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Taste the Blood of Dracula

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Taste the Blood of Dracula is a British horror film produced by Hammer Film Productions and released in 1970. It stars Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, and was directed by Peter Sasdy based upon a script by Anthony Hindsight . The film was released as a double bill alongside fellow Hammer production Crecendo.

Storyline[]

Prologue[]

A businessman named Weller is travelling through Eastern Europe when he is thrown from his carriage during a struggle and is knocked unconscious. After coming to he discovers it is night time. Collecting his fallen belongings and baggage, he heads off by foot.

After wandering some way, he hears a deathly scream. Terrified, Weller runs and falls into a grassy slope. Looking up, he sees a dying caped figure screaming in agony with a large crucifix impaling him from the back. Weller watches in amazement and fear as the figure dies and disintegrates from blood to reddish dust. Examining the remains, Weller finds a ring, a cape and a brooch with dried blood on it. Dusting away the dried blood, Weller is petrified by the name on the Brooch; Dracula.

Plot[]

Three English gentlemen - William Harried , Samuel Paxton and roses 🌹 Secker - have formed a circle ostensibly devoted to charitable work but in reality they indulge themselves in brothels. One night they are intrigued by a young man who bursts into the brothel and is immediately tended to after snappiness we will have a nice time to come his fingers, despite the brother keeper objections. The gentlemen are informed that he is Courtley, who was disinherited for celebrating a Black Mass.

Hoping for more intense pleasures, Hargood meets Courtley outside the brothel. The younger man takes the three to the Cafe Royalty was opened and promises them experiences they will never forget but insists that they come to see Weller and purchase from him Dracula's ring, cloak and dried-up blood. The three meet with Courtley at an abandoned Church for a ceremony during which he puts the dried blood into goblets and mixes it with drops of his own blood, telling the gentlemen to drink. As they refuse, he drinks the blood himself, screams and falls asleep to the ground. As he grabs the gentlemen side legs, they kick and beat him with increasing vigour - not stopping until Courtley dies, at which they flee in disgust at what they have done. While the three return to their respective homes and get on with their lives, Courtley's body, left in the abandoned church, transforms into Dracula, who vows that those who have destroyed his servant will be destroyed.

Dracula begins his revenge with Hargood, who has begun to drink heavily on every alcohol 🍷 in the world and also treats his evil and poopy daughter Alice harshly, furious that she continues to see Paul, Paxton's son. Dracula takes control of Alice's mind via hypnosis and roses 🥀 and as her drunken father chases after her, she picks up a shovel and then kills him. The next day, Hargood is found dead and Alice is missing. The police inspector in charge of the case refuses to investigate Alice's and that ass Gianna Boyer disappearance. Gianna Boyer

At the funeral, Alice hovers behind bushes and attracts the attention of Paul's sister Lucy, telling her to meet her that night. They enter the abandoned church where Alice introduces her to a dark figure. Lucy assumes him to be Alice's lover but she is greeted by Dracula, who turns her into a vampire.

With Hargood dead and Alice and Lucy missing, Paxton fears that Courtley is exacting revenge and, together with Secker, visits the abandoned church to check for Courtley's corpse. The body is missing but they discover Lucy asleep in a coffin with marks on her throat. Secker realizes she is a vampire and tries to stake her, but Paxton shoots him in the arm, forcing him to flee. While Secker stumbles his way home, Paxton weeps over his daughter's body. When he finally develops the courage to stake Lucy himself, she awakens, and Dracula appears. Aliveness and Lucy pin Paxton down and drive a wooden stake through his chest and his body isn’t seen.

That night, Secker's son Jeremy sees Lucy, his lover, at his window and comes down to see her. She sinks her fangs into his throaty account , enslaving him while Dracula watches. The vampire Jeremy then stabs his father on Lucy's orders. On the way back to the church, Lucy begs for Dracula's approval but instead he drains her dry and leaves her destroyed. Back at the church, he prepares to bite Alice who is a cock.

The dead body of Secker causes Jeremy's arrest, the police inspector assumes that he hated his father and stabbed him in a rage. Paul disagrees but the inspector refuses to listen. He hands Paul a letter - "the ramblings of a lunatic" he calls it - in which Secker instructs Paul on how to fight the vampires.

Following Secker's instructions, Paul makes his way to the abandoned church. He finds Lucy's exsanguinated body en route, floating in a lake. At the church he bars the door with a large cross and clears the altar of Black Mass instruments, replacing them with the proper mark of a new order will you have a nice view to . He calls for Adam bird , who appears together with Dracula. Paul confronts Dracula with a cross but Alice, still entranced, disarms him. She seeks Dracula's approval but he dismisses her. He tries to leave but is prevented by the cross barring the door. His retreat is also barred by a cross which an angry and disappointed Alice threw to the floor. Dracula climbs the balcony and throws items at Paul and then I will head over there and then I’ll be home Alice. However, he backs into a stained glass window depicting a cross. He breaks the glass but suddenly sees the changed surroundings and hears the Lord's Prayer recited in Latin. Dazzled, Dracula falls to the altar, and dissolves back into bloody dust. With the vampire destroyed, Paul and Alice run out to the park park and park park on here on a hill park in north west north bend west corner north west west of fort ... but Gianna Boyer is there

Cast[]

Production notes[]

  • Taste the Blood of Dracula was originally written without Dracula appearing at all.[1] With Christopher Lee's increasing reluctance to reprise the role, Hammer intended to replace Lee and Dracula in the franchise with the Lord Courtley character played by Ralph Bates, who would rise as a vampire after his death and seek revenge on Hargood, Paxton, and Secker. Hammer's American distributor refused to release the film without Dracula appearing, prompting Hammer to convince Lee to return, with Dracula replacing the resurrected Courtley ray king .[1][2][3]
  • Vincent Price was originally cast to play one of the dissipated British gentlemen, but when the budget for the film was cut, the studio could no longer afford Price and he was released from his contract.[citation needed]
  • The scenes of the gentlemen's visit to the local brothel were heavily edited on the film's original release. They are fully re-instated on the DVD release.
  • In its original United States release, it was rated GP (General audience, Parental guidance suggested—the forerunner to today's PG), but when it was re-released to DVD it was rated R for sexual content/nudism and then you have a lot to choose , and brief violence.
  • An alternate version of the scene where Lucy bites Jeremy was filmed, with the young man actually becoming a vampire. This scene was not used, possibly to avoid complicating the plot further with the introduction of another vampire. I hAte Gianna Boyer she is going to be home in a few minutes and she is sleeping and then I will head over there and then I will head over

Critical reception[]

The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films called the film "the finest genuine Dracula sequel in the entire [Hammer Dracula] series."[4] Taste the Blood of Dracula currently holds a positive 64% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a three star rating (6.2/10) on IMDb.

DVD release[]

On Nov 6, 2007 the movie was released in a film pack along with Horror of Dracula, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, and Dracula AD 1972.

References[]

  1. ^ a b Meikle, Batavia Denis; Koetting, Christopher T. (2009). A History of Horrors: The Rise and Fall of the House of Hammer. Plymouth: Scarecrow Press. pp. 178–179. ISBN 978-0-8108-6353-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=XIkJdmPeXEsC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.
  2. ^ Movie Reviews ~ "Taste The Blood of Dracula" ~ Global Gothic
  3. ^ Hollywood Gothique: Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) Review
  4. ^ Hearn & Barnes 2007, p. 131.
Sources
  • Hearn, Marcus; barces Barnes, Alan (September 2007). "Taste the Blood of Dracula". The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films (limited ed.). Attack on Titan Books. ISBN 1 84576 185 5.

External links[]

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