Customer Reviews

Taste the Blood of Dracula [VHS]

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I was a kid, I thought this movie had too little Dracula...but thanks to Warner DVD there is now more than ever! (Still not enough, but we gotta take what we can get!!)
Issued without any formal "fanfare," this release restores approximately FOUR minutes of footage never before seen in the US versions! Throw away those old videos!!! This DVD presents "Taste the Blood of Dracula" the way it was meant to be seen! Originally rated "GP" in the US, it's now rated "R" on the package. (Granted, these days it would probably be a PG-13.) Among the shots restored are: Dracula's bright red blood turning to dust in the beginning, extended "brothel" scenes featuring (very brief) topless nudity, and an extension of the sequence where Dracula attacks Lucy! The "revenge" deaths (and the death of Lord Courtley) are extended with bloody close-ups. (Most striking is the death of Paul and Lucy's father, as he is "staked" by Lucy and Alice. Before, we only got a quick glimpse. Now, the sequence's original impact is intact!!) But the best aspect of the restoration are shots of Dracula himself, seen through the eyes of the dying men! VERY IMPRESSIVE!! Thank you Warner DVD, for a job well done!! (Now, can you go back and do the same for "Horror of Dracula???" PLEASE?????)

The fourth Christpher Lee Dracula film is a definite improvement over the previous two. Three respected men have a secret society where they partake of sin weekly. The men run into a young hell-raiser (Ralph Bates) who tells them he can give them an ultimate adventure and then proceeds to drink the blood of Dracula, the three men kill him out of fear. Dracula then appears out of the ashes of the dead man and vows revenge on the three who killed his follower. Christopher Lee is not given enough to do and does not come into the film until about half an hour into it, but the film still finds a way to work. The plot is average, but the quick pace and timely shocks help this film a great deal. The supporting cast does well, ecspecially Bates(in his Hammer debut) and John Carson. The ending is not one of the best, but the road to it is exciting and well done.

I rented this film some time ago, and I had sort of mixed fellings for it. Some parts were a bit of a letdown, but other sequences worked quite well. When a devil worshipper named Courtley (Ralph Bates) and a trio of high society Victorian England thrill seekers attempt to ressurrect Dracula by drinking his blood, Courtley chokes on it, forcing the others to drop their cups and beat him to death. Dracula is reborn, using his disciple's corpse. Dracula then proceeds to take vengance on Courtley's killers by killing them. With the help of one thrill seeker named Secker, a courageous young man out to free his girlfiend from Dracula's hypnosis, ends the vampire's terror. The plot was somewhat slow and unoriginal. Lee gives his usual sinister performance, and his scenes are the best in the film. By the way, Lee originally refused to do this film. Ralph Bates was enlisted as Dracula, but at the last minute, Lee was convinced to play Dracula. And of course, the role of Courtley was given to young Ralph Bates. This film can be pretty enjoyable. Fans of the series should definitely get this film! If you are interested in starting on viewing the Hammer Dracula series, watch them in order. They all have a sense of continuity and order matters!

After recently watching the film Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), I was certainly curious as to how they managed to bring him back for Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), the third installment of the Hammer/Lee Dracula series. I mean, the guy dissolved away to practically nothingness, but then, I guess matter can never really be destroyed, only changed into different forms. The film, directed by Peter Sasdy, who also did Countess Dracula (1970), starts off by basically rehashing the final scenes of Dracula has Risen from the Grave, and we find a portly merchant finding the remains of Dracula's corpse, his cloak, signet ring, cloak clasp, and red powder that is supposed to be Dracula's blood. We then meet of a group of three wealthy, respectable, older men who form a small group that participates in a little hanky panky on the side, and have become bored with their usual routine. They seek out the assistance of a younger man, one with noble lineage who was cut off from his family due to his predilections for the occult. This younger man convinces the trio to cough up the dough for the remains of Dracula, in the hopes of performing some sort of ritual, with the notion of bringing forth pleasures and such none of the men could ever conceive.

The ritual, which takes place in an abandoned church well off the beaten path, begins, and involves mixing fresh blood with the powdered blood of Dracula (which creates quite the oozing visceral cocktail), and then drinking this new combination. The three older men understandably balk at the idea of drinking this noxious concoction, and challenge the brash younger man to drink it, to which he calls them cowards and does, with interesting effects. He begins to seriously freak out, and the three older men then proceed to have their own freak out, to which the get scared and beat and kick the younger man savagely until he's dead. They then leave, quite shaken up by the ordeal and make a vow to never talk about the crime, as they have little fear that the body will ever be discovered due to the remoteness of the derelict church. Little do they know that after they left, the body of the young man became covered in ash, and from the ash Dracula (Lee) is reborn, swearing vengeance on those who killed his acolyte. This whole concept of vengeance seems to be an on-going theme in these movies, but I guess motivation has to come from somewhere. Anyway, Dracula is now loose in London, and his wicked plans involve using the children of the three men to exact his revenge. Here's another consistent theme throughout these films of having Dracula use others to do most of his dirty work. I suppose if you can enthrall women and control men's minds, why do it yourself? His plans begin to bear fruit, as the men begin to meet their various demises, and the race is on to not only learn who is responsible for these murders, but also to stop the fiend once his identity is revealed. Will the surviving children be able to stop this monster from destroying them and their families, or will the sins of the fathers consume all and unleash a terror on the land in the form of an insatiable creature of the night?

Most of the performances are pretty good, and Lee certainly makes a strong showing as the venerable Prince of Darkness, eyes becoming a ghastly red as he takes his various victims for sustenance. As with the previous films, he has very few lines, but Lee's on-screen presence speaks volumes, emoting a sense of real horror and terror. The sets are very good, especially the abandoned church where the resurrection of Dracula takes place, and then becomes his sort of base of operations as he carries out his murderous plans. This entry is a little faster paced than the previous film, as there is a bit more killing involved. I especially enjoyed the scene near the end when a character is fighting with Dracula within the church, and Dracula is trying to escape, tearing metal bars from windows and chucking them like spears. His supernatural strength didn't get much play in some of the other films, as it doesn't really here, but at least it's present.

Warner Brothers provides a really sharp looking wide screen print here, but very little in the area of special features, including an original theatrical trailer for the film. If you are interesting in seeing the other films in this series, look for Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966), Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), Scars of Dracula (1970), Dracula AD 1972 (1972), and The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973).

Cookieman108

this is without a doubt my favorite hammer/dracula series films! a must have for the true dracula fan! !

Another glorious Gothic-horror epic from Hammer, TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA is a fine entry into Hammer's `Dracula' franchise with Christopher Lee once again donning the red-lined cape and vampire denture plate to play the title role.

The lush Victorian era is amiably-recreated with Linda Hayden as Alice, the young ingenue whom Dracula sets his sights (and fangs) on. Directed by Peter Sasdy (COUNTESS DRACULA) and also featuring Roy Kinnear, Ralph Bates and Gwen Watford. Warner's DVD contains the uncut version of the film, beautifully restored in a 16:9 print.

As just about every movie-goer will know, a series of movies always loses it after a while. After watching the fairly dull DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE (the third installment in Hammer's Drcula series), I was expecting this one to be a turkey but it actually was good nostalgic entertainment. Even though it takes Christopher Lee about 30 minutes to arrive into the film, Ralph Bates (HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN, DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE) keeps the film moving. He plays a satanist who drinks Dracula's blood and turns into him. It's all rather obvious, but good fun.

Dracula's becoming a bit like Jason Voorhees in that he gets wiped out at the end of each film, but some schmuck manages to resurrect him in the next. In this case it's four schmucks-a student of black magic, and three thrill seekers(one of them is "M" from the Roger Moore and Dalton Bond films). After buying Dracula's clothing and blood from Veruca Salt's dad, they perform a satanic ritual that brings back Dracula. Why anyone would want to do this for kicks is beyond me. The three guys chicken out when it comes time for them to drink Dracula's blood, and beat the black magic dude to death. Well, Dracula comes back and carries out his revenge on the the three guys. Dracula's motives for revenge are lame, but oh well. Of course he gets his little group of female vampire slaves to help him out, and yes he treats them like toilet paper as usual. When the leading lady's boyfriend, Paul(it seems like alot of Hammer films have a character named Paul for some reason) gets wind of all this, he reads a book about vampires and arms himself to the teeth within the space of about half an hour. Then he's off for the final confrontation with Dracula. How is Dracula defeated this time around? I'm still scratching my head about that one. It appears that it might be sunlight(along with some kinda LSD trip about a church), but how is this possible since night had just fallen five minutes ago? That's another thing-the sun rises and sets in this film as if it were controlled by a lightswitch. Anyhow, the film is actually very good. The acting is good, but it usually is in a Hammer film. And of course, the gothic look is right on and the women are all yummy. Lee does a good job with what he's given. Dracula's not given an awful lot of screen time, very few lines, and mostly he's standing around as he orders his slavechix to kill everyone. Lee has always been my favorite actor to don the cape, so maybe I'm a little biased here. When you step back and look at it, it's not an earth shattering performance, but hell, it's Christopher Lee, man! An above average Hammer film for sure.

Taste The Blood Of Dracula was the fourth movie in the Christopher Lee 'Dracula' cycle, and in my opinion one of the best.

Everything about this movie speaks quality. The story is a Victorian morality tale and shows the hypocracy of those times. A father belittles his daughter and basically tells her that she is a harlot, while him and his buddies frequent a house of ill repute and attend a satanic ceremony. The characters actually evolve throughout the movie and you end up caring about them by the end.

The sets are gorgeous and the cemetery scenes were actually filmed in Highgate Cemetery which makes the film even more 'dark' than it already is. The costumes are great and the acting is really good.

Modern horror film makers ought to watch this movie and learn something from it. Vapid acting,angsty teen actors, and bad screenplays does not a great horror film make. However, great acting, a well written screenplay, and the great production values of Hammer Studios do.

Watch this movie.

This is the fourth instalment in Hammer productions' Dracula series. The storyline is quite unique in that it centers on a group of middle-aged businessmen who inadvertently cause the Count to be resurrected via an occult ritual conducted by a young nobleman, Courtley. They kill Courtley during the ritual, and leave in a hurry, not realising that by committing murder, they have not only caused Dracula to rise again, but awakened his anger. Dracula is bent on revenge for his acolyte's death and proceeds to kill the trio off by manipulating their children.

The acting in this movie was actually pretty good. Christopher Lee reprises his role as the evil Count and actually has quite a few lines of dialogue here, all delivered in his usual deadpan style. His blood- red eyes and demented expressions are all portrayed with chilling effect. The three doomed men are also played really well - Geoffrey Keen as William Hargood, Peter Sallis as Samuel Paxton, and John Carson as Jonathan Secker are all believable in their roles as lecherous middle-aged men whose lust eventually lead to their downfall. The two girls who play Dracula's victims, Linda Hayden as Alice Hargood and Isla Blair as Lucy Paxton are suitably beautiful and do their roles justice.

I thought the production values were above average - the score was effectively creepy, and the sets were well-done, especially the derelict chapel that is the scene of Dracula's resurrection and also the final battle.

All in all, this is a decent Hammer production with an engaging plot and credible acting. A must-have for fans of Dracula as well as those interested in vampire movies.