El gran amor del conde Drácula

DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE (1972) ** ½ Paul Naschy, Haydée Politoff, Rosanna Yanni, Ingrid Garbo. Four women and a man wreck their stagecoach and must take refuge in a nearby castle. Unfortunately for the travelers, the castle's owner, Dr. Wendell Marlow (Paul Naschy), turns out to be none other than Count Dracula. After Dracula falls in love with one of the women, she must decide whether to live eternally as Dracula's bride or reject him and continue to live as a mortal. Her not-so-surprising choice leads to a strange and surprising ending. Like a lot of '70s European horror movies, the film suffers from slow pacing and a somewhat muddled plot. But there's lots of gothic atmosphere and a few creepy moments here and there to keep things interesting. Worth a look.

Paul Naschy authored the story and co-wrote the screenplay for this decent vehicle for himself. He plays Dr. Wendell Marlow, who offers sanctuary to five travelers on their way through the Carpathian mountains. They consist of four gorgeous babes and the studly male Imre (Victor Alcazar); Imre is certainly in enviable company. Of course, there are no prizes for guessing who Marlow REALLY is. He falls in love with one of the woman, and she will ultimately have to make a decision: "live" forever as his bride, or turn him down and live as a mortal.

Only the amusing ending lifts this above average for this genre. It does have a fair bit to offer Euro horror lovers, like the expected sex (some of the ladies bare their breasts), the violence (the camera really loves zooming in on the red stuff), and the sadism (virgin girls are whipped so their torturers can lick up their blood). And, of course, it's a Naschy film, so you can't really go wrong. The thing is, the film just doesn't have that great a story. Other than that ending, there's nothing nuanced or particularly interesting about it.

At least viewers can soak up that atmosphere common to so much Euro horror. Naschy, as usual, has a compelling presence, and it's nice that he was an actor who embraced being a genre star. The other performances aren't as effective, but it's doubtful that people are going to care too much, since it's such an attractive cast.

The opening credits are priceless, though. They play over a scene of a murder victim tumbling down some stairs. This sequence is reversed and then played again numerous times.

Not prime Naschy, but if you're a completist of his works, you'll still want to see it.

Six out of 10.

Spanish horror icon Paul Naschy's take on another traditional monster (making for the blood-sucking Count's beefiest incarnation since Lon Chaney Jr.'s turn in SON OF Dracula [1943]) results in one of his more enjoyable efforts, albeit given the "Euro-Cult" style's trademark languid approach and with a few weird touches all its own. This begins with the shot illustrating a man falling down the cellar steps of Dracula's castle after having his head split open with an axe being repeated ad nauseam all through the credit sequence! As the film opens, Dracula is hiding under the guise of a Dr. Kargos (presumably a play on the meshing of Karloff and Lugosi a' la our very own Joe Karlosi ) at an abandoned nearby sanatorium while also assuming the duties of butler at his own castle! Soon, his quest for peace and solitude is interrupted with a vengeance by the arrival of no less than five strangers – one man and four(!) women; the latter ostensibly serve the function of duplicating the count's three brides featured in Bram Stoker's original novel (and a handful of its myriad screen incarnations), with the remaining girl filling in the requirements of the title. Anyway, following some bed-hopping antics (the nudity being crudely inserted since the Spanish censor's repressive hand would only allow such fare to be released in "clothed" versions!), the cast of characters rapidly starts joining the ranks of the undead – leaving only the heroine (gorgeous, doe-eyed Haydee' Politoff whom I was recently impressed by in the obscure but fairly good erotic giallo INTERRABANG [1969]). Also in the cast are Rosanna Yanni (from Jess Franco's two "Red Lips" films from 1967) and others bearing such dubious names as Vic Winner and Ingrid Garbo (her character is named Marlene to boot)!; on a personal note, it was nice to see character actor Jose' Manuel Martin (who had been one of the beggars in Luis Bunuel's VIRIDIANA [1961]) as Dracula' first victim – subsequently 'residing' in his house, he notches up victims of his own and is even killed by the master (oddly enough, all vampires here contrive to dispose of one another) for daring to attack his beloved! Other unusual ideas, then, include: the fact that Dracula's prowlings occur on full-moon nights (as if he expects to turn into a werewolf?!); his having a dead daughter, which he intends to revive by mixing the blood of a virgin (Politoff, who rather than being vampirized has a knife driven through her throat in the manner of a conjuror's act) and an innocent (a village girl his brides abduct and present before him to be whipped)!; and, perhaps most baffling of all, Politoff's rejection of Dracula's offer to live eternally by his side throws him into such a dejected state (apparently, he has fallen hard for her) that not only is he willing to give up on his daughter's revitalization but actually commits suicide by piercing his own heart with a wooden stake! As I said, the film is certainly among the better of the star's vehicles that I have come across (though still not adding up to a completely successful work) and, in fact, this viewing inspired me to acquire another Spanish variant on the theme i.e. THE Dracula SAGA (1972), directed by frequent Naschy collaborator Leon Klimovsky but not involving the redoubtable Jacinto Molina himself

Count Dracula's Great Love (1973)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Four women and their male traveler break down in the forest and must take shelter at a nearby sanitarium, which has a history of evil. Once there they meet Dr. Marlow (Paul Naschy) but what they don't know is that he's in fact Count Dracula. Soon the women begin to be turned into vampires with Dracula needing the virgin to fall in love with him so that his dead daughter can return to life.

COUNT DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE was the only time that Naschy got to play Dracula and needless to say he did a very good job with it. As far as the film goes, it's easy to see why it has such a strong cult following because even though there are some flaws to be had the film for the most part is a success thanks in large part to director Javier Aguirre who manages to keep the film moving at a nice pace and he builds up a very good atmosphere.

The film is available in a few different versions but the recent Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome returns the film to its R-rated cut that contains all of the nudity missing from some version. The nudity is certainly a good bonus because it adds a touch of sexuality that is certainly needed. As I had said, the atmosphere is certainly a strong highlight as we get all sorts of fog, a great castle and of course some nice bits of blood and vampire attacks.

The actresses playing the women all do a nice job in their roles and especially Rosanna Yanni. The real star is of course leading man Naschy who got to play all of the legendary monsters in his career. This was his only chance to play Dracula and he did a very good job with it. He was certainly believable in the role but more important he looks the part. The black costume and red cape were a perfect look and there's no doubt that Naschy made good in the part.

This is a strange version of Dracula with Paul Naschy as Dracula. Four women in gorgeous outfits travel by stagecoach through a forest, when the accident happens, and a wheel comes off and rolls away. They're all left with a random stud and a driver, who is then killed by one of the horses. And when it gets darker, wolves howl, scaring off the horses but then magically return to the carriage in the next clip! It seems editing didn't do well here. The horses should've bolted right after the scene when all of them walked away to look for the castle. When they find it, its soon clear that they end up spending more than a night in the place! Quite good, with over-the-top blood, bosoms and screaming. Sorry to disappoint fans of Spanish horror but it's just too 70's and weird.