MovieChat Forums > Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) Discussion > Dracula was kind of the good guy in this...

Dracula was kind of the good guy in this one

posted 14 years ago by CountVladDracula
18 replies | jump to latest

Okay, I know a lot of people don't see it but Dracula was kind of the good guy in this one.

1. The entire premise is Dracula wanting to avenge the murder of his loyal servant who died during the ritual to bring him back. He's not killing at random. He's avenging someone who had been loyal to him.

2. The very first man he kills is the drunk who abused his wife and daughter.

3. Instead of killing the girl or making her a vampire Dracula let her go at the end with the words 'I have no further use for you.' He was going to just let her go.

In fact SHE turned on him because he didn't make her a vampire. That's the only reason she rejoined the 'forces of good.' She was being spiteful for not being made a vampire.

In fact I'm having trouble viewing him as the bad guy in this one really.

[–] Mithrandir-Olorin33 14 years ago

1. I dont think it's Revenge, Dracula usually including elsewhere in this film easily discards his Loyal servants, I think views his servants as his property, and their killing Courtly as a crime against Dracula himself, not anyone else in Dracula's eyes.

2. Yes William is quite unlikeable, I enjoyed watching his Daughter kill him.

3. I think he just decided she wouldn't make a good Vampire, he prefers the Challenge of Seducing someone not so easily corrupted like Mina and Lucy in the original novel.

"SLaughter is the best medicine"

[–] CountVladDracula 14 years ago

Ah, but Dracula says that he will kill them for killing his servant.

[–] Mithrandir-Olorin33 14 years ago

Yes, his] Servant, the Servant who was probably gonna be killed by the ritual to resurrect him anyway.

"SLaughter is the best medicine"

[–] CountVladDracula 14 years ago

That's the part that baffles me. He makes it a point to talk to himself / tell the audience that he is doing this to avenge his servant that they killed. But if he was going to die during the ceremony what is the point? The only explanation I can come up with is maybe he actually would have survived the ritual if it had been done properly and they all tasted the blood. Maybe it would have allowed Dracula to rise from each of them, taking a little of their life force, becoming corporeal without killing his followers in the process.

[–] Mithrandir-Olorin33 14 years ago

It's cause Dracula views it as an affront to his own person that they'd attack His servant, his Servant in his property.

"SLaughter is the best medicine"

[–] CountVladDracula 14 years ago

So it's pretty much 'Only I'm allowed to break it.'

I still say he was kind of merciful to the girl. Even if he had decided she'd make a bad vampire, he could have killed her, broken her neck, drained her blood, a number of things. Instead he was letting her go.

[–] Mithrandir-Olorin33 14 years ago

I think his actions in that scene mostly come down to being in a hurry.

"SLaughter is the best medicine"

[–] CountVladDracula 14 years ago

Snapping a neck would have taken a split second for him.

[–] Mithrandir-Olorin33 14 years ago

In a hurry you often fail to think, like many Hammer and Universal monster films the resolution is probably the most flawed point, it's almost a complete Deus Ex Merchania.

"SLaughter is the best medicine"

[–] CountVladDracula 14 years ago

Dracula's worst deaths = Getting trapped in ice and being struck by lightning.

[–] Mithrandir-Olorin33 14 years ago

Prince of Darkness is where I deduced the observation that if the exposition scene introduces a way to kill Vampires you've never heard of before, that's how he'll die at the end of that film, Satanic Rites reinforced this, thou oddly I'd almost forgotten it.

Scars must be where eh gets shot by lighting, that's the one I still haven't seen, Netflix doesn't have it in stock.

"SLaughter is the best medicine"

[–] CountVladDracula 14 years ago

Scars of Dracula is a little hard to find. There's an eighteen dollar region free DVD of it being sold on ebay from Brazil.

[–] Mithrandir-Olorin33 14 years ago

Well that's random.

It's not currently willing to pay 18 bucks for it.

"SLaughter is the best medicine"

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] andrewbanks 13 years ago

"Scars must be where eh gets shot by lighting, that's the one I still haven't seen."

Dracula does get struck by lightning at the end of 'Scars of Dracula'. If you haven't seen 'Scars of Dracula', in my opinion you are not missing much. It is my least favourite of the Hammer Dracula series, that is of the ones I have seen and admittedly I haven't seen 'Dracula AD 1972', 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' and 'The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires'.

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." (Matthew 7:12)

[–] profh-1 11 years ago

SCARS OF DRACULA, it took me years to realize, is an odd one, because, like TASTE..., it was not supposed to feature Christopher Lee. It was actually intended to be, like THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN, a reboot of the series, starting over, with a new actor as Dracula. But as with TASTE..., the distributor refused to put up the money unless Lee was in it. This explains the lack of tight continuity between films, the similar story elements between it and HORROR OF..., and the odd thing that Christopher Lee actualy had quite a lot of dialogue in it for once. (It's like they could usually only afford to hire him if he only appeared in a few scenes with as little dialogue as possible.)

[–] troika19 11 years ago

Alice switching sides at the end because Dracula blew her off was hilarious.

[–] Squonkamatic 11 years ago

That's actually kind of an interesting way to look at it. One of my problems with the film is that there's no real hero, and the three gentlemen are actually a pretty dubious lot. The only person in the film with any real scruples is the guy who sells them the vial of dust. Even the good guy at the end encourages the copper to booze it up on the job. The whole principal cast in this movie are pretty much losers.