646f9e108c Hammer Films meets chop-socky Hong Kong. While lecturing in the Far East, Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) tells his students of a doomed village in China that becomes cursed every year at the time of the 7th moon. Van Helsing is persuaded by a family of kung fu experts to rid the village of the 7 vampires that torment its citizens. In 1804, in Transylvania, a Chinese walker heads to the castle of Dracula. He awakes Dracula from his tomb and explains that he is Kah, the High Priest of the Seven Golden Vampires in China that are powerless. He needs Dracula to restore their power and the vampire takes Kah's body and image. One hundred years later, Professor Laurence Van Helsing gives a lecture at a Chinese university about the legend of the Seven Golden Vampires but the students leave the auditorium finding that the all the exposition is superstition. However the student Hsi Ching meets Van Helsing at home and tells that the legend is true and he knows the location of the vampires. Van Helsing accepts to travel to the village in the countryside to help to destroy the vampires and the wealthy widow Mrs. Vanessa Buren, who has befriend his son Leyland Van Helsing, offers to sponsor the expedition provided she may go with them. Soon they embark with seven siblings skilled in kung-fu in a dangerous expedition to destroy the Golden Vampires and Dracula. I was expecting something a lot worse than what I got. Not to say that this film was that good, but I expected something a little cheesier. First off, it looks like Hammer wanted to capitalize on the growing popularity of martial arts films but keep to their monster movie roots. This is acceptable because I know that Hammer was starting to suffer because their previous formula of making Gothic horror films was not as lucrative as it had been in the 1950s.<br/><br/>Professor Van Helsing travels to China to teach about vampires at a university. He gets roundly rejected by the faculty, but a young student tells him that one of the legends that Van Helsing referred to did occur. The student enlists Van Helsing to help him and his seven brothers and sister defeat the vampires. Oh, and earlier a Chinese priest who worshiped the vampires went to Transylvania and was taken over by Count Dracula. He went back to China to make the vampire group strong again.<br/><br/>The plot obviously suffers because they're combining two kinds of films that don't always match up. There was some decent production value and the actors and actresses were all very professional. However, the film suffered because of the way that these two types of film were mixed. It tries to be serious and deliver on the martial arts action, but at the same time it gets campy in places and seems to almost parody itself. The problem is that it seems like they were trying too hard to make a hit. We open to a Chinese man named Kah (Shen Chan as Chan Shen) hiking through the Transylvanian forests in search of Count Draculas (John Forbes-Robertson) Castle. He doesn't take too long to find it and proceeds into Draculas crypt. He appears to be attacked by some bats that for some reason don't have to flap their wings as they just sort of glide along, almost as if their on strings! But then I thought to myself that a classy production like this wouldn't use rubber bats on strings, would it? Dracula rises from his stone coffin complete with bright red lipstick, white face paint and slicked back hair, and ask's who dares disturb him. Kah says in Chinese "I am the high Priest of the 7 Golden Vampires in Szechwan, China. When the Vampires walked my temple was the centre of all power in the area" Kah then goes on to say the Vampires are sleeping and that he would like Dracula to resurrect the 7 Golden Vampires again. Even though Kah speaks in Chinese Dracula understands every word he has said and gives him the cold shoulder and says he doesn't do favours for anyone and then decides to take Kah's form and travel to China, bring the 7 Golden Vampires back, rule the area by himself and help spread vampirism throughout the world (and he could probably do with a holiday as well). We are then informed we are in 'Chung King 1904'. Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) is giving a lecture at a local university to a group of young Chinese men on the threat of vampirism. He tells them of a legend where in a nearby village called Ping Wei a local man managed to destroy one of the 7 Golden Vampires before the others slit his throat. The students are unimpressed with such tales. Except one, Hsi Ching (David Chiang) who come from the village Van Helsing spoke about. He ask's Van Helsing to go to his village with his brothers, all 6 of them too many to bother listing, and their only sister Mai Kwei (Szu Shih as Shih Szu), hey it's a large family OK?, to help them rid Ping Wei of the 7, well 6 now, Golden Vampires. Van Helsing would like too but claims an expedition to the village would cost a lot of money. Just then, as if by luck Van Helsing's son Leyland (Robin Stewart) and a rich widow on a world tour named Vanessa Buren (Julie Ege) who he picked up in a nightclub, turn up. That's the funding problem solved as Vanessa thinks a "Vampire hunt sounds exciting". They all set off for Ping Wei to destroy the Vampire menace, their zombie slaves and rid the land of vampirism. Directed by Roy Ward Baker this was Hammers ninth and final film to feature Dracula, and it was made after The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973). The script by Don Houghton tries hard to mix both vampirism and martial arts. It comes across as a little silly at time but is none the less pretty good fun, and at least it's never dull or boring. The fights are OK and contain some decent violence and gore. There's lots of zombies which look OK, the 7 Golden Vampires look silly though, they look like zombies with fangs and a golden mask that cover the top half of the faces. The flying bats look awful as do the the women who 'struggle' to free them selves from being tied down to sacrificial altars they just move their heads a little and bend their legs a bit, come on girls put some effort into it your about to have all your blood drained by vampires for gods sake! Acting is OK, obviously Cushing couldn't join in the Kung-Fu fighting so just sort of stands there and seems a little underused throughout the second half of the film. Technically the film is quite strong with nice music, photography, sets and editing. And why does everyone in this film speak perfect English? Even though just about everyone is supposed to be Chinese. Sit back, don't ask too many questions and enjoy as there are a lot worse ways to spend 90 odd minutes of your time.
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