Director: Alan Gibson
Writer: Don Houghton
Stars: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Michael Coles
Run Time: 1 Hour, 27 Minutes
Link: https://amzn.to/3kRMY5G
Synopsis
We begin in some kind of black mass, but we soon see that in one of the upper floors of the same building, two men in fur-lined vests are holding a third prisoner, tied up in bed. The prisoner sits up and strangles one of the guards. He sets off an alarm, alerting the second guard… and everyone in the ritual. The man gets in the back of a waiting car and someone in the car shoots the pursuing guard.
He explains to his superiors in the Secret Service about the sacrifice and the ritual. They want to know if Mr. Porter was there; can he confirm that? Yes, him and four others, all important government figures. Porter is one of the ministers of parliament. The man had been sent in to investigate the group, and now he’s dead. They bring in Inspector Murray from the previous film (Dracula A.D. 1972) to assist. Murray is briefed, and the secretary who prepared the briefing is captured by more evil minions in fur-lined vests.
Murray recommends Lorrimar Van Helsing, also from the first film; he’s the real expert on the black arts. As they play the tape-recorded interview for him, we get flashbacks to the Satanic ritual. Van Helsing says it’s a blood-worshipping cult like the Hellfire Club. Van Helsing knows one of the politicians, and he volunteers to find out what he can learn from Professor Keeley, a Nobel-prize winning biologist. The men in the fur-lined vests catch on to him immediately.
Van Helsing interrupts Keeley at work, but he says his work is almost finished. Keeley says “Nothing to vile; too awful. You need to feel the thrill of disgust. The beauty of obscenity.” Van Helsing realizes that Keeley is working on developing a new form of Bubonic Plague, more virulent than any known species. A man comes in and shoots Van Helsing. It’s just a graze, but when Van Helsing wakes up, he finds Keeley hanging from a noose; he’s quite dead. The plague samples are all gone, of course.
Meanwhile, Jane, the kidnapped secretary is being held prisoner in the same house as the previous agent. Dracula silently appears and hypnotizes her, then bites her. Murray and Torrence go to the “Psychic House” and question the lady inside. While they’re inside, Jessica Van Helsing searches the grounds and finds Vampire Jane chained up in the basement. She’s attacked by five vampire women, and screams– the police upstairs hear her and rush down. They see everything. Jane and her boss recognize each other, and she ends up getting staked. The three heroes run from the house and then have to avoid the fur-lined goons.
They decide to follow the money behind Keeley’s lab, and it’s the wealthy D. D. Denim, and the foundation’s board of directors are the Satanists. Van Helsing thinks Dracula is behind all this, and Dracula must have a plan for the plague. An office building has been built on the site where Dracula was killed. It’s more than a coincidence. Something big is coming at midnight on the 23rd. That was the date Keeley mentioned, and it’s also the night of the Sabbat.
Why would Dracula want to wipe out humanity with the plague? Van Helsing thinks Dracula wants to really and finally die, and he wants to watch the world burn. The cops and Jessica go to stake out the Psychic House, and the two Secret Service men are almost immediately gunned down. Murray and Jessica start running while being chased by a sniper. They’re captured all too easily.
Meanwhile, Van Helsing melts down some silver crosses and gets ready for battle. He makes a silver bullet and walks to the big new office building. He gets sent right up to Mr. D. D. Denham’s office; or Dracula’s office. Dracula suddenly has a fake Bela Lugosi accent. Van Helsing boasts about his silver bullet, and then he doesn’t have it any more.
Murray kills all the vampire brides by turning on the sprinkler system. Dracula and his government men drag Van Helsing into the ritual chamber, where Jessica is unconscious and ready for sacrifice. Murray heads into the control room and activates some of the equipment there and watches the proceedings on closed-circuit TV.
Dracula pulls out a vial of his plague. He’s going to use the four important men to spread the plague around the world. “Us? You mean us? You promised us power!” They whine. Dracula hypnotizes them, causing one to crush the vial in his hand to infect himself. Murray fights a goon, which starts the control room exploding, which soon interrupts the drama in the ritual room. Murray grabs Jessica and gets out, while Van Helsing and Dracula battle to the death. They head outside while the man infected with the plague burns to death.
Dracula chases Van Helsing through the Hawthorn bushes, which vampires hate, he gets tangled up, Van Helsing stakes him. Van Helsing picks up Dracula’s ring, and this time it really is the end for Dracula.
Commentary
Christopher Lee said the Dracula character here was a cross between “Howard Hughes” and “Dr. No.” He’s got it down; there’s a lot here that would feel just right in James Bond film. Lee doesn’t show up until around the last half hour; prior to that the villains were all minions.
I wonder if a vampire in this universe could survive a rainstorm?
This turned out to be the final Dracula film with both Lee and Cushing, and other than a comedic appearance in 1976, was also the last time Lee played Dracula.