Taste the Blood of Dracula
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| Taste the Blood of Dracula | |
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 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 |  United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Dracula Has Risen from the Grave |
| Followed by | Scars of Dracula |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
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!"
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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 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 in the East End of London, but in reality they indulge themselves with drinking and patronising whores in a brothel. On one such night, as they watch a striptease act featuring a young lady dancing with a snake, a young man bursts into the brothel, disturbing their celebrations. As he snaps his fingers, a prostitute immediately tends to him, despite the brothelkeeper's objections. The gentlemen are interested in that man and are informed that he is Courtley, who was disinheirited for celebrating a Black Mass.
Hargood, hoping for more intense pleasures, wants to meet Courtley, who promises them experiences they would never forget but insists that they come to see Weller and purchase from him Dracula's ring, cloak and dried-up blood. They all meet with him at an abandoned Church for a ceremony during which he puts the dried-up 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 begin to 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 that of Dracula, who vows that those who have destroyed his servant will be destroyed.
Dracula begins his revenge with Hargood, who has begun to drink very 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 around behind bushes and manages to speak to Paul's sister Lucy, telling her to meet her that night. As they enter the abandoned church that night, she tells her to meet "someone". Lucy assumes that the someone to be Alice's lover but instead is greeted by Dracula, who bites her.
With Hargood dead and Alice and Lucy missing, Paxton fears that this is all Courtley exacting revenge and, together with Secker, visits the abandoned church to look for Courtley's corpse. They find the corpse missing but also 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 Lucy's body. Finally, he develops the courage to stake Lucy himself but at that moment Lucy awakes and Dracula and Alice appear. Alice and Lucy pin Paxton down and drive a wooden stake through his heart.
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 enslaved Jeremy then stabs his father to death on Lucy's orders. 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.
As the dead body of Secker is found, the police inspector quickly deduces that Jeremy hated his father and stabbed him in a rage. Paul, who is also present, disagrees but the inspector refuses to listen and hands him over a letter - "ramblings of a lunatic" as he calls it - in which Secker instructs Paul on how to fight the vampires.
Paul, following Secker's instructions, makes his way to the abandoned church. He finds Lucy's drained body floating in a river en route. At the church, he bars the door with a large cross and clears the altar from the 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 and tries to leave, but is prevented by the cross barring the door. He attacks Paul by throwing items at them but on the balcony he runs into stained glass window containing a cross. He breaks the glass but suddenly realizes the changed surroundings and hears the Lord's Prayer recited in Latin. Dazzled, Dracula falls unto the altar and dissolves into dust.
[edit] Cast
- Christopher Lee as Count Dracula
- Geoffrey Keen as William Hargood
- Linda Hayden as Alice Hargood
- Peter Sallis as Samuel Paxton
- Anthony Corlan as Paul Paxton
- Isla Blair as Lucy Paxton
- John Carson as Jonathan Secker
- Martin Jarvis as Jeremy Secker
- Ralph Bates as Lord Courtley
- Roy Kinnear as Weller
- Michael Ripper as Inspector Cobb
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
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This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008) |
- 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.
- Anthony Corlan would later play Emil, the vampiric tiger-man in 1974's Vampire Circus.
- Anthony Corlan's real surname is Higgins. He is billed under that name in a small part as a Nazi soldier in 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark and as the Moriarty character in 1984's Young Sherlock Holmes.
- In its original release, it was rated GP (General Public), but when it was re-released to DVD it was rated R for sexual content/nudity, and brief violence.
[edit] External links
- Taste the Blood of Dracula at the Internet Movie Database
- Taste the Blood of Dracula at Allmovie
- Taste the Blood of Dracula at Rotten Tomatoes
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