Taste the Blood of Dracula
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| Taste the Blood of Dracula | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for Taste the Blood of Dracula |
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| Directed by | Peter Sasdy |
| Produced by | Aida Young |
| Written by | Anthony Hinds, Bram Stoker (character) |
| Starring | Christopher Lee, Geoffrey Keen, Gwen Watford |
| Music by | James Bernard |
| Cinematography | Arthur Grant |
| Editing by | Chris Barnes |
| Distributed by | Hammer Studios |
| Release date(s) | May 7, 1970 |
| Running time | 91 min (cut, USA), 95 min (uncut, UK) |
| Country |  UK |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Dracula Has Risen from the Grave |
| Followed by | Scars of Dracula |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Taste the Blood of Dracula is a British horror film produced by Hammer Film Productions and released in 1969. It stars Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, and was directed by Peter Sasdy. The film is marketed with the tagline "They taste his blood and the horror begins!"
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[edit] Plot synopsis
In a prologue, an English business man named Weller travelling in Eastern Europe comes across Dracula as he dies in Dracula Has Risen from the Grave.
Three respectable gentlemen--Hargood, Paxton and Secker--are hypocrites who claim to be spending one night a month on charitable works, when in fact they are indulging themselves at a brothel. On one such night, an odd young man bursts in on their celebrations and snaps his fingers. A prostitute immediately comes to him, despite the Host's objections. He tells the three gentleman that is Lord Courtley, who was disinheirited after being caught celebrating the Black Mass. Hargood wants to meet him, hoping for an entry into more intense pleasures. Courtley is agreable, insisting they come see Weller and purchase from him the ring, cloak and dried up blood of Dracula himself. They all meet with him at an abandoned Church, where he performs a ceremony--one involving putting the dried blood into goblets and mixing it with blood. He bids them drink, but they refuse. He drinks instead, and screams! They kick him to death and flee.
Back at their respective homes, all three try to live with what they've seen and done. Hargood in particular treats his daughter horribly, furious that she continues to see Paul, Paxton's son. He also begins to drink very heavily.
Meanwhile, in the abandoned church, Lord Courtley's body reforms into that of Dracula, who intones that those who have killed his servant will be destroyed...
Dracula begins his revenge with Alice. He goes to the Hargood estate, and using hypnosis takes control of her mind. When a drunken Hargood comes across her, furious and abusive for her having gone to a party, she picks up a shovel and kills him. The next day, Hargood is found dead and Alice is missing. Inspector Cobb, the police officer in charge of the case, seems unwilling to investigate.
At Hargood's funeral, Alice hovers around and manages to get the attention of Paul's sister Lucy Paxton. Lucy comes with her, in theory to meet "someone" whom Lucy assumes to be Alice's lover. But she ends up taken to the abandoned church, where Dracula bites her.
Secker (whose son Jeremy is engaged to Lucy) insists that he and Paxton must discover for themselves whether Courtley is alive by visiting the church. They see his body is missing, but they also see something much more disturbing--Lucy, asleep in a coffin, with fang 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. Secker weeps over Lucy, trying to get the courage to do what he must. Paxton meanwhile stumbles his way home.
By the time Paxton does develop the courage, it is too late. The sun has set. Lucy and Alice both pin him down, with Dracula watching, to drive a wooden stake through his own heart.
That night, Jeremy sees Lucy at his window and comes down to see her. She sinks her fangs into his throat, killing him while Dracula (again) watches. Secker comes across this and collapses. He has written a note for Paul, telling him what to do.
On the way back to the church, Lucy begs for Dracula's approval but instead he simply drains her dry and leaves her truly dead. Back at the church, he prepares to bite Alice but the cock crows and he must go back to his coffin.
Paul, on Secker's instructions, makes his way to the abandoned church. He finds his sister's body floating in a river en route. Once at the church, he places a large cross across the door. He clears from the altar the vestments of the Black Mass and replaces them the proper materials. When Dracula wakes, he faces a young man with a cross held like a weapon. But Alice, still entranced, disarms Paul. Dracula dismisses her ("I have no use for you") and makes to leave, but cannot because of the cross. By now Paul has recovered and begins to recite a prayer in Latin. Dracula cannot get out of the Church, and finally collapses from a high scaffold onto the altar below, turning (once again) into dust.
[edit] Cast
- Christopher Lee (Count Dracula)
- Linda Hayden (Alice Hargood)
- Anthony Corlan (Paul Saxton)
- Geoffrey Keen (William Hargood)
- John Carson (Jonathan Secker)
- Peter Sallis (Samuel Paxton)
- Ralph Bates (Lord Courtley)
- Isla Blair (Lucy Paxton)
- Martin Jarvis (Jeremy Secker)
- Roy Kinnear (Weller)
- Michael Ripper (Inspector Cobb)
[edit] Credits
- Directed by Peter Sasdy
- Screenplay by John Elder (Anthony Hinds)
- Produced by Aida Young
[edit] Trivia
- Vincent Price was originally pegged to play one of the dissipated British gentlemen, but when the budget for the film was cut, Price could no longer be afforded and was released from his contract.
- 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.
- Linda Hayden later got to play a vampire in the film Vampira (aka Old Dracula with David Niven).
- Madeleine Smith has a bit part here as a prostitute. Soon after she played Emma in the film The Vampire Lovers from the same studio.
- John Carson would later play a vampire in Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter.
[edit] External links
- Taste the Blood of Dracula at the Internet Movie Database
- Taste the Blood of Dracula at All Movie Guide
- Online review
Dracula (1958) • The Brides of Dracula (1960) • Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) • Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) • Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) • Scars of Dracula (1970) • Dracula AD 1972 (1972) • The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
