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. The film is marketed with the tagline "They taste his blood and the horror begins!"
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 and collects his dried-up blood, his cloak and his ring.
Three English gentlemen - Hargood, Paxton and 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 snapping his fingers, despite the brothelkeeper's 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 Royal 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 to the ground. As he grabs the gentlemen's 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 and also treats his daughter Alice harshly, furious that she continues to see Paul, Paxton's son. Dracula takes control of Alice's mind via hypnosis and as her drunken father chases after her, she picks up a shovel and 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 disappearance.
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. Alice and Lucy pin Paxton down and drive a wooden stake through his chest.
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 throat, 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 but a cock crows and he returns to his coffin.
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 materials. He calls for Alice, 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 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 dust. The surviving young couple run ...
Cast
Production notes
- Taste the Blood of Dracula was originally written without Dracula appearing at all. 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.[1][2]
- 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.[3]
- 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/nudity, and brief violence.
References
External links
|
Bram Stoker's Dracula |
|
| Characters of Dracula |
|
|
| Film adaptations |
|
|
| Other films |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dracula 2000
|
|
|
|
Parodies
|
|
|
|
Others
|
|
|
|
| Stage adaptations |
|
|
| Literary pastiches |
|
|
| Comics |
|
|
| Video games |
|
|
| See also |
|
|
