Scars of Dracula
| Scars of Dracula | |
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Film poster
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| Directed by | Roy Ward Baker |
| Produced by | Aida Young |
| Written by |
Bram Stoker (character) Anthony Hinds (screenplay) |
| Starring |
Christopher Lee Patrick Troughton Dennis Waterman Jenny Hanley Michael Gwynn Michael Ripper |
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Production
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| Distributed by |
20th Century Fox (US) Hammer Studios MGM-EMI (UK) |
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Release date
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Running time
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91 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ₤200,000 |
Scars of Dracula is a 1970 British horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker for Hammer Studios.
It stars Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, along with Dennis Waterman, Jenny Hanley, Patrick Troughton, and Michael Gwynn. Although disparaged by some critics, the film does restore a few elements of Bram Stoker's original character: the Count is introduced as an "icily charming host;" he has command over nature; and he is seen scaling the walls of his castle. It also gives Lee more to do and say than any other Hammer Dracula film except its first, 1958's Dracula.
This film breaks the continuity maintained through the previous entries in the Hammer Dracula series: whereas at the end of the preceding film, Taste the Blood of Dracula, the Count met his end in a disused church near London, this film opens with a resurrection scene set in Dracula's castle in Transylvania, with no explanation of how his ashes got there. The British Film group EMI took over distribution of the film after Warner Bros. and other American studios refused to distribute it in the U.S. It was also the first of several Hammer films to get an 'R' rating.
In the opening scene, Dracula's remains are seen lying on a stone plinth in a chamber in his Castle, having been defeated in the previous entry. The chamber can be accessed only through the window, set high in his Castle wall. It is not explained why his remains are there or how he came to die there. Suddenly, a large bat flies in and hovers over the plinth, regurgitating blood onto the vampire's remains. Almost immediately, the remains start to interact and bond with the dripped blood. Within seconds, Count Dracula is once more resurrected...
Soon afterwards, the local villagers are enraged that yet another young woman has been murdered by the Count. With a priest's blessing, they rise up and set fire to Castle Dracula. However, the Count is safely asleep in his solid stone chamber, When the villagers return home, they find that every single woman and child in the village has been slaughtered in the church by bats.
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Wikipedia