Hammer's third vampire movie - following 'Dracula' (1958) (UK / US) and 'Brides of Dracula' (1960) (UK / US) - was the first without the D word in the title and indeed without any links to the Transylvanian count. Made by first time horror director Don Sharp for whom it would mark the beginning of a long lasting love of the genre and a career that would include a couple more for Hammer ('The Devil-Ship Pirates' (1964) & 'Rasputin, the Mad Monk' (1966) (UK / US)), the first two Fu Manchu movies with Christopher Lee, 'The Thirty Nine Steps' (1978) with Robert Powell and the great 'Psychomania' (1973) (UK / US) it offers a slight twist on the mythology.
Writer (and producer) Anthony Hinds (the man responsible for Hammer buying the rights to Quatermass and arguably launching the studio's golden years) gives us a script that's spare and direct and plays hard and fast with the well worn vampire tropes which the director pairs with vivid and opulent visuals, some effective shocks and set pieces and an ending that is as inventive as it is, unintentionally, funny.
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