Taste the Blood of Dracula

Dir. Peter Sasdy

95 Minutes

UK

1970

Starring: Christopher Lee, Geoffrey Keen, Gwen Watford, Linda Hayden, Peter Sallis, Anthony Higgins

***/*****

Taste the Blood of Dracula (the fifth entry in the Hammer Dracula series) is a late surprise in the run and quite possibly the last film of nine(!) that approaches a level of "good" (though the final installment, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, is far too bizarre to ignore). And that is mostly as a result of its fairly inventive narrative. When we last saw Count Dracula (Christopher Lee, seemingly losing more and more interest by the film), he was impaled by a giant stake, crying out in agony. While he dies in the earlier film, here it turns out that three men witnessed this final scene (seriously, these ways in which they manage to bring back the character are almost works of art on their own) and end up resurrecting the Count (but killing one of his servants). Dracula decides to take revenge on the three men, but with the added twist of having them all be killed at the hands of their children.

It is this final spin that gives the film a bit of energy and creativity, rather than have the picture devolve into a simple cat-and-mouse chase. Despite the towering presence of Christopher Lee (never really given an abundance of screen time due to the nature of the character), the Hammer Dracula series always seemed a bit weak compared to the far superior Frankenstein run in its repetitive nature, and once the first two films run their course it becomes a bit difficult for any of the films to really stand apart from the others. But there is a pleasure to be had in the devolving of these men, and a level of enjoyment in a rather waning franchise that never again lives up to this brief spike of returned entertainment.

October 23rd, 2019