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Dracula’s back, looking for revenge against three men and their families after they kill his servant. Like always, some people get killed while others become vampires. Then there are the survivors, who, for lack of a better word, survive.
Christopher Lee as Dracula is a lot of fun to watch again. I highly doubt that there’s a more badass Dracula out there. At one point he kills one of his vampire lackeys just because she was starting to get on his nerves, now that’s badass! The plot picks up right where Dracula Has Risen from the Grave left off. We get to re-watch his ultra cool death scene from that movie and then discover that some sleazy salesman picked up Dracula’s remains just so he can sell them. Of course a servant of Dracula’s ends up tricking three rich old men into buying it for him with promises of experiences far beyond anything they’ve known. Of course the ceremony to resurrect Dracula doesn’t go according to plan and Dracula’s servant ends up dead. Dracula reawakens and swears revenge on the three old men for the death of his servant. I like the type of continuity found in this movie, where one movie picks up right where the previous one ends.
The gore effects are pretty good considering the time period of when this movie was made. I particularly liked when Alice killed her father with the shovel. The scene wasn’t that bloody, but the blow to the head made my wince. However, with the buckets of blood most audiences see today in horror movies, Taste the Blood of Dracula may seem too tame to some viewers.
The similarities between the plot of this movie and the previous Dracula movie in this series, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, are striking. I’m starting to think that they just used a formula to write these movies. The formula being: Dracula comes back from the dead, finds someone or ones that have wronged him in some way, swears revenge, and then systematically kills off the wrong doers and their families, however, someone always realizes what’s going on and ends up defeating the evil vampire before he can fully succeed in his dastardly goals. Shouldn’t Dracula with all of his power have better things on his mind than petty revenge? With his abilities he should be trying for world domination. Of course I guess Dracula’s need for revenge could be the one human trait he has left, and that could by the reason he dwells on it so much. Regardless the reasoning though, I hope the next Dracula movie I watch doesn’t follow the same formula as this one Dracula’s death scene confuses me to no end. He smashes a stained glass window with a cross on it and then freaks out. During his freak out, we’re shown scenes of a church. Then Dracula falls onto an alter and melts. I just don’t get it. May be Dracula had some sort of supernatural stroke. No, I can’t even make up some far-fetched excuse to explain this away, and anyone who has read my reviews, knows that I’m great at coming up with far-fetched explanations.
I’m not even sure who I should write down as Dracula’s nemesis in this movie. Paul ends up saving his girlfriend, Alice, but Paul just gets lucky that Dracula has a stroke, or whatever it is, that ends up killing him. This movie definitely needed someone like Peter Cushing as Van Helsing to counter Dracula. Hell, I would have taken the young atheist from the previous movie. At least he did something cool and impaled Dracula on a cross.
Taste the Blood of Dracula isn’t a total waste of time. If you like Christopher Lee Dracula movies, then I’d recommend seeing this one. However, if you don’t find those types of movies that appealing, this one isn’t going to change your mind. For the average horror fan, I’d probably say not to bother with this one and just watch Horror of Dracula instead.
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