The Satanic Rites of Dracula

Moribund Hammer’s umpteenth desperate attempt to inject some new life-blood into its illustrious Count Dracula cycle. This time they opt for a genre-bending romp in an effort to jump on the bandwagon of cinematic socio-political science fiction that was all the rage in the early 1970s. Consequently, this Dracula 2.0 is no garden-variety vampire – he becomes something of a dark, deranged entrepreneur, a sort of bloodsucking Howard Hughes type – influencing the powers that be with an eye to promoting his own despicable aims.

In the light of this absurd premise, it’s hardly surprising that, after a passable first half hour, the story begins to show disturbing signs of running off the rails. Alan Gibson (responsible for the hardly rousing “Dracula A.D. 1972“, also set in contemporary London) directs with a complete lack of pacing and visual creativity, failing miserably to support such a muddled, slipshod plot. The only saving grace is the great Peter Cushing’s performance – despite betraying a certain weariness, he still manages to confer a modicum of appeal to the Van Helsing character.

Count Dracula will return as a guest star in the kung fu fighting film “The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires” (1974), ninth, and fortunately final episode in a series that, not unlike Dracula himself, has been dead for quite some time.