Taste the Blood of Dracula

Plot

While travelling through Eastern Europe, a businessman named Weller is thrown from his carriage during a struggle and knocked unconscious. After regaining consciousness at night, he sees a caped figure screaming in agony with a large crucifix impaling him from the back. The figure dies and disintegrates. Examining the remains, Weller finds a ring, a cape and its clasp with dried blood, and reads the name Dracula on the brooch.

Some time later, three gentlemen—William Hargood, Samuel Paxton and Jonathon Secker—form a circle ostensibly devoted to charity but actually visit brothels. They encounter Lord Courtley, disinherited for celebrating a Black Mass. Courtley takes them to purchase Dracula's ring, cloak and dried blood from Weller. At an abandoned church, Courtley mixes the blood with his own and drinks it, then screams and falls.

The three men kick and beat him to death. Courtley's body transforms into Dracula, who vows to destroy the killers. Dracula hypnotizes Hargood's daughter Alice, who kills her father with a shovel. At the funeral, Alice attracts Lucy, Paxton's daughter, and later introduces her to Dracula, who turns Lucy into a vampire.

Production

The script was originally written without Dracula appearing. Hammer intended to replace Lee and Dracula with the Lord Courtley character, played by Ralph Bates, who would rise as a vampire after death.

Warner Bros. Pictures refused to release the film without an appearance by Dracula, prompting Hammer to convince Lee to return, with Dracula replacing the resurrected Courtley. Scenes of the gentlemen's visit to the brothel were heavily edited on original release but fully reinstated on DVD. An alternative version of Lucy Paxton biting Jeremy Secker was filmed but not used, possibly to avoid complicating the plot with another vampire.

Release

In its original United States release, the film was rated GP, the forerunner to PG; on DVD it was rated R for sexual content/nudity and brief violence. Variety wrote that director Peter Sasdy directed his first feature film effectively, leavening stock situations with shock twists, and noted that Christopher Lee can now play Dracula in his sleep and occasionally looks as if he is doing so. The Monthly Film Bulletin called it absolutely routine Hammer horror with a laboured script, noting Dracula is reduced to an onlooker. John C. Mahoney of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film was superior in production, performance, story and atmosphere to Dracula Has Risen from the Grave.

The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films called it the finest genuine Dracula sequel in the entire series. It holds a 54% score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 12 reviews. On 6 November 2007, it was released in a film pack with Dracula, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave and Dracula A.D. 1972. On 6 October 2015, it was released in a Blu-ray collection pack with Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed and The Mummy, and also separately on Blu-ray.