Added some needed pizzazz to the Hammer series

“Scars of Dracula” is a sort of reboot of the Hammer series in that it’s basically a redo of Lee’s first two stabs at the undead Count: “Horror of Dracula” (1958) and “Dracula, Prince of Darkness” (1966), not to mention it mixes in aspects of “Dracula Has Risen from the Grave” (1968) and, most significantly, the plot of “Psycho” (1960). For those who question the latter, just consider the basic plot: A person on the run from the law ends up spending the night at a dubious dwelling and goes missing. So a sibling & friend travel to the same abode to find him/her and wind up in a life-or-death situation with a fiend.

Some viewers gripe that this one doesn’t fit the chronology of the series for a couple of reasons, yet these supposed conundrums are easily explained: Dracula was reduced to dust at the end of the prior film, “Taste the Blood of Dracula” (1970), but Klove had instructions to seek out and acquire the Count’s ashes if he was ever slain and bring them back to the castle in Transylvania where one of his creatures of the night would supply the blood necessary to resurrect the Prince of Darkness. As for the differences in the look of the castle, Hammer had moved to a different studio and so of course it looks different than it did when they made “Horror of Dracula” thirteen years earlier.

Although marred by the cheesy bat sequences, “Scars of Dracula” is one of the more entertaining installments due to the spirited Paul, a bit o’ genuine amusement in the first act and a generally compelling story (hey, it worked for “Psycho,” why wouldn’t it work here?). The female cast doesn’t hurt, particularly the lovely Jenny Hanley as Sarah, but also Anouska Hempel (Tania), Delia Lindsay (Alice) and Wendy Hamilton (Julie).

The cheesy bats can be written off on account of the fact that the movie was made on a low-budget (like all Hammer flicks) in the pre-CGI era of 1969.