Smoreni Zmaj Although it's Hammer movie about Dracula, with Christopher Lee in the lead role, this is not a horror but a conspiracy crime thriller. Nevertheless, despite the original approach to the topic, an interesting idea and a good cast, the film is quite boring.5/10

Cineanalyst The eighth film in Hammer's Dracula series and the third of that series to feature both Christopher Lee as the Count and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, "The Satanic Rites of Dracula" is a rather seamless continuation of the last film in the series, "Dracula A.D. 1972." That alone is unusual for the series, which frequently altered its locations and vampire facts from film to film. "Dracula A.D. 1972," for instance, with an opening sequence set in 1872, entirely disregarded the prior six films, which were set after that date. This time, there's a different actress playing Van Helsing's granddaughter, but the film is otherwise quite faithful to its immediate predecessor. And, fortunately, that didn't include continuing the depiction of hippie youth culture that partially ruined the former film.Although a rare competent Hammer sequel in this regard, it's otherwise a not very interesting Dracula feature. The premise of a centuries-old vampire rising to the top of a corporation and amassing a satanic cult is promising, but handled poorly here. Given the frequent use of flashbacks of a satanic ritual, the filmmakers seemed to think it more intriguing than I did. According to the time frame given within the narrative, Dracula managed these tasks within the span of little more than a couple years since the last time he died, and before that brief period of life, as it were, he'd been dead for a century. And, his plan is foiled even more quickly once Van Helsing is alerted to it. Apparently, Dracula is brilliant enough to master capitalism and cultism within a couple years despite most of his experiences being from the Victorian age and, perhaps, even more ancient than that; yet, he's also stupid enough to easily be defeated time and again by a family with an expertise in occultism. Contrary to Bram Stoker's novel, this Dracula isn't vulnerable to modern inventions; here, he uses the newest in surveillance technology, including trip alarms and cameras, and the inability to photograph him helps to temporarily foil the surveillance methods employed by the police. Dracula also employs modern science to increase the old threat of plague. Most incredulously, we're to believe Dracula does all of this because he's suicidal and wants to bring about Armageddon.Although "The Satanic Rites of Dracula" raises the stakes in the series--making Dracula a truly existential threat to all of humanity, Hammer's vampires remain quite weak. The supposed purity of running water being fatal to them, which the last film started, results in a scene where a herd of female vampires chained in a basement are wiped out by a sprinkler system. Once again, Van Helsing lists the ways vampires can be defeated, and you can take to the bank that the new one he mentions will turn out to be important by the end. This time, it's hawthorn bush-a particularly lame way to catch a vampire, I must say. Also, after a hiatus in the most recent Hammer Dracula films, the trope of a makeshift cross makes a comeback here.

moonspinner55 The end of an era: Christopher Lee hangs up his cape in this, his final bow as star of Hammer Films' Dracula series--fitting, since he was unhappy with the direction in which the cycle of movies was heading (and critics at the time agreed with him). In modern-day London, the Secret Service investigates strange goings-on in an isolated manor in the British countryside. When an imprisoned agent escapes the compound with proof that four dignitaries (a government minister, a Novel Prize-winning scientist, a general and a peer in the House of Lords)--as well as a possible fifth person who is camera-shy!--are involved in satanic rituals, occult specialist Professor Van Helsing and his granddaughter are consulted. Van Helsing learns his friend the scientist was ensnared by the cult in order to produce a new strain of bubonic plague--and that his nemesis, Count Dracula, has been revived and is posing as a reclusive land developer with an insidious plan to spread the plague and start a new apocalypse. Hammer's immediate follow-up to the dismal "Dracula A.D. 1972" (featuring the same director, Alan Gibson, and writer, Don Houghton) is a much-improved bloodsucker, dispensing with the Chelsea teenagers and replacing them with assassins on motorcycles and a basement full of nubile vampires. If Lee doesn't have much to do, he still cuts a foreboding presence and gets a bloody good send-off; Peter Cushing again excels as Van Helsing and the supporting cast is solid. Still, this story doesn't bear close scrutiny; once the bacillus is introduced, no one knows quite what to do with it (Van Helsing has a point when he asks if the Count really wants to rule over a world devoid of life), and there are two conspirators in the plot who are unaccounted for at the finale. Stylishly photographed by Brian Probyn and scored by John Cacavas, the film is a flawed but decent addition to the series with several tight action scenes and a great deal of suspense. **1/2 from ****

dworldeater I am a huge fan of the Hammer Dracula series, but this final installment to the series is in my least favorite and the worst film to boot. While Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee return as Van Helsing and Dracula, the film is barely a horror movie and lacks any ambiance or suspense. This film is a sequel to Dracula AD, which is also set in the then modern era and is directed by the same guy. I like Dracula AD, but this movie is a mess, playing off a lame conspiracy theory/end of the world plot. The Satanic Rites Of Dracula is a great title and Cushing and Lee are great, but the film is crap. The James Bond spy/60's/70's action thrown in a Dracula film does not do this film any favors. There is a quite a bit of nudity and blood, but that does not save this either. However, some fans of exploitation might find this enjoyable or awesomely bad entertainment. However, for me this is one entry I'd wish to ignore in the series.