1970 - Hammer Production/Warner Brothers Release

Director: Peter Sasdy

Writers: Anthony Hinds, Bram Stoker (character)

Starring: Christopher Lee, Ralph Bates, Geoffrey Keen, John Carson, Peter Sallis, Linda Hayden, Anthony Corlan

    Taste The Blood Of Dracula is basically a Victorian morality tale guest starring Dracula. Three venerable gentlemen gather once a month in order to experience new and exciting things such as visiting brothels. While at their monthly soiree they encounter a dubious young peer who promises to show them something beyond anything that they have ever experienced before. This mysterious event that they attend, and participate in, goes horribly wrong and Dracula comes back from the grave seeking vengeance.

     William Hargood (Geoffrey Keen) is the Victorian gentleman who is the head of this triumvirate of hypocrisy. While he goes and lives it up with whores he tells his daughter Alice (Linda Hayden) that she is behaving like a harlot for talking to Paul (Anthony Corlan), her boyfriend, after attending church. Paul happens to be the son of Samuel Paxton (Peter Sallis), who is also one of the three gentlemen. Hargood doesn’t want her talking to Paul because he knows what his father is up to and is perhaps afraid that she will somehow be tainted by their own sordid affairs. Not only does this make him a hypocrite, but also a very paranoid and mean spirited person who terrorizes poor Alice right into the arms of Dracula (Christopher Lee). Meanwhile, Dracula is really angry at Hargood, Paxton, and Secker (John Carson) for killing his acolyte Lord Courtley (Ralph Bates) during the ceremony that brought him back from the grave.

    The way that Dracula gets revenge is really twisted, because normally you would expect him to just lure the men and then kill them. Instead, the children of the men themselves are used by Dracula to dispatch them. Since all three of the gentlemen are hypocrites concerning their children this plays out really well and in a sense it is just punishment for their actions concerning not only Dracula but the children themselves. You treat your children like they are harlots, while you go out and party with strumpets, and this is what you get.

    As in all Hammer films the acting is very well done. My favorite actor in particular is Ralph Bates, who also starred in other Hammer films including Lust For A Vampire and Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde. He was a really great character actor and he plays Lord Courtley exactly as he should be portrayed: arrogant and bratty. Christopher Lee barely has any lines in this Dracula film which is a bit disappointing but, as always, his very presence is menacing and sexy at the same time. Another really good actor to watch out for in this film is John Carson who plays Paxton. He starred in some other Hammer films including The Plague Of The Zombies and Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter. In every film that has he starred in he makes his characters totally believable and this role is no different.

    The sets are very atmospheric and that really contributes greatly to the overall feel of the film. The outdoor cemetery scenes were actually shot in Highgate Cemetery in London before it was restored, so it genuinely is a rundown graveyard that they are visiting. Those parts of the film are probably my favorite, because everything around them looks haunted; and it doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to think that Dracula actually resides there.

    Peter Sasdy, the director, did a really fine job shooting this film. It has a deliberate pace to it right up until the scenes in which the murders take place. When those occur the camera is brought in tighter to the victim to show the absolute horror that they are going through. I really like that kind of direction rather than the type that is continuously at a fast pace. He also directed the Hammer films Countess Dracula and The Hands Of The Ripper.
   
    There is a really interesting ‘behind the scenes’ tale concerning the production of this film. Ralph Bates was being groomed by Hammer to be the ‘next big thing’ and he was supposed to star in this movie as a vampire. It wasn’t going to have anything to do with Dracula, but Hammer decided in the end that they needed Christopher Lee in the movie for it to make some cash. They begged and begged him to reprise Dracula and he finally agreed, so the script was rewritten and Ralph Bates was negated to playing a Lord who wanted to resurrect Dracula. Lee has said that he really dislikes this movie because he had no lines in it and he has also stated that he regrets doing the film. It was the fifth in the Hammer Dracula cycle and the fourth that Lee starred in.

    Despite the smaller role of Dracula and Lee’s misgivings I find this film to be one of the better Hammer Dracula productions. A combination of an unusual screenplay and great production values makes it a visual treat; well worth a look for those unfamiliar with Hammer films.