CarmillaK After the exquisite Gothic trappings of 1958 Dracula and - especially - The Brides of Dracula, the series ended to this... whatever it is. Admittedly copy I saw was not much to write home about, but it probably did justice to colours and sets. Script was dull: Dracula as modern day businessman trying to destroy the world? James Bond films were bad enough, they did not need imitators. On the plus side obnoxious dirtbag Bond is here replaced with Peter Cushing's likable screen presence and using of hawthorn - real anti-vampire plant of folklore - is a nice idea. Jessica Van Helsing, one of the sleazy teenagers from Dracula A.D.1972, is also more mature in this entry.

dworldeater I am a huge fan of the Hammer Dracula series, but this final installment to the series is in my least favorite and the worst film to boot. While Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee return as Van Helsing and Dracula, the film is barely a horror movie and lacks any ambiance or suspense. This film is a sequel to Dracula AD, which is also set in the then modern era and is directed by the same guy. I like Dracula AD, but this movie is a mess, playing off a lame conspiracy theory/end of the world plot. The Satanic Rites Of Dracula is a great title and Cushing and Lee are great, but the film is crap. The James Bond spy/60's/70's action thrown in a Dracula film does not do this film any favors. There is a quite a bit of nudity and blood, but that does not save this either. However, some fans of exploitation might find this enjoyable or awesomely bad entertainment. However, for me this is one entry I'd wish to ignore in the series.

Matt Kony The Satanic Rites of Dracula is about as mediocre as its title suggests.First of all, the ending sucks. (Van Helsing defeats Dracula by tricking him into walking into the thorny branches of a Hawthorne tree?) Dracula's cronies are ridiculous. (Did those guys all have to wear the same Alpaca fur-lined vests? How could four of the most powerful men in London be so malleable and toothless?)& for being "The Prince of Darkness," Dracula himself is about as useless as a stone statue when it comes to fighting the 70 year old Professor Van Helsing, or stopping the young Scotland Yard policeman from rescuing Jessica.This movie is a clusterf*** of genre tropes. It seems to me like the writer took two movies & smooshed them them together: The first movie would have been about a James Bond-like detective (Murray) who discovers a mad scientist has created a deadly virus. It is a race against time for Murray to stop the evil scientist from starting a plague that will infect all of mankind.Then, the second film would be about a group of Satan-worshiping upper crust Londoners who resurrect Dracula from the grave in attempt to gain worldly power & eternal life. It's up to the aged Van Holding & a young policeman from Scotland Yard to defeat Dracula & co. & save Jessicca.In order to reconcile these two plots together, the writer had to abruptly kill off Detective Murray by a hidden sniper before Dracula arrived on screen (Murray's character should have been combined with the younger Scotland Yard policeman who rescues Jessica from Dracula near the end), and the Mad Scientist had to be a puppet of Dracula. (Dracula should have been trying to unleash the plague through an addendum to the vampire myth, i.e. an ancient prophesy found in an old book or something, not a Nobel prize winning molecular biologist.)To put it simply: The film's biggest problem is that there's too much going on in the plot, and it doesn't work.

AaronCapenBanner Alan Gibson returned to direct this sequel to "Dracula A.D. 1972" that again sees Peter Cushing returning as professor Van Helsing, who is called upon by old friend Inspector Murray(played by Michael Coles) to investigate cases of reported vampires that lead to a reclusive real estate developer who turns out to be Count Dracula(played by Christopher Lee for the last time) who is developing a plague virus to wipe out the human race...Van Helsing must risk everything to stop him. Equally illogical and preposterous sequel makes little sense, with incredibly sloppy writing(How was Dracula resurrected? He just was, and that's it!) A waste of two legendary actors, who deserved far better.