Review by Peter Syslo
TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA (1970 UK) is one of the several Dracula films put out by the famed Hammer Studios. It keeps with the Christopher Lee/Dracula formula, that was set up with HORROR OF DRACULA, but this one goes a few steps further. As far as the Dracula legend goes, this one does take a few liberties with the mythology and takes the story in new directions, but the result is entertaining and it does have that nice, familiar feeling of a Hammer production.
TTBOD is directed by Peter Sasdy and is written by Joh Elder. The film stars Christopher Lee, Linda Hayden, Anthony Corlan, Geoffrey Keen, John Carson, and Peter Sallis.
The picture begins with a salesman who is traveling the countryside by coach. Things get a little “dicey” with the other travelers and the salesman gets “booted” from the ride. While the salesman is getting his bearings, in the countryside, he stumbles upon an impaled Dracula who is bleeding and dying. After a second or two, Dracula dies and his blood turns into a red powder. The salesman, realizing the value of exotic artifacts, takes the powdered blood and makes his way back into town. Some time later, the film focuses on three “society” men who have their own secret club – which mainly involves frequenting the local whorehouse. Basically, the three “gents” are getting bored with the usual action and they want something more out of life. They meet a bizarre and powerful man at the whorehouse, and after talking, the three learn that the man can provide them with the “new buzz” that they require. It turns out that the buzz is the powdered blood of Dracula. When it comes time to actually drink the blood, the three men become very hesitant and ask their powerful guide to partake first. He does and he also drops dead from the power of the blood. The three gents hit the road and afterwards, Dracula rises from the corpse of the fallen man who ingested his blood. Dracula swears to take revenge on the three gents who caused the death of his henchman... and oh does he ever take that revenge.
TTBOD wasn't a bad film. Technically, it doesn't focus a whole lot on Dracula (except for the very beginning and the last half-hour) but it is a pretty imaginative tale which does involve the character. The story is still set in the Victorian period and actually it is a nice reflection of how “society types” can have turbid and dysfunctional personal lives. One of the three “gents” is a blatant drunk, a womanizer, a cheat, and is potentially abusive to his own daughter. It just goes to show that the Victorian era was truly a time of putting on a nice appearance, no matter how vile a person you really were. I did like the fact that it is sort of a cautionary tale, where the wicked are punished. Dracula is honestly evil – he'll admit that, straight-up – but the gents are the “Sunday-morning-Catholic” types who are terrible people and try to cover it up. Sure, this film is from 1970, but the lessons are universally relevant and timeless. One can go on and on interpreting these Dracula stories and as far as this film goes, I think that it's main power is that little extra food for thought.
Aside from being intellectually stimulated, I was fairly entertained by TTBOD. It is a very smooth film, which is very easy to follow; I really liked the flow of it all and it did build up to a nice climax. Once Dracula was “reborn”, he started biting people and the vampire infestation just grew from there. Strangely, he has his entranced subjects do the dirty work when it comes to the revenge, but I guess that you could justify that by the fact that Dracula wasn't powerful enough yet (being newly reborn) to carry out that plan. Alice Hargood (Hayden) is his main subject and she helps him carry out the revenge – which includes her own father. It is an interesting dominant/submissive relationship between Alice and Dracula and I thought that it helped drive the film in the latter half.
Gnawing through the flesh: TTBOD was a decent entry in the Hammer studios Dracula films. It does involve the Dracula mythology, in a roundabout sort of way, and it is also a social commentary that has modern pertinence. I did feel that the ending of it all was a little “thin” but I guess that Dracula's power was a little different in this one. I don't know, I can only speculate. Regarding other details of the film, the set design was awesome – as it always is in these Dracula films – and the cinematography is superb. The film is a contrast of light and dark elements and the camera work captures all nuances in crystal-clear detail. The special effects do look a bit dated and the makeup is somewhat obvious, but it is what it is for the time period. The acting is quite good, with the highlights being (of course) Christopher Lee as Dracula and Linda Hayden as his devilish and sexy follower. Also, the salesman (Roy Kinnear) is the actor who played Mister Salt in WILLIE WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY; obscure detail, but cool nonetheless. So, if you want to see a representative Hammer film or if you want to see the legendary Christopher Lee in his early horror work, consider TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA. It is a different Dracula tale but it is certainly worth checking out. I give it a 6/10.