Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Spikeopath Taste the Blood of Dracula is directed by Peter Sasdy and written by Anthony Hinds (AKA: John Elder). Out of Hammer Film it stars Christopher Lee, Geoffrey Keen, Peter Sallis, Linda Hayden, Gwen Watford and Ralph Bates. Music is by James Bernard and cinematography by Arthur Grant.Trawling through all the sequels of Hammer's Frankenstein and Dracula series it becomes apparent that opinions differ greatly, a case in point is this, the fifth of the Dracula cycle. For her we have a Dracula film thought of very highly in some quarters, most notably in one of the Hammer Films' lauded literary bibles, myself, like the other 50% of Hammer film fans, just don't see that at all.Famously it's the Drac film where Christopher Lee had to be greatly coerced into reprising the role of the blood sucking count, financial rewards doth talk it seems. His apprehension with script and stale feelings were well grounded, with the final result begging the question as to how bad was the script before Lee's intervention?Story has three upstanding English gentlemen showing themselves to be model pillars of society by day, good stern parents/husbands and all that, but by night they are purveyors of a different sordid lifestyle, kind of like members of the naughty Hellfire Club! When decadent dandy Lord Courtley (Bates) offers then something tantalisingly more dangerous, they indulge and it results in murder and the rebirth of Count Dracula.After a neat opening which tags onto the ending of Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, we find Dracula once again on a daft revenge mission, being a bit part once again in a film bearing his name, and saddled with minimal lines that really aren't worth a suck of the neck. Some striking sequences apart (Dracula birth - bloody retributions etc) the film feels like a confused blend of ideas. On one hand it's taking a caustic peak behind the curtain of upper crust Victorian England, on the other it tries to be a period based revenger fronted by the iconic beast of the title.Under Sasdy's direction the look has been stripped back from the Gothic colourful splendour of previous Dracula entries, in place is a more earthy approach, which isn't as appealing. Of course there's a so-so romance simmering away, plenty of heaving bosom and blood shot eyes, and Bernard's musical score hangs around like a moody step-father. Which leaves us with a Hammer Dracula that's not bad at all, it's just ordinary and not all it can be, where they shoehorned Dracula into what is in truth a serial killer like revenge picture. 6/10

lemon_magic OK - I start out the usual 9 out of 10 for the film getting the usual Hammer treatment - great sets, obsessed art direction, hard working and talented actors who treat the script like Shakespeare, wonderful costumes, etc. As in most of the best Hammer films, the director knows just how long to hold a shot, just how long to hold a scene, and just how to frame and block his actors. As an exercise in atmosphere and production craftsmanship, this is top notch.However, the series was beginning to suffer from sequel-itis and staleness, and when Dracula keeps getting killed over and over again, he loses some of his impact as a dark force of nature. Given that in one of the later Hammer Dracula films he was killed by a bush (sure, it was a hawthorn, the stuff composing Christ's crown of thorns, but still...a bush), I tend to imagine that I myself could destroy Dracula on a boring Sunday afternoon if I happened to have a cross at hand and some holy water. I hate to see Dracula just turned into another pesky monster who gets dispatched in increasingly trivial ways as the number of films about him mount up over the years.And the plotting has a pedestrian "set them up and knock them down" quality that bring things down a few more notches - Lee doesn't have very much to do, and he doesn't get very many lines. He just kind or lurks around and gets his hypnotized servants to kill his victims for him. The plot also raises more questions it never gets around to answering: what did Ralph Bate's character THINK was going to happened when he and the three businessmen drank the count's blood? How did the last of the three businessmen all of a sudden become a hero and a vampire expert (at least as his voice-over/letter advises the romantic hero on what to do next?) So, great looking film and I really enjoyed the actors' performances, but some ludicrous dialog and lack of inventiveness in the way the storyline progressed and the previously mentioned sequel-itis keeps this from being a GREAT Hammer film. But if you enjoy the Hammer style, you'll want to see this one on principle.

Boba_Fett1138 It's funny how I really wasn't into this movie at first but still ended up really liking it! Thing that makes this movie a bit unusual and different is that it's being a part of the Hammer studios Dracula series but it really doesn't feel or look like a Hammer movie at all! Director Peter Sasdy did an handful of movies for the Hammer studios but only in its later years and he never impressed with any. He obviously wasn't that accustomed to its approach and style of film-making, or perhaps he simply really preferred to do his own thing. But anyway, if you're really into Hammer films, just prepare yourself for something totally different. You might end up disliking it at first, just as I did but don't give up on it! It's really a worthwhile and original enough little horror movie. I can also honestly say that this was the best movie I had seen, that got directed by Peter Sasdy.The movie and story all first starts out as something very simplistic and formulaic but as the movie goes along, you actually start to realize how great its premise is. It has a premise that really adds to the movie its tension and for once isn't all about Dracula and the horror that he does. It might very well be true that this movie would have a better reputation if it didn't featured the character of Dracula in it, since this movie really doesn't feel like a typical Dracula movie at all and its story and atmosphere perhaps called for something totally different, outside of the Dracula universe.And as often is the case with these late Hammer Dracula movies, Dracula himself is hardly in it at all. It was because Christopher Lee got fed up with the role and was also afraid he was going to get typecast because of it, for the rest of his life. He still needed a paycheck, so he kept on playing the character for a couple of years, under the condition that his role got limited down and in some cases he doesn't even have any lines. In this movie he does still speak however and once more shows why he was such a great and charismatic Dracula at the time.It's the more slower sort of horror movie, which doesn't really work out that great for the movie at first but about halfway through it picks up some more pace and things start to get far more interesting and original. It's then that the movie suddenly starts to take form and makes its intension clear. It also provides the movie with some really solid horror moments and the movie has a very constant horror like atmosphere to it as well, that really adds to the tension and mystery of the overall movie.Once you start to realize that this isn't being your average formulaic and simplistic Dracula production, the movie becomes surprisingly good, effective and original to watch!7/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

zardoz-13 "Taste the Blood of Dracula" marked Christopher Lee's fourth incarnation of Bram Stoker's irrepressible Transylvanian vampire. Previously, Hammer Films had confined Dracula to the European continent. Anthony Hinds' screenplay brings the Count to England and focuses on the outrageous hypocrisy of three respectable British gentlemen who like to walk on the wild side. They engage in an act of black magic and bring doom down on their heads as a consequence. This is the first "Dracula" epic to take a social commentary angle. Furthermore, director Peter Sasdy and Hinds refrain from mentioning the word 'vampire' until 72 minutes has elapsed.An English merchant named Weller (Roy Kinnear of "The Three Musketeers") is unceremoniously pitched out of a coach when he upsets a retarded man. Weller sprawls out unconsciously on the ground and doesn't awaken for some time after the coach has gone. He gathers up his goods and sets off into the woods. The howl of a wolf and then several eldritch screams assail his ears and he flees in panic for nowhere in particular until he loses his footing and plunges down a slope. When he looks up, Weller spots the infamous Count Dracula writhing in agony on a golden crucifix. Dracula (Christopher Lee of "Horror of Dracula") dies on the crucifix and his body dissolves along with his blood. Indeed, "Countess Dracula" director Peter Sasdy's "Taste the Blood of Dracula" picks up where "Dracula Has Risen From the Grave" concluded. Dracula fell from his castle and landed on the crucifix. Impaled, he bled blood from his eyeballs as he struggled and Weller watched in horror as the infamous Count vanished, leaving behind his stylistic black cape, his ring, and a buckle with the name 'Dracula' on it.The narrative shifts to Victorian England as wealthy William Hargood (Geoffrey Keen of "Dr. Zhivago") and his wife Martha (Gwen Watford) are leaving church. Their comely teenage daughter Alice (Linda Hayden of "Old Drac") is infatuated with handsome Paul Paxton (Anthony Higgins of "Raiders of the Lost Ark"), but Alice's father disapproves of the shameless fashion with which she is carrying on and confines her to her room for her behavior. After church, stuff hypocritical William joins his comrades Samuel Paxton (Peter Sallis of "Wuthering Heights") and Jonathon Secker (John Carson of "The Plague of the Zombies") as they head out to perform charity work in London's East End. Well, Martha Hargood believes her dutiful husband William is helping the destitute. Little does she know that the trio of businessmen are indulging in carnal pleasures. Specifically, they are huddled around a woman dancing with a python wrapped around her shoulders. In the midst of their pleasure, the threesome notice Felix (Russell Hunter) trying to dissuade a young gentlemen from barging in on them.Lord Courtley (Ralph Bates of "Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde") invades their company. Courtley has been disowned by his wealthy father, and he convinces the thrill seeking trio to do something really terrible. He inquires if they would like to sell their souls to the devil. He takes them to see Weller and the merchant sells the dried blood of Dracula to them for a thousand guineas. Later, they meet in a cathedral, and Courtley gives them each a goblet and distributes a portion of Dracula's dried blood in it. He slashes his hand and squeezes his own blood into each vessel and the stuff bubbles up with thunder and lightning accompanying it. When Courtley commands them to drive, they shrink in revulsion at his demand. Meanwhile, Courtley drinks from a chalice. He screams out them in agony and collapses himself in front of them. As he begs them to help him, the three old men strike him viciously with their canes and kick poor Courtley to death. They flee from the church. Hargood returns home and orders Martha to tell anybody who asks that he spent the evening at home. Not long after the three have gone, Courtley's supine body is covered with dust and Dracula emerges from it. Dracula reappears at 45 minutes into the action. "They have killed my servant," he observes and then vows. "They will be destroyed." Meantime, in the country somewhere, Alice and Paul celebrate the occasion of Lucy Paxton's engagement to her lover Jeremy Secker (Martin Jarvis) while they cavort about on horseback. Of course, Alice's father would be livid with indignation at the thought that Alice would disobey him and ride with Paul. Hargood meets with Secker and Paxton and they discuss their alibi. Later, after Hargood returns home, he catches Alice fresh from the party with Paul. He slaps her around and she flees right into Dracula's arms. Hargood pursues Alice into the garden and Dracula hypnotizes her into killing her abusive father with a shovel. "The first," utters Dracula solemnly. After Hargood's funeral, Alice entreats Lucy to meet her and they take a ride in a coach to the church where Dracula was resurrected and he turns Lucy into a vampire. Eventually, Secker and Paxton return to the premises to see if Courtley's body has been discovered. Imagine Paxton's surprise when they find Lucy with bite marks on her neck in a crypt! Secker calls her a vampire.Ralph Bates excels as the upstart Courtley, Dracula's servant, who arranges for his return. Christopher Lee is his usual dignified self in his red-lined cape and fangs. "Taste the Blood of Dracula" differs from previous "Dracula" films with the fiendish bloodsucker exacting revenge on the trio that murdered his servant. The camera work is excellent.