Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Decent Film, So-So DVD, January 11, 2004
In this 1972 film from Spanish director Javier Aguirre, four women and a man wreck their stagecoach and must take refuge in a nearby castle. Unfortunately for the travelers, the castle's owner, Dr. Wendell Marlow (Paul Naschy), turns out to be none other than Count Dracula. After Dracula falls in love with one of the women, she must decide whether to live eternally as Dracula's bride or reject him and continue to live as a mortal. Her not-so-surprising choice leads to a strange and surprising ending. Like a lot of '70s European horror movies, the film suffers from slow pacing and a somewhat muddled plot. But there's lots of gothic atmosphere and a few creepy moments here and there to keep things interesting. If there's anything to complain about, it's Sinema Diable's cheapo packaging. For a mid-priced DVD like this, you'd expect to see a reasonably sharp video transfer and decent audio, but both are very marginal here. In fact, the picture and sound quality are comparable to what you typically see in bargain-bin DVDs costing a third as much. There are no extras, either, like a trailer or talent bios, which are almost always included in DVDs in this price range. So I've deducted one full star for the low overall quality of the release. Hopefully, we'll see a little more bang for the buck in Sinema Diable's future products.
Of course, if you're a Naschy fan, or just can't get enough of these low-budget Euro-horror films, these faults probably won't bother you too much. Besides, until Anchor Bay or another company comes along with a better release, this may be your only chance to see this lesser-known, but worthwhile, entry in the Naschy catalog. Two out of five stars.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
All the cheesy fun I remembered, September 24, 2006
I haven't seen Elvira since I was a teenager back in the early '80s, anxiously awaiting her cleavage...er, her appearance each weekend as she poked fun at some schlocky movie. I really got a kick out of seeing her again. I forgot how cool the opening and closing sequences were for her show. I also forgot how extremely corny and cheesy some of her segments were. She's got a "Cooking with Elvira" segment on here that takes corniness to new levels.
The movie itself wasn't too bad actually. It's a Spanish film from the early '70s about four women and a man who are riding a horse-drawn carriage through the Transylvanian Alps in the summer. A wheel falls off the carriage and wouldn't you know it, the only place that they can go for help is Count Dracula's castle. Of course they don't know he's Count Dracula, they think he's a doctor. So they spend a few nights there (help is a long way off). Of course their numbers start dwindling rather quickly. Unfortunately the second half of the movie seems to lose its way; it just gets rather boring. The ending comes as a bit of a surprise though - it's the first time I've ever seen a vampire do that! Overall it has some nice Gothic atmosphere and I think just about every babe in here gets topless at one point or another. They also wear these low-cut dresses throughout the whole movie that show off plenty of cleavage.
As far as the technical aspects, it's an old, unrestored print, but it's exactly what you would expect for a 30+ year old Spanish film being shown on Elvira's Movie Macabre. It's perfectly watchable, and I was actually impressed that it looked as good as it did. It was originally widescreen, but here we get it in fullscreen. The opening credits now display the title as "unt Dracula Great Love". The dubbing job is pretty bad, I've seen dialogue that was in better sync with the actors mouths during a Godzilla movie. However, I didn't find it distracting at all. The voice acting is sort of a mixed bag, Count Dracula comes off as about the most un-threatening vampire I've ever seen, but most of the other characters (save for one of the girls) is done quite well. And this is the complete, unedited print of the movie, with all the nudity still intact. Way to go Elvira! You really do know how to show a guy a good time!
Overall, I really enjoyed this. You have the option of watching the movie with or without Elvira, so not only are you getting the full cheesy show with "The girl with the curves that'll rattle your nerves", you're also getting a fairly descent print of a fairly enjoyable movie as well.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Blood, gore, and love make for an unusual vampire film, April 23, 2005
While Dracula's Great Love has a few problems, I'm quite taken with this movie. This Spanish vampire film from 1972 actually gives you blood flowing from open veins, a pretty Gothic atmosphere, lovely women running around in rather revealing clothing - sometimes licking blood off of one another, gratuitous nudity, and even one good virgin-whipping. What's not to like? Admittedly, the film is a little bit on the weird side, sort of coming unraveled a little bit during the final fifteen minutes, but the ending is nothing if not unpredictable. I'm used to seeing Paul Naschy playing a werewolf, so it was nice to see him shed all that hair and try his hand at channeling Dracula; I imagine he enjoyed himself, as well, since vampires - not werewolves - get all the women. As strange as it sounds, Dracula's Great Love is actually a rather tragic love story.
That story seems to take place somewhere around Borgo Pass, near the spot where Dracula was supposedly killed by Van Helsing. We hear the whole story from a fellow who is traveling through the region, via stagecoach, with a bevy of lovely ladies wearing low-cut Victorian dresses. Just about the time they pass by the creepy sanitorium on the hill (which one must assume is Dr. Seward's old stomping grounds), they lose a wheel, a horse kills the driver, and they have no choice but to seek refuge in the sanitorium. They are greeted there by Dr. Wendell Marlow (Naschy), who seems rather charming to the ladies (except for the one scaredy-cat of the group). Marlow, as it turns out, is actually Dracula, whose evil has survived his apparent death at the hands of Van Helsing. In order to fully regain his great power, though, Dracula must win the human love of a virgin. Gradually, our list of four candidates is wheedled down to one (but only after Dracula miscalculates and has a one-night stand with a woman who had obviously not been a virgin for a very long time - resulting in a rather awkward moment for our vampire). Once the designated virgin falls in love with him, Dracula can not only restore his powers but also bring his daughter Rodna back to life. (Please don't ask me where Rodna came from or what she is doing here, as I have no idea; we wouldn't have a virgin-whipping without her, though, so I vote we keep her.) I thought I knew where this movie was heading, but the whole substance of the story took a rather dramatic turn toward the end - it's hard to explain exactly why, but it does make this movie a memorable one.
Paul Naschy isn't bad at all as a vampire, and the women are great, always eager to lick the blood off of half-naked female victims. Their revealing wardrobes don't make much sense for the time period of the story, but they definitely add a little something to the film - it's called cleavage, to be exact. Haydee Politoff is particularly easy on the eyes. It's sort of a weird story, but Dracula's Great Love offers a most unusual take on the Dracula legend - I only wish I could talk about it without giving anything away. In terms of the technical quality, there's no mistaking the fact that this movie, shot on 35mm film, hasn't been restored; the print is rather dark for the most part, the night scenes sometimes look as if they were shot during the day, and there seems to be something of a cropping issue with the opening credits. Still, though, the look and feel of Dracula's Great Love really isn't all that bad. The dubbing could be better, but it could also be a lot worse.
Naschy is something of a horror icon in his native Spain, and I have to say this is the best of the few Naschy movies I have seen thus far. The story is grounded in the original Dracula of Stoker's creation but goes off in a most unusual direction, and that makes it a very interesting vampire film well worth watching.
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