long and arduous journey that requires a great deal of money. Coincidence abounds in the movie as Van Helsing’s son, Leyland (Robin Stewart) has made the acquaintance of wealthy, widowed European socialite Vanessa Buren – Julie Ege looking fabulous - who is looking for thrills and adventure in the Far East. When the two are attacked by members of the Tong and saved by the flying fists of the seven brothers of the alternate film title, Ms Buren decides to put up the cash for the expedition. She is fascinated by the work of Leyland’s father and bores the pants off the son all the way home by reminding him of this fact. In no time at all the heroes are on their way to the land of robbers and brigands. The sibling supermen and one woman, the petite but deadly Mai Kwei (Shih Szu), protect their European charges against bandits in the daytime and vampires at night. The battle is not without its losses and Ching is forced to destroy himself and Vanessa when the latter is turned – very quickly – into one of the undead. This ritualistic suicide is one of the few striking moments of the film that consists of pretty mediocre choreography and blatant overacting by the many exuberant extras that China breeds by the bucketful. Finally, it is down to Professor Van Helsing to put paid to the real villain of the piece, Count Dracula. Dracula has survived in the body of Kah for over a hundred years, but his clumsy approach on the field of battle has him impaled in under thirty seconds and he shrivels down to nothing. However, despite this exuberant display, I have to confess that I love the movie. The term, so bad, it’s great , comes to mind. And the running time is satisfactorily filled out.
Obviously another approach by Hammer to reinvigorate their dying Dracula franchise as the previous misunderstood reworking by Alan Gibson were booed off the screen on their release. The Count is portrayed by John Forbes Robertson and he is voiced by David de Keyser. The story suggests that Dracula has been active in Ping Kwei since 1804, ninety three years before the publication of Bram Stoker’s novel and eighty one years before the setting for Hammer’s original Dracula (1958). Don Houghton’s screenplay wipes out the references of the previous eight movies in one very involving pre-credit sequence as the Count uses yet another power of possession as he inhabits the body of a determined slave. Made up to resemble Christopher Lee as much as possible, Forbes Robertson has also studied the Master himself and dies in a very similar manner to Sir Chris when staked by Van Helsing. He even seems to have more fun as he doesn’t allow himself to be held back by the authentications of Stoker that Lee constantly moaned were missing in Hammer’s approach while making his films. The castle sequence put me in mind of a well-drawn graphic novel with its heavy lighting and pantomime atmosphere and it had already been embellished in The House of Hammer magazine. Like The Satanic Rites of Dracula , the whole movie had a strong air of TV surrounding it and with the addition of the mythical seven brothers; I was reminded of that great Chinese series, The Water Margin , in the mid nineteen eighties. The mythical number seven resounds throughout as there are seven half-naked oriental girls chained around a boiling cauldron for when the vampires become peckish. These peasants are dragged screaming from their homes in regular midnight attacks on the village by the vampires who cut down their father’s and brothers with swords and fangs before setting fire to their humble retreats.
Peter Cushing plays yet another strand of the Van Helsing family. Lawrence was also the first name of the vampire slayer in Dracula AD1972 , but he was killed in London in 1872. The adventurer here claims to have been in constant battle with Dracula and vampires all his life and has one son, Leyland Van Helsing, who looks on his father as an anthropologist and finds love with Mai
Obviously another approach by Hammer to reinvigorate their dying Dracula franchise as the previous misunderstood reworking by Alan Gibson were booed off the screen on their release. The Count is portrayed by John Forbes Robertson and he is voiced by David de Keyser. The story suggests that Dracula has been active in Ping Kwei since 1804, ninety three years before the publication of Bram Stoker’s novel and eighty one years before the setting for Hammer’s original Dracula (1958). Don Houghton’s screenplay wipes out the references of the previous eight movies in one very involving pre-credit sequence as the Count uses yet another power of possession as he inhabits the body of a determined slave. Made up to resemble Christopher Lee as much as possible, Forbes Robertson has also studied the Master himself and dies in a very similar manner to Sir Chris when staked by Van Helsing. He even seems to have more fun as he doesn’t allow himself to be held back by the authentications of Stoker that Lee constantly moaned were missing in Hammer’s approach while making his films. The castle sequence put me in mind of a well-drawn graphic novel with its heavy lighting and pantomime atmosphere and it had already been embellished in The House of Hammer magazine. Like The Satanic Rites of Dracula , the whole movie had a strong air of TV surrounding it and with the addition of the mythical seven brothers; I was reminded of that great Chinese series, The Water Margin , in the mid nineteen eighties. The mythical number seven resounds throughout as there are seven half-naked oriental girls chained around a boiling cauldron for when the vampires become peckish. These peasants are dragged screaming from their homes in regular midnight attacks on the village by the vampires who cut down their father’s and brothers with swords and fangs before setting fire to their humble retreats.
Peter Cushing plays yet another strand of the Van Helsing family. Lawrence was also the first name of the vampire slayer in Dracula AD1972 , but he was killed in London in 1872. The adventurer here claims to have been in constant battle with Dracula and vampires all his life and has one son, Leyland Van Helsing, who looks on his father as an anthropologist and finds love with Mai
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