Count Dracula's Great Love (1974)

The Worst Film Ever

The greatest movie ever made..!

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

It was inevitable that the Spanish king of horror, Paul Naschy (real name Jacinto Molina) would get around to making a Dracula film sooner or later, and this bizarre outing is well worth a look for fans of traditional vampire movies. Indeed, while the rest of the world had moved the vampire into modern times with Dracula A.D. 1972 and COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE, Naschy's entry is a fine old-fashioned piece, yet kept exciting with added gore and nudity.The spooky opening is highly reminiscent of a film Hammer might have made, and indeed for the first half of the film this strongly resembles a fine Hammer Horror piece, complete with picturesque countryside and stirring music. Things kick off with two incompetent workmen carrying a large crate into a deserted castle. Their curiosity gets the better of them, and they peek inside to discover a skeleton within a coffin. Soon something nasty in the darkness has attacked and killed both the men! (bizarrely, the opening credits play as footage of a man being attacked is played repeatedly).Predictably enough, we then meet five aristocrats in a horse-drawn carriage who have the double bad luck of losing a wheel and then having their driver kicked to death by a frightened horse. They visit the local castle, where they meet the odd yet courteous Dr. Marlow who asks them to stay. Soon, however, they begin to be picked off one by one and become vampires. So far, so good, you might think, and things happen just as you might expect.However, around the halfway point, the character of Dr. Marlow disappears and Naschy becomes Dracula himself, complete with pale visage and widow's peak (though admittedly not your first choice when thinking of Dracula, Naschy's appearance is passable). Here, the plot vanishes and there's some talk about a black magic ritual to revive Dracula's daughter, Rosanna (!). Meanwhile lots of isolated attacks take place in the vicinity, the culprits being the new vampires. In the end, Dracula's love for one of the girls proves to be his downfall. It certainly makes for original viewing! The acting from the cast is fine, especially from some of the women who prove to be quite adept at being spooky/sadistic vampire ladies. The dubbing isn't too noticeable, although some of the dialogue is unintentionally amusing. There are some gory moments, such as a splattery staking of a female vampire, but nothing too strong (at least not in the version I saw...). Of course, as it's a Naschy film, there's a lot of nudity and the former wrestler has his way with a number of his leading ladies (a regular occurrence in his films, as it happens).The main problem with this film is the evidence of heavy cutting it displays - not just of the gore, but of some plot moments too. This is especially true in the final half hour, which is extremely dream-like as it is anyway, and tends to make things confusing. Ten minutes appear to be missing from the print that I viewed, so I would say the 85 minute version is the one to watch. This one just feels too disjointed and difficult to understand at points (some characters suddenly disappear for no apparent reason). Cutting aside, COUNT DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE is a fine vampire yarn which takes things in a different direction from that of tradition, has plenty of fetching leading ladies to watch and some exciting action. It won't make you want to rewind and watch again immediately but it's a solid entry into the genre nonetheless.

I always had some sort of respect for the late Paul Naschy and I even definitely consider myself a fan of the Spanish horror legend, but I really have to be in a special kind of mood in order to enjoy – or sometimes even endure – his films. This is mainly because the majority of Naschy's flicks are incoherent, senseless and largely just intended to flatter his own damn ego. I have seen a few Naschy movies that are quite bonkers already, but "Count Dracula's Great Love" is surely one of the craziest. In spite of what the title suggests, the film has very little do with the classic Dracula tale and – quite honestly – I don't even understand one iota of the plot as presented here. Our hero Naschy stars as Count Dracula, but he has actually taken the human shape of Dr. Wendell Marlow. He will only become a vampire again if a true virgin falls in love with his personality. The blood of this virgin, along with that of a random other virgin, will then subsequently resurrect Dracula's daughter. Meanwhile, Dracula's raises a small army of buxom vampire vixens. They are women who craved for Marlow's body, but they weren't virgins anymore so he just killed them. Typically Paul Naschy … In practically all of the films that he (co-)wrote, his character is extremely successful amongst the ladies even though he's not the least bit attractive. He also cannot decide whether he wants to be the hero or the monster and a combination of both most definitely doesn't work in a Dracula movie; as illustrated during the incredibly preposterous and pseudo-melodramatic finale. Fans of gory and sleazy 70's exploitation flicks certainly can't complain, though, as "Count Dracula's Great love" is a 80 minutes showcasing of gratuitous nudity and thick red bloodshed. Quite often, the two are even combined, as the film contains numerous images where blood is slowly running down from the girls' necks and over their breasts. I suppose Paul Naschy and director Javier Aguirre must have thought that male viewers get aroused by a sight such as this. Purely talking technical, "Count Dracula's Great Love" is truly horrible. The dubbing and sound quality are horrendous, but still I'm willing to blame that to the DVD release. The painfully bad acting performances, the clumsy photography, the lazy directing and the amateurish editing are strictly due to a lack of skills. This film is only recommended to avid Naschy fans. People who have yet to get acquainted with him should primarily see some of his better movies, like "Inquisition", "The Hunchback of the Morgue" or – naturally – the "Hombre-Lobo" cycle.

With Paul Naschy's passing, I've decided to bust out his features I own but have never watched. This is sort of a semi-sequel to Dracula as the main characters mention the likes of Jonathan Harker and Mina. Dracula (Naschy) moves into an old sanitarium and adopts the geeky name Dr. Wendell Marlow. Dinner arrives at his door in the form of 4 hot young ladies and their male companion when their carriage loses a wheel. This will work out great for ol' Drac because he needs a virgin to resurrect his dead daughter. Pretty atmospheric, this sees Naschy giving another unique turn as a classic monster. Director Javier Aquirre knows how to build the mood with nice slo-mo and smoky passageways in a huge country estate locale (watch for anachronistic water pipes in their pool). Aquirre teamed up with Naschy again a few years later for HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE, one of my favorites. What surprised me the most about this film was the ending, something I don't think has ever been done in a Dracula film before or since. See, Dracula is truly in love and, rather than resurrect his daughter, he commits suicide by driving a stake into his own heart. Now that is truly a tragic romance angle that you won't see in TWILIGHT.

Paul Naschy is, of course, famous for his many portrayals of the "hombre lobo", but he has also tried his hand at any number of other classic monsters like Mr. Hyde, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, etc. with various degrees of success. Here he tries Dracula. Naschy doesn't physically fit the part of the classic Dracula, but then again he doesn't really play the classic Dracula--he turns the traditional bloodsucking embodiment of evil into a tragic, doomed figure much like his "Waldemar Daninsky"/"hombre lobo" character who can only be cured of vampirism by a virgin who truly loves him giving herself freely to him.In a horribly clichéd set-up a group of attractive young women and their male chaperon have to take refuge in the sanitarium where Dracula lives after a wheel of their carriage falls off and crushes their driver. The group is vampirized so fast that the vampires are soon left fighting each other over the one survivor (and virgin). This is pretty typical Naschy movie really in that it has the style of an old Hollywood or early Italian Gothic horror movie, but with the old 1970's standbys of blood, boobs, and, of course, bloody boobs.And speaking of boobs, the best way to see this movie unedited today is on the double-feature DVD hosted by Elvira. I'm sure this movie was heavily edited when it featured back on TV's "Movie Macabre" back in the 1980's, but it sure isn't now. And, for the record, the Elvira cutaways are optional on the disc, and hardly necessary--with busty Spanish starlets like Roseanne Yanni and Mirta Miller in the cast, it already looks like a Russ Meyer movie even without the famous cleavage of Elvira/Cassandra Peterson. Recommended to those of you who know who you are.