In this sixth Hammer Films Dracula movie (the fifth with Christopher Lee as the Count), Dracula is resurrected again. Through a serious of near-random events, a pair of brothers and a girl they both like end up in Dracula’s castle.
Are you a fan of rubber bats on strings? Ones that bounce up and down as the string is plucked? If so, this is your film. There are comically fake bats everywhere (sometimes they chitter). The film begins with one of these artificial critters spitting up blood on the remains of the good Count. Yes, Dracula is resurrected by a vomiting puppet. And to go with the rubber mammals, there is a blatantly false blade used in the most unbelievable stabbing scene I’ve seen in a film (I expected to hear the twang of the spring in the handle with each blow).
The script in on par with the bats. Townspeople set a few small fires in a stone castle, never see Dracula’s body, and think they’ve destroyed him. Carriages pop up whenever the plot needs someone to go from one point to another. Drac’s servant locks a victim in with the sleeping vampire; why doesn’t the guy just chuck the comatose Count out the window?
The low budget is evident in poor production values (the day-for-night shots just look like day) and any sense of artistry is absent (the bombastic music is fitting for a parody, not a horror film). Outside of a few lusty wenches and a hammy Lee, it’s hard to find anything entertaining here.
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), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), Scars of Dracula (1971), The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973), and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974).