Count Dracula and his Vampire Brides (1973)

aka The Satanic Rites of Dracula, aka Count Dracula and his Vampire Bride, aka Dracula '73

Not Rated

"Count Dracula and his Vampire Brides" is the fifth Dracula film I've seen in the Hammer Horror series. In "Dracula 1972 A.D.", Hammer Horror brought Dracula to (then) modern-day London, where a sect of hippie satanists raise Dracula by drinking his blood. I should note this is exactly the same plot as an earlier Hammer Dracula film, "Drink the Blood of Dracula", except instead of 1970's hippie satanists, it was a group of 1870's thrill-seeking wealthy men. Both films end with Dracula's death, and to no one's surprise, it doesn't take. Dracula rises again. And so the scene is set for "Count Dracula and his Vampire Brides." (henceforth "CDVB")

It has been two years since the events of "Dracula 1972 A.D.", and Dracula's first outbreak in modern times has not gone unnoticed by the London police. After an incredibly cheesy intro sequence (which plays like a James Bond movie intro, only lamer) we learn that Scotland Yard has founded a secret branch to covertly deal with crimes relating to the occult. One of their agents has been caught while working undercover in a mansion used by a satanic cult. He breaks free from his bonds and makes a break for the property's main gate, all the while pursued by cult members on motorcycles (who distinguish themselves by wearing tragically uncool, matching fur-lined vests). He escapes, but is so badly injured that he dies shortly after revealing the details of his bloody visit to the mansion.

The record the dying man leaves of his visit is familiar to the Hammer Dracula series: a group of wealthy and influential men have been meeting in secret to practice dark rites involving blood worship and human sacrifice. Luckily for us red-blooded, American (perhaps slightly chauvenistic) men, the blood ritual involves a hot blond lying prone and naked on a table while men take turns baptising themselves with blood from her navel. Up to this point, I was thinking this was a pretty cool church, but then a crazy Chinese woman stabs the girl and things take a turn for the not-so-sexy.

Dracula himself is well-played by Christopher Lee (The Wicker Man, The Man With the Golden Gun, Star Wars Prequels, The Lord of the Rings) a very talented actor who has been involved in several of my favorite film franchises. In "Dracula 1972 A.D.", Dracula himself was criminally underrepresented. He appeared only a handful of times and had only a few extremely badly-written lines to perform. "CDVB" rectifies this, giving Lee much more screen time as well as one of the series' more creative death scenes. Though better than his performance in "1972", in "CDVB", Lee fails to recapture the frightening intensity of his earlier performances in the series (most notably "The Horror of Dracula" (1958)).

The plot of the film is completely absurd. Wonderfully absurd, even. It's like a 70's James Bond movie plot. Dracula (as reclusive businessman D. D. Denham) has mesmerized a Nobel scientist into concocting a super-virulent strain of the Black Plague that spreads like wildfire by touch. He has tricked his lackeys into being his horsemen of the apocalypse; carriers of the plague. His ultimate plan is to rule over a dying human world with his vampire brides until there are no humans left to sustain him and he can die in peace, his revenge on his tormentors (most importantly, the descendants of Van Helsing) complete.

A note on the brides of Dracula: He keeps about a half dozen women in the mansion's basement. Now Dracula has been rockin' with multiple chicks since Bram Stoker's original novel. I guess when you're the Prince of Darkness, you can pull it off. But he must not be doing as well as usual because a couple of his brides in "CDVB" are downright ugly. Sex is a big part of vampire mythology. Vampirettes are supposed to be the ultimate seductresses, but some of Dracula's babes in this film should have been bitten in the face. You'd think he'd eat the ugly ones and only turn the pretty ones into vampires, but I guess his old age has made Dracula less discerning. If faces could kill... Alas, I digress.

A great performance is given by the remarkable Peter Cushing. Like Lee, this is not his first Hammer Dracula film. He reprises his role as Prof. Lorrimer Van Helsing, the man who defeated Dracula at the end of "Dracula A.D. 1972". Cushing is best-known for his role as "Grand Moff Tarkin"of the Imperial Guard from "Star Wars: A New Hope". (Princess Leia famously should have recognized his foul stench the moment she was brought on board) He is a perfect "Ahab" to Dracula's "Moby Dick". He stays one step behind until the crucial climax, when his tenacity in pursuing an unbeatable menace pays off in a chance victory. Cushing is a pro and performs like one. He and Lee give this film considerable star power.

I gave "Count Dracula and his Vampire Brides" a 9/10. It is in no way a perfect movie, and in many ways a ridiculous movie, but it manages to ride the fine line between silly and stupid. It is surprisingly fast paced for a 70's film. The action sequences are genuinely exciting, and I laughed out loud several times throughout. While not the best Hammer Dracula film (my vote would go to "Horror of Dracula") this is the funniest and the most dynamic. I would recommend this film to anyone who loves a good vampire flick. Watch it with friends!












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