,and does look as if he his having fun. John Forbes-Robertson has quite a bit of presence as Dracula, but he's only in the opening and ending, and after all the terrific action beforehand, his death at the hands of Van Helsing is something of a damp squib. There are some somewhat stilted dialogue scenes, but James Bernard's music is typically exciting [Hammer fans will spot the cues from Taste The Blood Of Dracula though!].

Hardly classic Hammer, or Shaw Brothers for that matter, but this just sets out to provide a fun gory time, and succeeds.

Peter Cushing returns as Van Helsing once again but this time he's jumped across the pond and is a lecturer in China.

When an opportunity arises to investigate some local vampire mythology he teams with a group of martial artists to foil the scheme of the Prince of Darkness himself Dracula.

What makes this stand out from all the other Hammer Horror films is the attempt at genre blending. Hammer Horror blended with martial arts and with a proper martial arts movie studio to assist them.

Somehow it actually manages to work, the plot is credible and the action is fast and furious.

Peter Cushing is oddly stoic here and not on form at all and the absence of Christopher Lee is highly damaging. John Forbes-Robertson was just not up to the job at all.

Regardless this is a fun little Hammer Horror film that tries to break away from the usual mould. Less cheesy, tad more violent but the awful looking bats are still present.

The Good:

Decent choreography

Some nice ideas

The Bad:

John Forbes-Robertson

Some even worse than usual sfx

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Women cannot go to unknown territories

Christopher Lee simply IS Dracula, replacing him is like re-casting Freddy Kreuger and nobody would ever do that! Right?

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.