Scars Of Dracula

Scars of Dracula (1970)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: Roy Ward Baker

Starring: Christopher Lee, Dennis Waterman, Jenny Hanley, Christopher Matthews, Patrick Troughton

From: Hammer

This isn't a great movie by any means but at least it has its merits, both legitimate and hilarious. I explain it all below: 

This is the last movie I watched in TCM's marathon of Christopher Lee Dracula movies they had on Monday night; I have Dracula A.D. 1972 on DVD so I was able to watch that last night and that review is coming up tonight.

As for this film, it starts off in a goofy way: literally the opening scene is from the location where Taste the Blood of Dracula ends; a fake-looking bat flies in and it must have rabies or something, as blood spurts out of its mouth and that is how the monarch of the dark returns. From what I understand, American distribution of Hammer movies drying up really did a number on their budgets. Still, they tried their best and as others have said, if a movie has limitations put on it, it spurs creativity as they try to work around it. Those bats did not look great and yet we get to see them often. I guess at least they were responsible for some pretty bloody moments.

Anywho, this ends up being about a young couple and they look for the guy's brother, who is missing in the general area of Dracula's Castle. That brother ends up getting into a lot of trouble when it comes to hanging out (and other things) w/ the opposite sex. Excuse my language here, but this brother (Paul; yeah, this series needed a better variety when it came to names) ends up trying to bed one of Dracula's brides; Drac shows up and Paul immediately tries to choke The Count... presumably for cockblocking him! To be honest here, Hammer is known for having attractive women in their horror films and that can be said for all the Dracula movies I have seen. There were some pretty girls, from that bride to-especially-the lead girl, played by Jenny Hanley.

At this point late last night I was feeling fatigue from watching all these films during the span of one night. I suddenly understood why a few times, Lee proclaimed that he wouldn't do this role anymore, only to be convinced to do so, probably with a nice paycheck. At least in this movie, Dracula had more to do than typical for the series. He shows off an S&M side and a highlight was the character of Klove, who was basically Renfield in the novel but with a different name. He was a server and his giant eyebrows and unibrow was not the only reason he was memorable.

As a whole it is not spectacular but at least I was entertained, I enjoyed the strong Gothic atmosphere and it does have a handful of good moments and segments that made me laugh, if nothing else.