Dracula and the Seven Golden Vampires

Dracula and the Seven Golden Vampires

Dir: Roy Ward Baker
Scr: Don Houghton
Cast: John Chiang, Shih Sze, Peter Cushing, Robin Stewart, Julie Ege
1974 / Colour / D Beta / English / Chi Subtitles / 89min

One mustn't overlook the international perspective of Shaw Brothers. They collaborated with the British Hammer Studios that produced gothic horror films and injected Chinese kung fu elements into Western film genres, while the British company catered to both Chinese and Western markets by adapting old formulas. With a bizarre plot, the film was shot mainly in Shaw Studios with massive use of special effects and studio sets. A Chinese Taoist monk was the leader of "Seven Golden Vampires". In 1804, he came to Castle Dracula in Romania. Count Dracula took on his body and grew in strength. The story jumps to a Chinese university a hundred years later, where Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) tells the story of how a farmer battled the "Seven Golden Vampires". The student played by John Chiang is the farmer's grandson, and leads them to destroy the vampires. This film demonstrates the universality of gothic genre films and the sparks ignited when east meets west.

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Date Time Venue
17/1/2015 (Sat) # 7:30pm Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

# Post-screening talk with Matthew Cheng


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