1973’s The Satanic Rites Of Dracula is the last of the Hammer Dracula series. It gets something of a bad rep, but I rather enjoyed it.

Having brought Dracula into the twentieth century with the previous Dracula AD72, which had a striking title but little else to recommend it, the producers gave Dracula rather more to do in this follow-up. Whereas in AD72, he was confined to a church, this time around he masquerades as the reclusive property developer “DD Denham” and is at the centre of a nefarious plot for world destruction that extends into the higher reaches of government.

Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing give it their all, as ever, and although it is no match for the early gothic Hammer horrors, it is an entertaining enough send-off for the sagging series. In the US, it was not released for 6 years, eventually being retitled Count Dracula And HIs Vampire Bride (which bears little relation to the plot!)

The movie was in fact originally due to be titled Dracula Is Dead And Well And Living In London, but the producers, perhaps wisely, changed it before release. (Lee for one hated the comedic overtones and protested the proposed title).

The French poster above, however, steers close to the original title. This can be found for sale here.

More recently, I picked up this Japanese version, which is now on my wall. I don’t generally collect Japanese posters as I don’t know much about them (and how to avoid fakes), plus many are very expensive. But I couldn’t resist this “B2” size poster. What a great design!