Starring Christopher Lee, Patrick Troughton, Dennis Waterman, Jenny Hanley, Michael Gwynn and Michael Ripper
Written by Anthony Hinds and directed by Roy Ward Baker
I know what you're thinking: so many Dracula movies and so few bats! Well, you're in luck. SCARS OF DRACULA is lousy with bats. Or a bat, anyway. Honestly I can't remember which. These movies have started running together so much it's hard to tell. But if you like big rubber bats, SCARS OF DRACULA is the hammer Dracula for you.
Dracula's resurrected yet again (by a bat) and sets up shop in his old Transylvanian castle. It's nice to return to the castle after so many movies away. In most straight up DRACULA adaptations, the most interesting section is always the section that takes place at Castle Dracula. Because of this, SCARS OF DRACULA sort of works as a weird remake of the original, with a visitor to the castle working as a Harker stand-in, trying to escape, getting caught by Dracula, seduced by female vampires, etc. All that good stuff.
Later his brother and fiancee come looking for him and we get more good stuff from the book, like Dracula climbing up the side of the castle like a spider.
Christopher Lee's still doing his thing so the movie's not a total waste, but at this point the franchise has started to show signs of fatigue. Dracula goes out with a bang, though, struck by a bolt of lightning that sets him on fire. I was about to say I didn't know lightning could kill vampires, but I guess fire is a tried and true method, so there you go.
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