Scars of Dracula (1970)

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Maybe this movie is most gloomy and gore Dracula of all Hammer's productions,the plot is often the same,but in the beginning something fresh all villagers burn the Dracula's castle after one more body appears,another high point is a lot of beauty women in the movie all them gorgeous and sexy...without forget the amazing acting of Patrick Troughton as Klove a weird guy who is enchanted by Sarah's portrait and help Simon escapes....Lee needless a word to describe....the movie spoke itself,cruel,violent,bloody and gloomy!! Resume: First watch: 2017 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

Although "Dracula" (Christopher Lee) is dead and his body has decomposed, a bat manages to spit out some blood and return him back to life--and his evil ways. Aware that he has returned, the local villagers march up to his castle and set it on fire. However, not only does the fire not reach him, but when the men return to their village they find that all of their loved ones have been killed by bats while they were gone. After that the villagers avoid the castle and Dracula, along with a servant and female follower named "Tania" (Anouska Hempel) are essentially left alone. But then one night a young man named "Paul Carlson" (Christopher Matthews) comes to visit and everything changes after that. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film was more in line with the normal vampire traditions than the previous Hammer Films. To that end, Christopher Lee seemed to benefit the most as his performance was much more sinister. Additionally, having an attractive actress like Jenny Hanley (as "Sarah") certainly didn't hurt either. In any case, I thought this was a pretty good vampire film and I have rated it accordingly. Above average.

The Scars of Dracula has a special spot in my heart, being one of the very first horror films (Hammer or otherwise) that I had the pleasure of watching. That was many years ago, so I felt the film to be ripe for reappraisal; I'm pleased to say that it holds up very well as a horror film, offering all the right ingredients. However, it goes without saying that this is one of the 'cheesiest' films ever released by Hammer, and as a result the critics hated it, and it has been dissed by pretty much everyone since then. I'll be perfectly honest and say that I'd much rather watch this than the rather tepid Taste the Blood of Dracula.It seems that this vampire flick was shot on the cheap, with models of castles that look like models, only a couple of locations and some rubbishy special effects. It has to be said, however, that this only adds to the charm. The Scars of Dracula is a period film through and through, with fun scenery and lots of villagers setting fire to stuff and waving spades around. There are also some of those classic Hammer trademark shots of carriages running wild in the woods; the same woods are also used for some good scene-setting, with weird animal howls playing on the soundtrack every second or so.The plot is very basic stuff and padded out at 1 ½ hours with some fairly unnecessary material. The opening of the film is unusual and uneven, appearing to be more of a bedroom farce than a Hammer horror! There's gratuitous nudity and CARRY ON-style humour in abundance, as cad Christopher Matthews beds various women before winding up at the castle. Sadly, Matthews is then replaced, PSYCHO-style, by his staid and rather dull brother, played by Dennis Waterman in an early role. Waterman is pretty wooden here it has to be said, and definitely one of the film's weak spots.The Scars of Dracula offers plenty of glamour for the male audience, with numerous heaving bosoms and women who only ever wear low-cut gear. It also ups the violence quota considerably, with truly disgusting effects showing the aftermath of bat attacks, with eyeballs and skin hanging from bloodied faces. Christopher Lee is on very good form here; despite the overdone white makeup, he looks extremely attractive, and has plenty of screen time and dialogue, unlike in some of the other movies in the series. Some scenes really push the censors, like when he knifes a vampire bride to death; none of it makes much sense, but it is jolly good fun! Also upping the entertainment value are two sterling supporting performances from Michael Ripper, the Hammer stalwart, who finally gets a larger role, and secondly Patrick Troughton as snivelling manservant Klove, who gets abused with a red-hot sword in another memorable sequence.Although Peter Cushing wasn't around to appear, he's replaced by Michael Gwynn as the local priest. Gwynn is familiar from his role as Frankenstein's Creature in THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN although his character isn't as sympathetic this time around. The FX shots of the rubbery bats are funny to watch, whilst the powerhouse ending sees Dracula struck by lightning and falling to his fiery death; it's still one of my favourite endings in a Hammer film, even if the rubber Dracula mask is a little too obvious.

Trying to locate their friend, a couple venturing through the countryside after him find that the evidence leads to a strange lord's Castle in the hillside where they find contains the vampire Dracula and must find a way of stopping the evil being from carrying on more harm.This here was quite a fun and enjoyable effort. One of the better elements here is the film displays the very first signs of the company's evolution within the time-period, as the shift towards mores sex and violence surprisingly fits the movie well. It allows for something most Hammer films don't do in managing to include their usual Gothic trappings with some additional gore and sleaze that come about here. The film's Gothic sensibilities are on display quite early here, not only due to the fact that it takes place at the castle itself which is the usually grand and ornate location featured in such affairs as that includes the usual grand hallways, twisting hallways and secret passageways with large drapes and candelabras lighting the way which make the sections of them staying at the castle quite fun. Likewise, the action quotient here is also enjoyable with the burning castle set piece in the beginning of the film is a nice scene to look at, as we see its long, elegant clock towers going up in flames as the central body burns brightly is impressive to view, the scenes of them wandering through the countryside trying to find a way to escape is quite nice while there's some nice work of him targeting the villagers who go up to help them. This ends up providing the film with a body count as his seduction of many of them provide this with some rather enjoyable scenes, as well as providing the lead-in for the finale which is so much fun with the resurrection in the coffin and finally detailing the series of chases and battles on the castle's fortress which make for quite a thrilling and truly rousing finish. Alongside an extremely creative and unique way that Dracula gets resurrected in this, there's a lot to really like here with this one while there's only a few issues here to contend with. The middle of the film could be seen as a weak point of the movie, as nothing of real significance happens, and it does tend to drag out a bit here with the traditional Hammer scenes, from the overlong set-up to get him out to the castle in order to disappear in order for their later search to occur and the later parts of them wandering the countryside stopping at the end where it takes forever for something to finish out. That seems to be the real beef with the film as too often they have scenes that seem to carry on forever that do absolutely nothing to get the plot going. Also, the scene where Dracula is seen scaling a wall by crawling up it was one of the most laughably bad scenes ever. It looks so ridiculous and silly that I can't believe it was even allowed into the final version of the film as it's just such a weak effect. Still, the pace here is the biggest issue.Rated R: Violence, Language, Nudity, and a sex scene.