Three respectable gentlemen secretly form their own little hellfire club. Bored with prostitutes and drink, they ask Lord Courtley, a notorious libertine and dabbler in the black arts, to guide them to the next step. That step: To resurrect Dracula from his powdered blood and a few trinkets. When the attempt goes awry, the three men beat Courtley to death, but in the aftermath, Dracula does appear and swears to take vengeance for the death of his servant.
What do you do when you want to make a Dracula film but lack Dracula, and then suddenly get him at the last minute? Taste the Blood of Dracula was written assuming that Christopher Lee wouldn’t return to the title role, so Dracula was going to be a kind of lecherous plague that infects foolish Brits. But the investors wanted Lee, so we end up with a patchwork film. Patchwork, but interesting.
This is the fifth Hammer Dracula film and the fourth to include Lee. It is also the second in a row where the plot involves a pointless and petty vengeance. I like my masters of evil being a bit more evil. Also the second time in a row, we have star-crossed lovers.
Without Ternce Fisher at the helm (also for the second time in a row), the normal Hammer-theme of proper, sexually-repressive society overcoming the evil of rampant sexuality is gone—thank goodness. While sexual freedom is still sinful and repression the way of things, hypocrisy is the theme. Sexually-repressive society is home to perverts and the slime of the earth, masquerading as upright citizens. That’s about as progressive as Hammer ever got.
The cast is generally good, but with no real protagonist, no one gets a chance to shine, or do much of anything. Lee is criminally underused, as he is in every Hammer Dracula film, but he at least gets to be charming and commanding.
It all ends in a vague religious mish mash with the most important lesson being don’t scorn a woman.
The other Hammer Dracula films are: The Horror of Dracula (1958), The Brides of Dracula (1960)—which lacked Dracula, Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966), Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), Scars of Dracula (1971), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973), and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974).