Although Hammer's audiences [and budgets] were declining in the 70s, they still made some interesting movies which are ripe for reappraisal. This film is a case in point. A collaboration with the Hong Kong martial arts film studio Shaw Brothers[ there was also another one, the very poor Shatter, a routine modern day thriller], it mixes horror and martial arts to extremely entertaining effect. Yes, the idea of mixing the two genres was done better in later Hong Kong films like Spooky Encounters, but there is a great deal of trashy fun to be had here.
Shot in extremely lurid colour, the first half hour has two amazingly vivid scenes- Dracula possessing a Chinese priest in Transylvania, and a terrific setpiece in China soon after with a peasant trying to rescue some women from a castle and encountering the wonderfully decrepit looking Seven Golden Vampires and than an army of zombies who come out of the ground in a stunning sequence, the use of speeded up film to convey their movement oddly effective. Thereafter, as our bunch of protagonists sets off to rid China of this evil, the film does tend to become a series of very bloody battles, but they are blisteringly staged. David Chiang has little charisma as the main hero, but Peter Cushing is solid as ever as Van Helsing ,and does look as if he his having fun. John Forbes-Robertson has quite a bit of presence as Dracula, but he's only in the opening and ending, and after all the terrific action beforehand, his death at the hands of Van Helsing is something of a damp squib. There are some somewhat stilted dialogue scenes, but James Bernard's music is typically exciting [Hammer fans will spot the cues from Taste The Blood Of Dracula though!].
Hardly classic Hammer, or Shaw Brothers for that matter, but this just sets out to provide a fun gory time, and succeeds.
Shot in extremely lurid colour, the first half hour has two amazingly vivid scenes- Dracula possessing a Chinese priest in Transylvania, and a terrific setpiece in China soon after with a peasant trying to rescue some women from a castle and encountering the wonderfully decrepit looking Seven Golden Vampires and than an army of zombies who come out of the ground in a stunning sequence, the use of speeded up film to convey their movement oddly effective. Thereafter, as our bunch of protagonists sets off to rid China of this evil, the film does tend to become a series of very bloody battles, but they are blisteringly staged. David Chiang has little charisma as the main hero, but Peter Cushing is solid as ever as Van Helsing ,and does look as if he his having fun. John Forbes-Robertson has quite a bit of presence as Dracula, but he's only in the opening and ending, and after all the terrific action beforehand, his death at the hands of Van Helsing is something of a damp squib. There are some somewhat stilted dialogue scenes, but James Bernard's music is typically exciting [Hammer fans will spot the cues from Taste The Blood Of Dracula though!].
Hardly classic Hammer, or Shaw Brothers for that matter, but this just sets out to provide a fun gory time, and succeeds.