(1970)
Dir - Roy Ward Baker
Overall: MEH
For their second Dracula sequel in one year and the sixth installment in the series overall, Hammer Films barely seems to be trying with Scars of Dracula. Back in Transylvania yet opening with what looks to be the closing moments of the previous Taste the Blood of Dracula, a random bat spits blood on the vampire's ashes, then an angry mob burns his castle, he has another servant named Klove, (even though he also had one in Dracula: Prince of Darkness played by another actor), and we spend most of our time with some more relatively boring, younger characters than we do Dracula himself. It is as if Hammer was in such a rush to squeeze another movie out of the series that they just grabbed a hodgepodge of cliches that were already overstaying their welcome and then haphazardly threw them together with no mind for continuity. Some of this makes sense as it was partially constructed as a reboot in case Christopher Lee finally had enough of being emotionally blackmailed into keeping the crew working with his involvement. There is some nasty bloodshed, Lee gets more dialog than usual, and Patrick Troughton is in it at least though.
(1972)
Dir - Alan Gibson
Overall: MEH
Two years after retreading the same ground for the sixth time with Scars of Dracula, Hammer made the somewhat bold move to contemporize their titular vampire with Dracula A.D. 1972. Warner Bros. commissioned Hammer to make two more films in the series that were set in the modern day after American International Pictures' Count Yorga, Vampire and its sequel had recently done solid enough business. Though the change in locale gives this installment a shot in the arm from the same "rural, 19th century, superstitious, European town" setting, the script by Don Houghton is far from ingenious. A spoiled, young bohemian resurrects Dracula for kicks and Van Helsing's decedent just happens to be part of his crew. The return of Peter Cushing is another notable selling point and though he is not technically THEE Van Helsing but his grandson, he may as well be since he is an occult expert and ends up destroying the vampire by the usual means. The hip, wah-wah guitar music by Manfred Man's Mike Vickers is positively awful and dates the film far more than the earlier, period-set Gothic ones. Though it is nice to see Cushing and Lee back at each other's throats and we get a silly Satanic ceremony where Caroline Munroe gets bright red blood dumped all over her, the movie is regrettably still not that interesting.
(1973)
Dir - Alan Gibson
Overall: MEH
Hammer kept their titular vampire in the contemporary age once more for The Satanic Rites of Dracula, a direct sequel to the previous Dracula A.D. 1972 which once again reunites Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing's occult expert descendant. The writer director team of Don Houghton and Alan Gibson returns as well and the former's script is noticeably more ambitious than any other in the series. Dracula's resurrection is given no expiation whatsoever as he clandestinely runs a secret society that is planning to unleash a skin melting plague on the populous. Also, the movie is somehow a spy thriller with Satanism, plus Lee does a Béla Lugosi accent in one, (perhaps unintentionally), amusing scene. Assuredly a mess, the first act is unfortunately a bore and as usual, Lee's absence throughout most of it is rather detrimental. Things pick up a bit when he and Cushing finally get some screen time together, but the ending could be the dumbest out of any of the installments as Dracula gets stuck in a thorn bush, trips, and then lays there for several moments while Van Helsing breaks off a piece of a fence to stake him with. A scrapping the barrel offering to be sure, it is rather a saving grace that Lee finally got his wish to never revisit the character again in a Hammer production after this.
(1974)
Dir - Roy Ward Baker/Chang Cheh
Overall: GOOD
Though it has its fare share of problems, the one and only joint production between Hammer and the Shaw Brothers in The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, (The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula), gets a decent amount of mileage out of its clashing of genres. Filmed in Hong Kong with Peter Cushing staying on board and a small handful of English actors, it fits in seamlessly with Hammer's usual crop of horror sequels while simultaneously and unmistakably being a martial arts movie. The visual realization of the undead fiends of the title as well as the set design of their lair is ghoulishly executed. Some further advancements to the vampire mythos, (such as the fact that in the East, the image of the Buddha serves the same purpose to ward them off as does the crucifix out west), are also a nice addiction. As far as the kung-fu goes, it is both a hindrance and an amusingly fun tweak to the formula. Most of the earlier fight scenes spring up out of nowhere and stall the pacing quite a bit, yet everything becomes a lot more wickedly engaging when the putty-faced, zombie-esque vampires and their minions finally throw down with ninja flips and swords in the third act. Dracula is pathetically wasted and shoehorned in there with Christopher Lee finally through with such nonsense and a very unmemorable John Forbes-Robinson stepping in and doing his best Lee impression with what he has to work with. An interesting experiment to be sure, but quite a silly one as well.
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