Review of Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) by Matthew L — 22 Sep 2010

Hammers 5th Dracula film and the fourth to star Christopher Lee, whilst all the films are direct sequels to the last this one is more so due to beginning in the closing 10 minutes of Dracula Has Risen From the Grave and features footage from said film.

Following the now established formula from the previous films, Dracula does not appear until about midway through the film where he is resurrected by a previously unseen but devote minion. Outside of Lee, and the first film, this has the strongest cast so far with future voice of Wallace Peter Sallis and 'M' in all but name in 6 Bond films Geoffrey Keen.

Beyond that this is a fairly standard Hammer horror that doesn't add anything new to the Vampire mythos and features an increasingly reluctant to return Lee, though he would do a further 3 times. The film may have proved to be infinitely more interesting had Hammer not been forced to rewrite the film to included Dracula by their American distributer who refused to release it if the Count did not appear.

As it is once Dracula appears he's given very little to do, his motivation is a little iffy to say the least and his demise is by far the worst, and confusing, of the series so far.