Review: Scars of Dracula

The dried, bloodied remains of Dracula are revived by a blood-dribbling bat (!) and once again Christopher Lee’s suave but blood-thirsty Count has risen. Not even torch-bearing villagers are able to stop him (Yes, the torch-bearing villagers arrive at the beginning of the film, not the end!). This time out, we have a trio of young adults, two brothers (Christopher Mathews and a young Dennis Waterman) and the lovely Jenny Hanley, who have the misfortune of venturing to Castle Dracula. Mathews is first to go, having stayed out too late in the wrong part of town, being refused refuge by innkeeper Michael Ripper (in his 27^th and final Hammer film appearance), and ending up you know where. When he fails to turn up the next day, young couple Waterman and Hanley go in search of him. Patrick Troughton plays Dracula’s ultra-devoted, seemingly masochistic manservant Klove, whilst Michael Gwynn plays a weary village priest.

Directed by Roy Ward Baker (“A Night to Remember”, “The One That Got Away”, “Asylum”, “The Vampire Lovers”) and written by Anthony Hinds (“The Curse of Frankenstein”, “Dracula Has Risen From the Grave”, “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, “Taste the Blood of Dracula”), this 1970 sixth entry in Hammer’s series of Dracula films is extremely underrated for reasons I simply don’t understand. Although he hasn’t anything nice to say about it in his autobiography (Lord of Misrule), Christopher Lee ever the professional, shows no signs of boredom here as Dracula, just the famed vampire’s characteristic disdain for humankind. The screen’s best-ever Dracula, I think this film gives him his second-best stint, as he is alternately suave, polite, disdainful, blood-thirsty, animalistic, but also rather weary. He even gets a reasonable amount of dialogue this time too, which was a rarity.

However, former “Doctor Who” Patrick Troughton almost steals the film from underneath Lee as his creepy, conflicted manservant Klove. It’s a really interesting part that seems to suggest a level of sadomasochism, and indeed this is a more overtly violent and sexual film than any of the other Hammer “Dracula” films. There’s one death scene in particular that is easily the most violent death in a Hammer film that I’ve seen. If you want blood, this one’s got it. For 1970, Hammer really went all out with the red stuff in this one and I don’t just mean Dracula’s iconic blood-red eyes. Meanwhile, there’s a bit more to this Renfield-esque character than simple master-servant devotion, that’s for sure.

A young Dennis Waterman is just OK, though Christopher Matthews is more interesting, and in fact, they and Jenny Hanley are probably the best of the younger generation of characters in these films, much as I loved Veronica Carlson in “Dracula Has Risen From the Grave”. Hammer regular Michael Ripper has one of his best parts as a fearful innkeeper with a horny daughter, but Michael Gwynn stands out for all the wrong reasons as this film’s substitute for Van Helsing. Peter Cushing he ain’t, in fact he’s pathetic and effete, embarrassingly bad, actually. He also appears to be doing a Sir John Gielgud vocal impersonation for reasons only Gwynn likely knows. However, he’s the one black mark in the cast, as even the snotty and dopey local constables are enjoyably played.

The James Bernard (“Horror of Dracula”, “Curse of Frankenstein”, “Dracula Has Risen From the Grave”) score is fine as you’d expect, though towards the end it starts to sound like one of those cheap woodwind instrument scores AIP films in the 60s came with. The film’s look is outstanding, thanks to the cinematography by Moray Grant (“Vampire Circus”, “The Vampire Lovers”) and especially the art direction by Scott MacGregor (“The Concrete Jungle”, “Taste the Blood of Dracula”, “Vampire Circus”, “The Vampire Lovers”). The exteriors and interiors of Castle Dracula are amazing (even the use of matte paintings for the exteriors are interesting), the bold use of red in particular. Aside from the dreadful rubber bats, the film looks much more expensive than it likely was (The budget was apparently even smaller than the previous film). I wouldn’t call any of Hammer’s film’s scary, and in fact I prefer their atmospheric brand of horror to sheer terror anyway. However, the director deserves credit for making the sound of a carriage arriving outside a local tavern seem foreboding and chilling. There’s also something fascinating about Castle Dracula itself and its seeming inescapability. It almost acts like a haunted house at times or at least a prison, is Dracula himself also a prisoner? There’s certainly a hint of weariness to Lee’s performance that perhaps suggests it.

This is mean-spirited, bloody, and doesn’t mess around getting off and running, and as such it stands out amongst the other films in Hammer’s series of Dracula films, if not the equal of “The Horror of Dracula”. This is no hack-job, some real thought and effort has gone into the visual design, themes, and even some of the characters. Shame about Michael Gwynn and those awful rubber bats, but give this one a go nonetheless. It’s good and nasty, and you even get to see Dracula scale the walls in this one!

Rating: B-