*** This review may contain spoilers ***
*Plot and ending analyzed*
This Hammer attempt to capture the new Kung-Fu market, which was expanding rapidly in the early 1970's thanks to the auspices of the Shaw Production team, is a dreary failure.
Hammer fans were growing up, and yet the studio did not attempt to make more mature or intelligent pictures, instead they saw their numbers dwindle even more by teaming up the Dracul legend with Kung-Fu action set in Peiking.
Most of Hammer's audience was now watching 70's porn which showed more than the mere bulging breasts that Hammer had given fans in the 1960's.
Peter Cushing is once again back as the mad professor Van Hesling, and he is giving a lecture on vampires in China.
The mood is mysterious, but there is never really any strong plot to get the viewer interested, instead we get terrible Kung-Fu action sequences, interminably mixed with cheap sword play. One example is the Englishman who is fighting off eight dead zombies, he doesnt know how to fight and yet he is beating off the gruesome creatures!
The only good thing to say is that the vampires are a cheap mixture of Italian special effects, which aren't that bad, almost bordering on the Dead Knights Templars series which had been a hit in Spain.
If you have nothing else to do, go ahead and see this, but don't expect more than a few moments of passing interest.
*Plot and ending analyzed*
This Hammer attempt to capture the new Kung-Fu market, which was expanding rapidly in the early 1970's thanks to the auspices of the Shaw Production team, is a dreary failure.
Hammer fans were growing up, and yet the studio did not attempt to make more mature or intelligent pictures, instead they saw their numbers dwindle even more by teaming up the Dracul legend with Kung-Fu action set in Peiking.
Most of Hammer's audience was now watching 70's porn which showed more than the mere bulging breasts that Hammer had given fans in the 1960's.
Peter Cushing is once again back as the mad professor Van Hesling, and he is giving a lecture on vampires in China.
The mood is mysterious, but there is never really any strong plot to get the viewer interested, instead we get terrible Kung-Fu action sequences, interminably mixed with cheap sword play. One example is the Englishman who is fighting off eight dead zombies, he doesnt know how to fight and yet he is beating off the gruesome creatures!
The only good thing to say is that the vampires are a cheap mixture of Italian special effects, which aren't that bad, almost bordering on the Dead Knights Templars series which had been a hit in Spain.
If you have nothing else to do, go ahead and see this, but don't expect more than a few moments of passing interest.