Count Dracula’s Great Love 1973

 

One of Madrid's greatest exports to the horror genre is Paul Naschy.  Often considered the Spanish Lon Chaney due to the fact that he has portrayed practically every character in horror movies.  From The Wolfman to Frankenstein's Monster and from a mummy to Fu Manchu, Naschy has played them all.  Here he tries his hand at playing Count Dracula himself.  The film is also sometimes called Cemetery Girls or Dracula's Great Love .  First thing that struck me was the opening credits which features a delivery man repeatedly falling down the same flight of stairs after taking an axe to the face.   

 

After the credits we go to a stagecoach filled with four young women and some young guy.  While traveling through the Carpathian mountains their carriage looses a wheel.  This will tell you how dumb the young man is; after the wheel falls off he climbs out of the coach and angrily asks "Why did we stop?".  The group finds refuge from a coming storm in a nearby sanitarium because of course they did.  The sanitarium is owned by Dr. Marlowe who is really Dracula.  The rest of the story plays out about how you would expect.  Now, not only does Naschy star, he also wrote the screenplay.  The film is big on scenery and atmosphere plus lots of female nudity.  As is the case with most of Naschy's films this one is dubbed in English.  

 

Usually Paul Naschy films fall into the same area of goodness.  I haven't seen any that were horrible.  This one is.......... holy crap is that dagger through her neck?  Wow!  Anyway, where was I?  Right, the women in the film all do what they are supposed to do in my opinion and that's be eye candy.  Naschy does a decent job as Dracula but it's nothing to write home about.  This movie is right in the middle where it should be.  It's a very average film that earns a weak three dead coachmen out of five.  As always is the case, but I feel it's more needed to be pointed out here:  Your Mileage May Vary.