The Satanic Rites of Dracula

Hammers final Dracula film with Christopher Lee

Two years after the events of Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) Scotland Yard & Lorrimer Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) discover that Dracula (Christopher Lee) is alive and well in the London area, disguised as an antisocial property developer with a mad scheme to unleash a lethal virus upon the Earth.

The Satanic Rites of Dracula, aka Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride (1973), was the last of seven Hammer Dracula films starring Lee as the diabolic Count released from 1958-1973. The previous six are: Horror of Dracula (1958), Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966), Dracula has Risen from the Grave (1968), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), Scars of Dracula (1970) and Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972).

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The great grandson of the original "Van Helsing" (Peter Cushing) is drafted in by Scotland Yard to investigate a series of deaths that smack of vampirism. The investigation centres around a manor house where the great and the good of London society meet, ostensibly for ordinary gatherings, but we know it is much more sinister (well, in theory, anyway). What's more - this house is built upon an old cemetery, and guess who was buried in it just a few years earlier? This is a sort of 1970s "Freemasons meet Dracula" affair, with a lacklustre dialogue and some pretty lame performances all round. It builds predictably to a conflagration that seems a long time coming, and neither Cushing nor the fleeting appearances from Christopher Lee really ign...