It doesn’t sound promising – the sixth in Hammer’s Dracula series, the last with Cushing and Lee, set in the present day… but actually this is surprisingly fun, decent entertainment. Well, to be honest, it’s a surprisingly fun, decent script not very well realised.
It opens like an R rated version of The Professionals or something with someone escaping from being kidnapped by a group of Satanists then being investigated by confident, worldly middle aged British cops. It turns out the Satanists include several high ranking members of the government so they call in Van Helsing’s grandson (Cushing) to help.
Despite the Satanists and vampires this could easily be a spy film. There are assassins with moustaches and silencers, assassins on motorbikes.
It does get worse as it goes on: the finale is silly and underwhelming with Dracula being very whimpy, not able to overpower Van Helsing and being beaten by a bush in a garden (I’m not making this up). There’s some fun in Joanna Lumley as Van Hesling’s grand-daughter – particularly as she’s poking around a cellar full of female vampires, but the director muffs this, and a lot of other good ideas the film has (eg Dracula as a corporate tycoon, Dracula determined to bring about the end of the world).
It’s like they set out trying to make a good film but then gave up. A shame. But you know something? I still had fun watching it.
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