tomjeffrey2001

This film was written, directed, and produced by S. William Hinzman, whose one claim to fame was his memorable role as the cemetery zombie in George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. This film might well have been titled The Further Adventures of George Romero's Cemetery Zombie, because that's essentially what it is -- except that it lacks even a trace of the talent that Romero brought to his masterpiece.

Once Hinzman's zombie rises from his grave early in the movie, the film becomes a non-stop killing spree punctuated with numerous scenes of gratuitous nudity. Now I am far from being a prude, and I appreciate gratuitous nudity as much as the next guy. But this film went too far, in my opinion.

Admittedly, some of the killings are interestingly executed (so to speak) and the gore effects are pretty good for a film this low budget. The acting is at times painfully amateurish, but according to the documentary that accompanies the Shriek Show DVD, the actors were paid only $25 a day. As the saying goes, "you get what you pay for."

The first and last part of the film are reminiscent of Night of the Living Dead -- victims trapped in a farmhouse surrounded by zombies; local yokels rounding up the zombies and shooting them. The middle scenes involving a family in their home preparing to go trick-or-treating and a Halloween party with a bunch of costumed drunken "teenagers" are somewhat more interesting and original.

This film is the definitely least interesting of the three films on Shriek Show's Zombie Pack 2, the other two being Zombie Holocaust and Burial Ground. It is, however, watchable, and the gore effects should please hard-core zombie fans who know exactly what they're getting when they watch this kind of movie. I found the documentary in the Extras section to be more interesting than the movie itself, as it explains how many of the effects were done and includes numerous humorous anecdotes about the making of the movie.

All in all, not a great movie but o.k. as part of a three-disc set.

I saw this movie on television several years ago and remember it as being a confusing mess of chop-suey. After viewing the Anchor Bay version on DVD last night, I realize that, first time round, I must have been watching the bowdlerized version known as "Seven Brothers Meet Dracula." While not the best Hammer movie ever made, "Golden Vampires" is a coherent and entertaining movie that kept my interest throughout. I am not a martial arts fan, but this is basically a horror movie with some martial arts thrown in, and I enjoyed it as such. Peter Cushing is in fine form as Prof. Van Helsing, but John Forbes-Robertson's Dracula is a pale imitation of Christoper Lee's iconic vampire. Perhaps I would have felt differently if Dracula had been given more to do. As it is, he makes only a cameo appearance at the beginning and very end of the movie.

For the most part, the movie chronicles the adventures of the seven brothers (and one sister) as they travel with Van Helsing to their ancestral village to rid it of a vampire curse. The siblings are all skilled in the martial arts, which partially compensates for their lack of distinctive personalities. They overcome numerous obstacles along the way before finally reaching the village and encountering the vampires and their zombie allies in one final battle. The movie ends with the obligatory encounter between Van Helsing and Dracula, which is brief and somewhat unsatisfying.

Again, this is not the best Hammer movie I've ever seen, but I have to give the studio credit for trying. The later Christopher Lee Dracula movies were getting awfully repetitive and formulaic, and the decision to move the locale to China (after an opening sequence in Dracula's castle) offered interesting possibilities for a new approach to the old vampire legend. Indeed, the sight of Oriental vampires riding horses and wielding swords and aided by legions of zombies did make for some interesting viewing.

This movie is definitely a "must see" for all aficionados of Hammer horror and well worth a look for other horror fans. I wonder whether the clowns who hacked up "Golden Vampires" and turned it into "Seven Brothers" are the same talentless morons who ruined "Kiss of the Vampire" and "Evil of Frankenstein" for television. Their names should be posted on a wall of shame, so all will know who they are!