[HorrorScience] The Power of Dracula's Blood (1970)

Reading time: 6 minutes

Qualification

Taste the Blood of Dracula

Year

1970

Duration

95 minutes

Director

Peter Sasdy

Script

Anthony Hinds

Distribution

Christopher Lee, Geoffrey Keen, Gwen Watford. Linda Hayden, Peter Sallis, Anthony Corlan, Isla Blair, John Carson, Martin Jarvis, Ralph Bates, Roy Kinnear, Michael Ripper, Russell Hunter, Shirley Jaffe, Keith Marsh, Peter May, Madeline Smith, Reginald Barratt

I continue with the Dracula saga produced by Hammer Productions and starring Christopher Lee in the role of the vampire, which would be the fifth film (or the fourth if we do not count the second, where Van Helsing appeared, but not Dracula).

After Horror of Dracula (1958), Dracula's Brides (1960), Dracula Prince of Darkness (1966) and Dracula returns from the grave (1968)Today it's time to talk about Taste the Blood of Dracula, which in Spanish is known as The power of Dracula's blood, although in some countries it was also called Taste Dracula's blood.

This film has the screenwriter of the previous one, so there is a certain connection between the two, although the truth is that it can be enjoyed without having seen Dracula returns from the grave, since the only direct connection is told in the film during the first minutes.

[HorrorScience] The Power of Dracula's Blood (1970)

A merchant witnesses the death of Dracula (reusing scenes from the end of the previous film) and as a good opportunist collects the vampire's remains.

Later we will meet three men (Hargood, Paxton and Secker), religious, upright and very strict with their children, as demonstrated by the severity with which Hargood treats his daughter Alice, whom he prohibits from seeing Paul, the boy he likes.

Once a month, these three men meet to go to the lowest neighborhoods where they give free rein to their most perverse vices. Such is the activity of these three men, that they are already bored with everything they have done, so when they meet Lord Courtley, who seems to have a certain influence over women, they become interested in knowing his darkest habits.

Lord Courtley was disinherited by his family due to his interest in the occult and rituals, so he offers the three men the purchase of products that will allow them to experience incredible sensations in exchange for selling their souls to the devil.

Those products turn out to be Dracula's remains, which Courtley uses to create a concoction that she gives to her three guests to drink. None of them dare, so Courtley himself drinks it and this causes him to have an attack, which the others take advantage of to beat him to death.

The three men return to their homes, restless and frightened by the event, they fear that they may be blamed for Courtley's murder, even though they know that possibly no one will find the body. For her part, Courtley undergoes a transformation in which her body is destroyed and replaced by Count Dracula, whose first action will be to kill the three men who beat Courtley, since apparently this was his follower.

This film continues the downward slope into which Hammer's Dracula saga gradually submerges, but don't think that it is excessively bad or that it is much worse than the previous ones, it is simply a bit repetitive with respect to what was seen in the previous ones.

This film has a fairly original premise (the three men who seek strong emotions and end up in contact with an occultist) that could perfectly have been used in a film about Satanism, unrelated to the Dracula saga, but at the same time maintains its connection with the previous ones (not only by using scenes from the Dracula returns from his grave, but some characters will also remember others we have seen in the past).

In this film we see a much more passive Dracula than usual (at least when it comes to killing people) who prefers to use his servants to do his dirty work and who will only become violent in very specific situations, such as the end. And since I'm talking about the ending, I have to say that Dracula's attitude in the last minutes is as errant as it is ridiculous and in fact his death is quite silly, although it tries to be symbolic and less direct than in previous films, the final result does not convince me at all.

The film takes a while to start, but it has a relatively agile pace and that can help to better cope with the previously mentioned repetitions, such as the scenes with couples (non-consensual) and the consequent seduction of the young girl.

When I saw this film for the first time I didn't like it too much, but with this new viewing I think my opinion of it has improved, even though I consider it inferior to all the previous ones in this saga.

Curiosities:

Dracula was not going to appear in this film, instead the main vampire was going to be Lord Courtley, however the distributors did not want to make the film if Christopher Lee did not appear, so they included Dracula, even though Lee was not very enthusiastic about playing the Count for the umpteenth time.
This film suffered a lot of censorship in various countries, so there are versions where there is cut footage (mainly in the brothel scenes where Hargood, Paxton and Secker go).
There are quite a few staring scenes trying to show Dracula's power and influence over his victims, this is quite reminiscent of some of Bela Lugosi's scenes in Dracula (1931).