Powerful

Admirable film.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

East meets west in this super entertaining horror/martial arts crossover film. This is a collaboration between two of my favorite indie movie companies, Hammer and Shaw Brothers. I would not regard this is the most well made project from either, but The Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires is so much fun. Christopher Lee had enough of playing Dracula at this point, so enter John Forbes Robertson who gives the best worst portrayal of the Count with horrible make up f/x. The performance is brief, but totally over the top and hilarious. This however fits the ultra campy tone of the film. John Forbes Robertson was actually good as a vampire in another Hammer film, The Vampire Lovers. The cast is mostly Chinese but contains a British cast including the great Peter Cushing, who returns as Van Helsing. Cushing is always great and joining him is Shaw Bros. regular David Chiang, who also delivers excellent performances and is great here. The film was made in Hong Kong and has more of a Shaw Bros. feel than a Hammer film. While the Gothic ambiance may be minimal, it more than makes up for it with hopping vampires, ott special f/x, sweet titties, a good amount of blood spraying and kung fu. The fight choreography is awesome and there is a whole lot of it too. Seeing David Chiang and Peter Cushing together in a movie is worth the price of admission, but in the fight scenes Peter Cushing gets in the mix and does well. The Legend Of The 7 Vampires is a whole lot of fun and is a collaborative effort between directors Chang Cheh and Roy Ward Baker. Great stuff!

The Hammer Dracula series started very strongly with Horror of Dracula, which is still one of Hammer's best films. The following four follow-ups ranged from solid to very good and Scars of Dracula was just about above average. Dracula A.D. 1972 and Satanic Rites of Dracula while not quite as horrible as reputed were disappointing. The good news, is for all its flaws, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires is an improvement on the previous two entries but not on par with the first five films.It's very stylishly photographed with very effective camera angles and foreboding and vibrant colours, and has the most vivid set designs of any Hammer Dracula film since Taste the Blood of Dracula. Particularly true here is the Dracula's castle set for the prologue, which gave off a real spookiness that was much needed. James Bernard makes a welcome return, after hearing such outdated, unintentionally cheesy and out of place music for Dracula A.D. 1972 and Satanic Rites of Dracula it was really welcome to hear the rousing, thunderously booming and wonderfully eerie scoring provided by Bernard here. The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires is often a lot of fun, has a great atmosphere and rarely feels dull, and Roy Ward Baker directs rousingly. The fight sequences are very entertaining and excellently choreographed, and Peter Cushing can do no wrong, playing with real involvement and professionalism and it is another classy performance.However, most of the acting is weak(apart from Cushing, Robin Stewart is likable as well), with Julie Ege's vapid and expressionless acting skills not matching her luscious looks, David Chiang looking and sounding awkward and John Forbes-Robertson completely missing the suavity and menace for Dracula(instead coming over as too overly-theatrical, Christopher Lee may have lost interest in playing Dracula halfway through the series but is sorely missed here). The dialogue is often stilted, the special effects are laughably cheap and the vampire make-up even less believable and the climax is far too brief, too rushed and too easy.All in all, fun and decent but middling final entry in the Hammer Dracula series. 6/10 Bethany Cox

This is the ninth and final Hammer "Dracula" film and the only one to feature an actor other than Christopher Lee in the role of Dracula. It's a decent film but not a great one. I've never been a fan of martial arts films so I found those (endless) scenes rather boring but at least they tried something different, which is why I enjoyed it more than "Scars of Dracula". I thought that that film was just a rehash of the best bits from the first five films. Even though Dracula had relatively little screen time in the previous films (bar "The Brides of Dracula" in which he doesn't appear at all), his presence was felt throughout and, consequently, anticipation and tension are built. That's not the case in this film, the only one in which he isn't the title character. His inclusion seems more like a late addition to the storyline. His final Hammer death is very underwhelming and rushed. Peter Cushing is as excellent as ever but it's just not the same without Christopher Lee. The series deserved to go out with a stronger film.

When Peter Cushing as the stalwart, globe-trotting Professor Van Helsing arrives in 1904 Chun King to spread the word that vampires are "very real," the Chinese scholars to whom he's speaking dismiss his claims. David Chiang (doing double duty as an ancestor and his contemporary descendant) responds that "the truth deserves respect." He knows that the Evil of Dracula has come to the tiny village of Ping Kuei. With the financial aid of Englishwoman Juile Ege, Ching and his brothers ("Seven Brothers- and one SISTER," the trailer inform us) join Van Helsing in his quest. (Shih Szu, who plays Mei Kwei- and whose name, Ching informs us, means "as beautiful as a Rose"- is absolutely stunning.) (It's little wonder that Robin Stewart, as Van Helsing's son Leyland, falls for her en route.) There's enough action throughout to keep THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES from ever bogging down (in either the English version or the eviscerated American version, THE 7 BROTHERS MEET Dracula). Cushing as Van Helsing never just stands idly by when the going gets tough, and it's his performance more than any other that carries this film. No matter what the part, Peter Cushing was always believable- always- and he was never better than he was here. John Forbes-Robinson has a cameo as Christopher Lee as the dreaded Dracula. His minions- among them the hopping vampires of Chinese mythology- are appropriately fugly and the James Bernard score will sear its way into your memory. THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES continues to stand the test of time (it certainly holds up better than, say, Sammo Hung's MR. VAMPIRE or Tsui Hark's THE VAMPIRE HUNTERS, to name but a couple). Producer-writer Don Houghton and director Roy Ward Baker have crafted a masterpiece.