The Satanic Rites of Dracula

Last updated

The Satanic Rites of Dracula
The Satanic Rites of Dracula poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Alan Gibson
Screenplay by Don Houghton
Based on Count Dracula
by Bram Stoker
Produced by Roy Skeggs
Starring Christopher Lee
Peter Cushing
Joanna Lumley
Michael Coles
Richard Vernon
William Franklyn
Freddie Jones
CinematographyBrian Probyn
Edited byChris Barnes
Music by John Cacavas
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia-Warner Distributors
Release dates
3 November 1973 (West Germany), 13 January 1974 (UK)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office£223,450 [1]

The Satanic Rites of Dracula is a 1973 British horror film directed by Alan Gibson and produced by Hammer Film Productions. It is the eighth film in Hammer's Dracula series, and the seventh and final one to feature Christopher Lee as Dracula. The film was also the third to unite Peter Cushing as Van Helsing with Lee, following Dracula (1958) and Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972).

Contents

Plot

In 1974, a Secret Service agent barely escapes from an English country house, in which satanic rituals are being celebrated. Before he dies of his wounds, he reveals to his superiors that four prominent members of society – a government minister, a peer, a general and a famous scientist – are involved in a cult led by Chin Yang. Photos of the four dignitaries taken by the agent are developed, and a fifth photo, apparently showing an empty doorway, is assumed to be a mistake. In order to avoid any reprisals by the minister, Secret Service official Colonel Mathews calls in Scotland Yard's Inspector Murray to work on the case independently. Murray suggests consulting a noted occult expert, Professor Lorrimer Van Helsing.

The cult kidnaps the Secret Service secretary Jane, who is later bitten by Count Dracula. Murray, Secret Service agent Torrence and Van Helsing's granddaughter Jessica arrive at the country house. They separate; Murray and Torrence investigate inside the house, where they meet Chin Yang. Jessica enters the house through the cellar, where she finds Jane chained to a wall; she is revealed to be a vampire. The ensuing commotion awakens other female vampires who are likewise imprisoned, but they attempt to feed on Jessica. The agents hear Jessica's screams and come to her rescue. Murray kills Jane with a stake, and he escapes the grounds with Jessica and Torrence. Meanwhile, Van Helsing visits his scientist friend, Julian Keeley, whom he recognized among the four conspirators. The mentally unstable Keeley is involved in bacteriological research designed to create a virulent strain of the bubonic plague. Van Helsing is shot by a guard and passes out. When he revives, Keeley's dead body hangs from the ceiling, and the plague bacillus is gone.

Keeley referred to the 23rd of the month, which Van Helsing discovers is the "Sabbath of the Undead". Keeley's research notes lead Van Helsing to the reclusive property developer D. D. Denham, who funded Keeley's research. Van Helsing speculates that the fifth photo of an empty doorway may actually have been of Dracula, whose image cannot be captured; he theorizes that Dracula wants to finally die, but in his evil, will want to destroy all of humanity with him. Van Helsing visits Denham in his headquarters (built on the church yard where Dracula died in the previous film) and discovers that he is actually Dracula. He tries to shoot Dracula with a silver bullet, but is beaten by the Count's conspirators. Dracula decides that killing Van Helsing would be too simple and has him moved to the country house. Jessica, Murray, Mathews and Torrence, while observing the country house, are attacked by snipers. Torrence and Mathews are killed, and Murray and Jessica are captured. Murray awakes in the cellar and escapes the clutches of Chin Yang, revealed to be a vampire herself. After staking her through the heart with a mallet, he destroys the other female vampires with clear running water from the fire sprinkler system.

Dracula arrives at the house with Van Helsing. He announces to his henchmen that Jessica will be his consort, uncorrupted by the plague that his "four horsemen" – including Van Helsing – will carry out into the world. The conspirators, who had considered the plague a threat not to be used, begin to question their master. Dracula's hypnotic command brings them back under his control. He commands John Porter to break the vial, releasing the bacteria and immediately infecting the minister. Murray overpowers a guard in the computer room. The guard's metal baton smashes a computer panel, causing an explosion that starts a fire and unlocks the ritual room. Two uninfected conspirators escape, Murray rescues Jessica, and the infected minister and the plague bacteria burn in the fire. Dracula attacks Van Helsing, but his prey escapes through a window into the woods. Van Helsing lures Dracula into a hawthorn bush where he is entangled. Van Helsing grabs a fence post and drives it through his heart. Dracula disintegrates into ashes, and Van Helsing retrieves the Count's ring.

Cast

Production

In addition to Lee and Cushing returning from Dracula A.D. 1972, Coles also reprised his role (Inspector Murray). The part of Van Helsing's granddaughter, Jessica, was recast with Lumley, as a more mature character than that portrayed by Stephanie Beacham in the previous film. The screenplay, a mixture of horror, science fiction and a spy thriller, was written by Don Houghton, who had worked on Doctor Who . Television veteran John Cacavas composed the original score.

Production began in November 1972. The working title of the movie was Dracula is Dead ... and Well and Living in London, a reference to the stage and film musical revue Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris . Lee was not amused. Speaking at a 1973 press conference announcing the feature, he said:

I'm doing it under protest ... I think it is fatuous. I can think of twenty adjectives – fatuous, pointless, absurd. It's not a comedy, but it's got a comic title. I don't see the point. [2]

The film was eventually retitled, but was still marketed in French as Dracula vit toujours à Londres ('Dracula Is Still Living in London').

As movie historian Jonathan Rigby has observed, the feature "wrapped on 3 January 1973, 15 years to the day" after Dracula , the first film in the Hammer series, finished shooting. [3]

This was the last Hammer movie that Lee and Cushing would make together, although they would reunite one final time ten years later, for House of the Long Shadows .

The feature was not released in the United States until 1979, when Dynamite Entertainment distributed a heavily edited version under the title Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride.

The film appears to have been the first to feature a silver bullet being used against a vampire. [4]

Critical reception

AllMovie called it the "least interesting" film in the Hammer Dracula series. [5] Time Out wrote, "a lot of weak action scenes and weaker lines, but still a vast improvement on Dracula A.D. 1972." [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Cushing</span> English actor (1913–1994)

Peter Wilton Cushing was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage and radio roles. He achieved recognition for his leading performances in the Hammer Productions horror films from the 1950s to 1970s, and as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars (1977).

Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classic horror characters such as Baron Victor Frankenstein, Count Dracula, and the Mummy, which Hammer reintroduced to audiences by filming them in vivid colour for the first time. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies, as well as, in later years, television series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham Van Helsing</span> Fictional character created by Bram Stoker

Professor Abraham Van Helsing is a fictional character from the 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula written by Bram Stoker. Van Helsing is a Dutch polymath doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "MD, D.Ph., D.Litt., etc.", indicating a wealth of experience, education and expertise. He is a doctor, professor, lawyer, philosopher, scientist, and metaphysic. The character is best known through many adaptations of the story as a vampire slayer, monster hunter and the arch-nemesis of Count Dracula, and the prototypical and the archetypical parapsychologist in subsequent works of paranormal fiction. Some later works tell new stories about Van Helsing, while others, such as Dracula (2020) and I Woke Up A Vampire (2023) have characters that are his descendants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renfield</span> Fictional character from Bram Stokers Dracula

R. M. Renfield is a fictional character who appears in Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula. He is Count Dracula's deranged, fanatically devoted servant and familiar, helping him in his plan to turn Mina Harker into a vampire in return for a continuous supply of insects to consume and the promise of immortality. Throughout the novel, he resides in an asylum, where he is treated by Dr. John Seward.

<i>Dracula: Dead and Loving It</i> 1995 film

Dracula: Dead and Loving It is a 1995 comedy horror film directed by Mel Brooks and starring Leslie Nielsen. It is a spoof of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula and of some of the story's well-known adaptations.

<i>Dracula</i> (1958 film) 1958 horror film directed by Terence Fisher

Dracula is a 1958 British gothic horror film directed by Terence Fisher and written by Jimmy Sangster based on Bram Stoker's 1897 novel of the same name. The first in the series of Hammer Horror films starring Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, the film also features Peter Cushing as Doctor Van Helsing, along with Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling, Carol Marsh, and John Van Eyssen. In the United States, the film was retitled Horror of Dracula to avoid confusion with the U.S. original by Universal Pictures, 1931's Dracula.

<i>Dracula 2000</i> 2000 film by Patrick Lussier

Dracula 2000 is a 2000 American gothic horror film co-written and directed by Patrick Lussier and produced by Joel Soisson and stars Gerard Butler, Christopher Plummer, Jonny Lee Miller, Justine Waddell, Omar Epps, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Jeri Ryan and Jennifer Esposito. The plot follows Dracula, who arrives in New Orleans, Louisiana in the 21st century and seeks out Mary Heller, the daughter of Abraham Van Helsing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mina Harker</span> Fictional character

Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker is a fictional character and the main female character in Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula.

<i>Dracula: Prince of Darkness</i> 1966 British film

Dracula: Prince of Darkness is a 1966 British gothic supernatural horror film directed by Terence Fisher. The film was produced by Hammer Film Productions, and is the third entry in Hammer's Dracula series, as well as the second to feature Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, the titular vampire. It also stars Andrew Keir, Francis Matthews, and Barbara Shelley.

<i>The Brides of Dracula</i> 1960 film

The Brides of Dracula is a 1960 British supernatural horror film produced by Hammer Film Productions. Directed by Terence Fisher, the film stars Peter Cushing, David Peel, Freda Jackson, Yvonne Monlaur, Andrée Melly, and Martita Hunt. The film is a sequel to the 1958 film Dracula, though the character of Count Dracula does not appear in the film, and is instead mentioned only twice. Christopher Lee would reprise his role as Dracula in the next film in the Dracula series, Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966).

<i>The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires</i> 1974 film

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires is a 1974 martial arts horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker. The film opens in 1804, when seven vampires clad in gold masks are resurrected by Count Dracula. A century later, Professor Van Helsing, known in the world for his exploits with Dracula, is recruited by a man and his seven siblings after giving a lecture at a Chinese university to take on the vampires. The film is a British-Hong Kong co-production between Hammer Film Productions and Shaw Brothers Studio.

<i>Count Dracula</i> (1970 film) 1970 film

Count Dracula is a 1970 gothic horror film directed by Jesús Franco, based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. It stars Christopher Lee, Herbert Lom and Klaus Kinski.

<i>Dracula A.D. 1972</i> 1972 British film

Dracula A.D. 1972 is a 1972 British horror film, directed by Alan Gibson and produced by Hammer Film Productions. It was written by Don Houghton and stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Stephanie Beacham. Unlike earlier films in Hammer's Dracula series, Dracula A.D. 1972 had a contemporary setting in an attempt to update the Dracula story for modern audiences. Dracula is brought back to life in modern London and preys on a group of young partygoers that includes the descendant of his nemesis, Van Helsing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Count Dracula</span> Title character of Bram Stokers 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula

Count Dracula is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula. He is considered the prototypical and archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by some to have been inspired by the 15th-century Wallachian prince Vlad the Impaler, who was also known as Vlad Dracula, and by Sir Henry Irving, an actor for whom Stoker was a personal assistant.

<i>Bram Stokers Dracula</i> (1974 film) 1973 television movie directed by Dan Curtis

Dracula, also known as Bram Stoker's Dracula and Dan Curtis' Dracula, is a 1974 British made-for-television gothic horror film and adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. It was written by Richard Matheson and directed by Dark Shadows creator Dan Curtis, with Jack Palance in the title role. It was the second collaboration for Curtis and Palance after the 1968 TV film The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Dracula is a television adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula, produced by Granada Television for WGBH Boston and BBC Wales in 2006. It was written by Stewart Harcourt and directed by Bill Eagles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Count Dracula in popular culture</span>

The character of Count Dracula from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, has remained popular over the years, and many forms of media have adopted the character in various forms. In their book Dracula in Visual Media, authors John Edgar Browning and Caroline Joan S. Picart declared that no other horror character or vampire has been emulated more times than Count Dracula. Most variations of Dracula across film, comics, television and documentaries predominantly explore the character of Dracula as he was first portrayed in film, with only a few adapting Stoker's original narrative more closely. These including borrowing the look of Count Dracula in both the Universal's series of Dracula and Hammer's series of Dracula, including include the characters clothing, mannerisms, physical features hair style and his motivations such as wanting to be in a home away from Europe.

<i>Dracula: A Chamber Musical</i>

Dracula: A Chamber Musical is a 1997 Canadian musical adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. The book and lyrics are by Richard Ouzounian and the music and orchestration are by Marek Norman. After premiering at the Neptune Theatre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1997, Dracula in 1999 became the first Canadian musical to be staged at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

Dracula is a British horror film series produced by Hammer Film Productions. The films are centered on Count Dracula, bringing with him a plague of vampirism, and the ensuing efforts of the heroic Van Helsing family to stop him. The original series of films consisted of nine installments, which starred iconic horror actors Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as Count Dracula and Doctor Van Helsing, respectively. The series is part of the larger Hammer horror oeuvre.

The World of Hammer is a British television documentary series created and written by Robert Sidaway and Ashley Sidaway, and produced by Robert Sidaway.

References

  1. Hearn, Marcus; Barnes, Alan (25 September 2007). The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films[The Hammer Story] (Limited ed.). Titan Books. p. 163. ISBN   978-1845761851. OCLC   493684031.
  2. Haining, Peter (1992). The Dracula Scrapbook. Chancellor Press. ISBN   1-85152-195-X.
  3. Rigby, Jonathan (2015). English Gothic: Classic Horror Cinema 1897-2015, Signum Books. p. 247. ISBN   9780957648166
  4. Ferguson, Jonathan. "Silver Bullets and Vampires". basc.org.uk. British Association for Shooting and Conservation. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  5. Binion, Cavett. "Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride (1973) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast - AllMovie". AllMovie . Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  6. "The Satanic Rites of Dracula Review. Movie Reviews - Film - Time Out London". timeout.com . Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2012.