When I was a kid, Dracula was the coolest. I loved the Bram Stoker novel, and I loved every movie version of Dracula that I had seen. I wasn't allowed to watch horror movies, but my mom considered the black and white ones as classics, so I was allowed to watch those. "Horror of Dracula" was my favorite, and Christopher Lee was my favorite Dracula. He still is. He's who I think of when I first think of Dracula, even after all these years.
This is the last movie to feature Christopher Lee as Dracula. While his portrayal of Dracula is classic, it's generally agreed that the later Dracula films were perhaps not the best. In this movie, Scotland Yard stumbles across what they believe is a case of vampirism, and they call in a descendant of Professor Van Helsing to help them investigate. It turns out to be Count Dracula himself, disguised as a rich land owner and plotting to unleash a deadly virus upon the world. Dracula is getting lazy in his old age.
Even Christopher Lee himself wasn't fond of this movie, once referring to it as "a mixture of Howard Hughes and Dr. No" in an interview. It is pretty in your face, with its nude satanic rituals and far-fetched plot. I still enjoy it, though. I mean, Christopher Lee's worst movie has to be better than some people's best movie. While this is more weird Satanic rituals juxtaposed with long scenes of men in suits discussing the supernatural, but I still had fun watching it. Dracula is still the coolest, even in a cheesy movie like this one.
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