The Satanic Rites of Dracula
The Satanic Rites of Dracula DVD cover
Directed by	Alan Gibson
Produced by	Roy Skeggs
Written by	Don Houghton
Starring	Christopher Lee Peter Cushing
Distributed by	Hammer Studios
Release date(s)	January 13, 1974
Running time	87 min.
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Satanic Rites of Dracula is a 1974 Hammer Horror film directed by Alan Gibson, and starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. It is the eighth film in Hammer's Dracula series, and the seventh film to star Christopher Lee in the title role. In the United States, the film was distributed as Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride. Image File history File links The_Satanic_Rites_of_Dracula_DVD_cover. ... Norman Alan Stanley Gibson (born May 28, 1923 at Sheffield, Yorkshire; died April 10, 1997[1] at Taunton, Somerset) was an English journalist, writer and radio broadcaster, best known for his work in connection with cricket, though he also sometimes covered football and rugby union. ... Don Houghton was television screenwriter who wrote the stories Inferno and The Mind of Evil for Jon Pertwee as Doctor Who in 1970 and 1971. ... Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE (born May 27, 1922 in Belgravia, London) is a legendary and prolific English actor known for his versatility, his professional longevity, and his distinctive basso delivery. ... Peter Cushing OBE Cushing (left) in the television adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four in the winter of 1954 on BBC Television. ... A poster for Dracula Prince of Darkness (1966). ... January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... See also: 1973 in film 1974 1975 in film 1970s in film years in film film // Events February 7 - Blazing Saddles is released in USA May 1 - George Lucas creates the first draft of what would eventually become Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. ... Hammer horror refers to a series of gothic horror films produced from the late 1950s until the 1970s by the British film production company Hammer Film Productions Ltd. ... Norman Alan Stanley Gibson (born May 28, 1923 at Sheffield, Yorkshire; died April 10, 1997[1] at Taunton, Somerset) was an English journalist, writer and radio broadcaster, best known for his work in connection with cricket, though he also sometimes covered football and rugby union. ... Peter Cushing OBE Cushing (left) in the television adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four in the winter of 1954 on BBC Television. ... Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE (born May 27, 1922 in Belgravia, London) is a legendary and prolific English actor known for his versatility, his professional longevity, and his distinctive basso delivery. ... Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE (born May 27, 1922 in Belgravia, London) is a legendary and prolific English actor known for his versatility, his professional longevity, and his distinctive basso delivery. ...

Production

Work began on what was tentatively titled Dracula is Dead and Well and Living in London in November 1972. Speaking at a press conference in 1973 to announce the film, Christopher Lee said:

"I'm doing it under protest ... I think it is fatuous. I can think of twenty adjectives — fatuous, pointless, absurd. It's not a comedy, but it's got a comic title. I don't see the point."

The film was eventually retitled as The Satanic Rites of Dracula. It is a mixture of science fiction, horror and spy thriller with a screenplay by Don Houghton, a veteran of BBC television's Doctor Who. It wrapped on January 3, 1973 — 15 years to the day since the original Hammer Dracula wrapped — Lee would only play Dracula one more time, in a French comedy titled Dracula père et fils (Dracula father and son) [1976]. Don Houghton was television screenwriter who wrote the stories Inferno and The Mind of Evil for Jon Pertwee as Doctor Who in 1970 and 1971. ... Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme (and 1996 television movie) produced by the BBC about the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known as The Doctor, who explores time and space with his companions, solving problems and righting wrongs. ... January 3 is the 3rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Dracula is a 1958 British horror film, and the first of a series of Hammer Horror films inspired by the Bram Stoker novel Dracula. ...

Plot synopsis

Christopher Lee as Count Dracula (1973)

A police investigation uncovers four prominent government ministers involved in a satanic cult. Lorrimer Van Helsing is drawn into the investigation and discovers that the cult leader, a reclusive property developer named D. D. Denham, is in reality Count Dracula with plans to end his own existence by wiping out life on Earth. Van Helsing and Dracula engage in their final duel, and the Dracula cycle reaches its anticlimatic and somewhat risable finale when the Prince of Darkness somehow gets fatally entangled in a bush on a piece of wasteground in suburbia. Image File history File links Srites. ... Image File history File links Srites. ...

References

• Rigby, Jonathan, (2000). English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. ISBN 1-903111-01-3.
• Haining,Peter (1992). The Dracula Scrapbook. Chancellor Press. ISBN 1-85152-195-X.

External links

• The Satanic Rites of Dracula at the Internet Movie Database
• The Satanic Rites of Dracula at All Movie Guide