Scars of Dracula, 1970.
Directed by Roy Ward Baker.
Starring Christopher Lee, Dennis Waterman, Jenny Hanley, Michael Gwynn, Michael Ripper, Patrick Troughton, Christopher Matthews, Bob Todd, and Anouska Hempel.
SYNOPSIS:
After a young man is murdered whilst staying at Castle Dracula, his younger brother comes searching for him.
1970 was a crucial year for Hammer, for not only were the swinging sixties over with but there was the threat of a more gruesome and grisly type of horror movie coming over from the US, with George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby bringing the threat of terror from the isolated castles of Eastern Europe to the very doorsteps of contemporary society.
This meant that Hammer needed to up their game and move away from their Gothic period pieces, which they would attempt eventually but not before giving their key monsters one more shot. In Dracula’s case, Taste the Blood of Dracula had been released earlier in the year and had seen the Count relocating to Victorian London during the early 20th century, which may not have been much of an update but the sleazier story and a more familiar setting meant that the eventual destination of modern London in the much-derided (but tremendously good fun) Dracula A.D. 1972 would probably not have been so scorned upon had it been the next movie in the series. As it was, Hammer – for some bizarre reason – returned to the fog-covered mountains of Eastern Europe to give the Count one last Gothic outing.
The movie opens with a (very fake) bat vomiting blood over the dried up remains of Count Dracula (Christopher Lee), bringing him back to life. Where the bat came from or why it vomited blood, we know not but it is an opening scene that sets the tone for what follows as the bat is hilariously bad, the blood lurid and overly theatrical and Lee still looking magnificent in the cape and fangs, although his pale make-up ages him a bit, but that could be deliberate.
After a local woman is murdered by the Count, the villagers go on the rampage and try to burn down his castle, and when they return home they discover that every woman in the village has been killed. Elsewhere, womaniser Paul Carson (Christopher Matthews) is accused of rape and runs away from his village, eventually coming across Dracula’s servant Klove (Patrick Troughton), who brings Paul back to the remains of the castle and introduces him to Dracula.
Fearing something terrible has happened, Paul’s brother Simon (Dennis Waterman) and his fiancé Sarah (Jenny Hanley) go looking for Paul and end up at Dracula’s castle, where the Count takes an immediate fancy to Sarah, as does Klove. However, Klove’s intentions are less sinister and he helps the couple try to escape, incurring the wrath of his master. When Simon returns with a priest, Klove is less helpful and the scene is set for a battle to wipe out Dracula’s evil once and for all.
Coming a few months after Taste the Blood of Dracula, Scars of Dracula does feel like something of a step backwards, being less vibrant and the plot a standard search-and-rescue that isn’t too dissimilar to Hammer’s own Dracula from 1958, albeit without the majesty of Peter Cushing to act as the hero. Instead we have Dennis Waterman playing that part, and whilst Waterman would go on to play several tough guy roles on British TV in the 1980s, here he is ineffectual and weak, playing Simon as the innocent young man that he is but without an arc, ending the movie as wet as he begins it. Most of it is in the writing, as Simon is no Van Helsing; hell, he’s not even Paul from Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (played by Barry Andrews), who was arrogant and annoying but at least he had spirit and his character went on a journey throughout that movie.
But we do get the return of Klove, who was last seen in 1966s Dracula: Prince of Darkness and played by Philip Latham. Here he is played by Patrick Troughton, who was still languishing in his Doctor Who fame and plays Dracula’s servant in a much gruffer and sympathetic way than Latham, reminiscent of Bela Lugosi’s Ygor from Universal’s Son of Frankenstein in both looks and presence.
And talking of presence, Christopher Lee shows he can still command the screen by doing very little, although for this movie he does get a few more lines. In fact, this is the most his Count has spoken since the 1958 movie and he does get to say some words from Bram Stoker’s original novel, which was something Lee was very precious about, especially after he had to be persuaded to return to the role every year or so because he did not like churning out sequels where Dracula did not get to do very much except look menacing in a desecrated church.
This time around, his Count is a lot more brutal, especially when it comes to dishing out punishment to Klove, where he brands the wayward servant with a red-hot sword in a scene of sadomasochism that we hadn’t seen from Hammer before. It’s a small indication of Hammer moving with the times in terms of violence, but it is a potent one and Lee looks positively demonic as he whips and slashes at Traughton, with both actors selling the torment of their actions wonderfully.
Housed in a rigid slipcase featuring new artwork two poster and a collector’s booklet, the 4K UHD picture looks fantastic, with the details of Dracula’s castle, the folds in the red capes and sheets, and the red hot blades that get used a lot all bringing life to movie that is fairly dark in comparison to the ones released either side of it. There is plenty of grain, as to be expected for a film of this vintage, but it isn’t obtrusive and is consistent throughout.
For new extras, there is a conversation between film critic Clarisse Loughrey and actor Isaura Barbé-Brown about the movie, and a fascinating interview with author Dacre Stoker, great grand-nephew of Bram Stoker and co-author of sequel novel Dracula the Un-Dead. The other extras are archive featurettes ported over from the previous StudioCanal Blu-ray release, including an audio commentary with Christopher Lee and director Roy Ward Baker, which is worth listening to.
Scars of Dracula is an odd one as it feels a little bit out of its time. Had it come earlier in Hammer’s Dracula cycle it may hold a stronger position, but with both movies released either side of it displaying a campier style it just doesn’t fit, as if Hammer made it just because they could. It is the goriest and nastiest of the series, and Christopher Lee manages to add an air of tragedy to the character that had never been there in his previous Dracula movies – certainly not since the first one – but these small touches feel shoed-in rather than a natural evolution, which makes this one probably the weakest of the Christopher Lee-starring Dracula films.
However, taken out of context and away from any series continuity (there is some, honest), Scars of Dracula is an entertaining movie and as good fun as any Hammer film if taken in the right spirit. There are better – and hopefully they will get 4K UHD releases in the future – but if this release is the testing ground, the 4K upgrade is excellent, the packaging gorgeous and the future for Hammer movies on UHD looks very bright indeed.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
