The story is original, interesting and nicely developed. The mixture of the classic "Van Helsing vs. Dracula" plot with Chinese kung-fu movies was, at least for me, something completely new, it held my attention and entertained me well. But the movie simply screams "seventies." A potentially top-notch horror adventure disrupts the frivolous atmosphere typical of the B production of this period. Constant overacting and masks and requisites, which look as if they were purchased from the Chinese department store for kids' toys, do not allow you to fully experience the adventure, because the scenes on the screen for a good part of the film leave an impression of silly parody. And on the army of the undead and their bouncing around better not to comment. This is the only film about Dracula from Hammer Films that does not contain the name of Dracula in its title and the only one in which Dracula is not played by Christopher Lee, who turned down the role after reading the script. Also, this film claims that Dracula has spent the whole century, from 1804 to 1904, in China, which is contradictory to the timeline of other Hammer films about the famous vampire. However, originality and strangeness of the story, directing in which you can feel the influence of Kurosawa and Leone (or at least it seemed so to me) and overall fun atmosphere distinguish this film from the rest of the franchise and make it one of the most interesting Hammer productions. It is worth a look.
7/10
7/10