Watch The Satanic Rites of Dracula For Free

The Worst Film Ever

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The end of an era: Christopher Lee hangs up his cape in this, his final bow as star of Hammer Films' Dracula series--fitting, since he was unhappy with the direction in which the cycle of movies was heading (and critics at the time agreed with him). In modern-day London, the Secret Service investigates strange goings-on in an isolated manor in the British countryside. When an imprisoned agent escapes the compound with proof that four dignitaries (a government minister, a Novel Prize-winning scientist, a general and a peer in the House of Lords)--as well as a possible fifth person who is camera-shy!--are involved in satanic rituals, occult specialist Professor Van Helsing and his granddaughter are consulted. Van Helsing learns his friend the scientist was ensnared by the cult in order to produce a new strain of bubonic plague--and that his nemesis, Count Dracula, has been revived and is posing as a reclusive land developer with an insidious plan to spread the plague and start a new apocalypse. Hammer's immediate follow-up to the dismal "Dracula A.D. 1972" (featuring the same director, Alan Gibson, and writer, Don Houghton) is a much-improved bloodsucker, dispensing with the Chelsea teenagers and replacing them with assassins on motorcycles and a basement full of nubile vampires. If Lee doesn't have much to do, he still cuts a foreboding presence and gets a bloody good send-off; Peter Cushing again excels as Van Helsing and the supporting cast is solid. Still, this story doesn't bear close scrutiny; once the bacillus is introduced, no one knows quite what to do with it (Van Helsing has a point when he asks if the Count really wants to rule over a world devoid of life), and there are two conspirators in the plot who are unaccounted for at the finale. Stylishly photographed by Brian Probyn and scored by John Cacavas, the film is a flawed but decent addition to the series with several tight action scenes and a great deal of suspense. **1/2 from ****

This is the final film Sir Christopher Lee made for Hammer as Dracula, the role that brought him to the attention of so many. Derided by many over the years, not least by its leading actor, and released at a time when interest in Hammer productions had waned considerably, this once more reunited Lee with Peter Cushing as Van Helsing.This was one of the films horror films I ever saw, and I am happy to say I loved it then (when it was shown on television in the late 70s) and I love it now. This is the second time Hammer made a picture featuring Dracula in the modern day, and this time they got it absolutely right. The Count had been secretly recruiting people to his cult for years by the time the story starts, so he is already in a position of power. Living as the reclusive DD Denham, he is very rarely known to leave his tower-block office empire. What better place for a modern day vampire to exist, hiding in plain sight? Van Helsing (and daughter Jessica, now played by Joanna Lumley) is brought in by the police when it appears that Denham doesn't show up in photographs, suggesting something sinister. At first Van Helsing is treated with scepticism, but this changes when it appears The Count, sick of his undead unlife, is planning to sweep a plague across all of the Earth.I love that anyone who comes in to contact with Count's plan dies (Freddie Jones' Professor Keeley is the most memorable); I love that he doesn't dirty his hands with the mundaneness of his mission, rather leaving all that to the various political members of his cult. I love that an effort has actually been made to integrate Dracula into society – even when he is not in the story, he directly influences everything that happens. Equally, his victims are confined to Pelham House, which is not a shambling church or sprawling castle. His seduction/attack on Valerie Van Ost's Jane takes place in a seedy back-room prison, lit only by a swinging bulb. Into that scene Dracula enters, back-lit and surrounded by mist, and his impressive frame lights up the dilapidated chamber and Alan Gibson's fine direction encourages the allurement to be an almost hallucinatory experience.The ending, and Dracula's final dispatch, has also been slated by 'fans', but again, I like it. No elaborate theatrics (that is left to Michael Cole's Inspector Murray's spectacular rescue of Jessica), just two deadly, veteran rivals, slugging it out alone. The hawthorn bush is added to the list of 'all things deadly to a vampire' (it provided Christ with His crown of thorns after all), and that together with a stake through the heart and Hammer's Dracula is gone for good. This final, and significant film, is the only one of the series – and possibly Lee's only picture – that doesn't currently enjoy an official DVD release. There are low quality efforts available, but this surely deserves a release more worthy, allowing more people to re-value it.

Desperation of a series in its death throes, or perhaps just an inventive entry in Hammer's Dracula series that was misunderstood? Well, perhaps The Satanic Rites of Dracula is a little of both. A much better movie than the comically bad Dracula A.D. 1972, this is still, when one weighs it up, inferior to the early Hammer Draculas and 70s audiences must have had a struggle to connect to it's mixture of Vampirism, Satanism and James Bondery, with a good kicking given out to property speculators to boot! Alan Gibson directs with a sure hand, and every sequence is well executed - particularly the cellar full of female vampires section. And of course, there is always Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee to pep things up as Van Helsing and his eternal enemy Count Dracula. There's a rather splendid stand-off scene between the two, when Cushing confronts the property tycoon D.D. Dehham, and one can only wish there was more of this kind of stuff. Lee adopts a splendid Lugosi-like accent here, and Cushing is all steely resolve.They are helped by an agreeably quivering Freddie Jones, William Franklyn - who dies in almost exactly the same way he does in Hammer's Quatermass II - and Joanna Lumley. Michael Coles also returns as the longest-haired police inspector in British movies, and this time out is given somewhat better dialogue than he was in A.D. 72.The plot of course, has a few flaws - why have a sprinkler system where the vampires sleep? When you don't have one where a house-gutting fire later breaks out! On the whole this is a lively and quirky film, with Dracula coming off like a Batman super villain rather than the King Of Vampires, out to infect everyone on Earth with a virulent form of bubonic plague. It's a fun and fast moving affair. And we can saviour Van Helsing against Dracula one last time.

"Dracula 1972 AD" failed to set the box office ablaze but Hammer wasn't ready to give up on its biggest franchise. Despite the public's disinterest, the studio pushed ahead with another Dracula film set in the modern day. The gamble didn't pay off the second time either. "The Satanic Rites of Dracula" would be the final Dracula film to feature Christopher Lee.Hammer's line of thinking clearly was that the public was sick of Gothic horror. "Satanic Rites" jettisons any trace of classic horror. Instead, the film is concerned with espionage action and conspiracy theories. The British Secret Service is investigating Satanic rituals. One features prominent members of society and claims to be raising people from the dead. The government brings in the modern day Van Helsing as a consultant. Van Helsing, teaming with his granddaughter and Detective Murray, quickly deduces that something sinister is afoot. A scientist, who mysteriously died, is connected to the Satanic circle. This traces back to reclusive millionaire D. D. Denham, who is none other then Count Dracula. Sick of his eternal life, Dracula intends to unleash a plague on the world, bringing upon the apocalypse.There's not much I like about "The Satanic Rites of Dracula" but I'll give the movie one thing. Many of the Hammer Dracula films play fast and loose with continuity. This one is a direct sequel to "Dracula 1972 AD." Peter Cushing plays the same descendant of Van Helsing. He even lives in the same apartment. His granddaughter Jessica, though played by a different actress, is back too, who has matured some in the two years since the last film. Inspector Murray returns as well and is even played by the same guy. The film directly references the end of the last one by pointing out that "D. D. Denham's" business building is built upon the remains of the church where Dracula died last time. About the only plot thread left dangling is how the Count returned to unlife. And even that's easy to address, as a viewer can assume his clan of Satanic followers resurrected him.Disappointingly, the returning characters are the only thing "The Satanic Rites" has in common with "1972 AD." The movie is not heavy on horror content. And what horror is there is totally different from what we expect. The Satanic rituals, which involve cultist in hoods standing in rooms pouring blood on a naked girl, feel totally of the time. Even Drac gets involved, as he lights black candles while a beautiful woman lies on an altar before him. There are other vampires in the movie. Two scenes take place in a basement where vampire maidens pop out of coffins. However, there's no fog, no old castles, no stone walls. Nothing about these scenes feels like a classic Hammer movie. It's not until the very end of the movie, when Cushing and Lee face off for the final time, that this film begins to feel anything like its predecessors. Van Helsing and Dracula have a stern face-off in a burning room before both flee. Walking into the woods, Dracula stumbles into a hawthorn bush, an obscure vampire weakness, allowing Van Helsing to stake the Count with a fencepost. It's a hugely dubious way to take Dracula out but at least it feels in line with the rest of the series.Most of "Satanic Rites" doesn't even feel like a horror film though. The film is obviously beholden to "The Avengers" and Roger Moore's Bond films but on a fraction of the budget. The action in the film is mostly limited to guys in fuzzy, suede vest chasing people on motorcycles. One moments has similarly garbed henchmen shooting sniper rifles at the heroes. Despite these unusual action beats, much of the film's runtime is devoted to old British guys sitting around and talking in rooms. There is so much droll exposition in these scenes or long moments of guys reading, watching, or looking at pictures. It's dull and seriously drags the pacing down.If nothing else, the film has the strength of its performers to fall back on. Peter Cushing is in a lot of the movie, bringing the same level of conviction to the role that he always does. Lee is given more to do then in his last appearance. The vampire count doesn't bite too many beautiful maidens on the neck, save for one scene. Instead, his best moments center on the Count delivering some harsh monologues. Dracula talking about his apocalyptic plans allows Lee to (if you'll excuse the pun) sink his teeth into the hammy dialogue. The final confrontation between the two, where Dracula prepares to bring about the end of the world and Van Helsing stares him down, is easily the best moment of the film. As for the rest of the cast, Michael Coles gets to do some cool stuff as Inspector Murray, staking vampires and throwing some punches. Future comedy superstar Joanna Lumley is less charming then Stephanie Beachum as Jessica and honestly given less to do. It's disappointing that the film reduces the character to a damsel in distress once again.Director Alan Gibson, returning from "Dracula 1972 AD," is less sturdy this time. He employs rough zoom-ins far too many times. The funky score is pretty catchy though. "The Satanic Rites of Dracula" is a real off entry in the series. The pacing lags horribly, the plot isn't that interesting, and the film barely feels like a Dracula movie. The movie wasn't bad enough to kill the franchise, as Dracula would return in the next year's even odder "Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires." However, it was bad enough to finally make Christopher Lee yell enough. The iconic actor has never put the cape on since. He did not exit on a high note.