Taste the Blood of Dracula

MORD39 RATING: **1/2 out of ****

This is a gorgeous-looking film to behold. It is absolutely glowing with Victorian richness and gothic beauty.

As for the story itself, it's another weak one. It starts out admirably with a group of thrill-seeking businessmen purchasing the powdered remains of Dracula and joining the eccentric Ralph Bates in an unholy ceremony wherein Dracula is revived via the death of his servant. When the resurrected Count angrily warns: "They have destroyed my servant...they shall be destroyed!" all credibility as to his motives go out the window; Dracula could not be renewed without his servant's death, so why the desire for revenge? Why does he even care about a peasant like that?

Dracula was not originally intended to be in the story, so he appears to be out of place. Chris Lee's screen time is again brief, and he's not given much to do except be the orchestrator for revenge as he makes the children of the businessmen kill their parents for him.

The film, as stated earlier, is beautiful to behold and still fun to watch despite the Dracula flaws described above. Lee kept vowing never to play the part again sequel after sequel, yet he still hung on for the next few.