Count Dracula's Great Love (1972)

A party is travelling through the Carpathian mountains when an accident leads them to the clinic of reclusive Dr. Wendell Marlowe. He invites them in, but one by one they disappear at the hands of vicious monsters, and have their minds stolen in favour of a new master. Soon there is only one girl left, who has been chosen as the betrothed of the terrible vampire Count Dracula...

Count Dracula's Great Love is a Spanish horror film coming to us from local genre icon Paul Naschy. That alone warrants a watch, but it's even more exciting seeing him as Dracula! This proves to be one of the more interesting portrayals of the time. Not an adaption, but building on from the book with its own interpretation.

The film has a great Gothic atmosphere, with old castles, flowing gowns, candles to light the dark halls, and stagecoaches to crash dramatically. The stage is set with a fun opening sequence, where a double murder segues into a credits sequence comprised of the 2nd victim's body falling down the stairs, replayed again and again. Talk about inventive!

The title and Latin origin might make one afraid this is a Twilight-esque vampire romance, full of sappiness instead of scares. But never fear, there's enough romance without it overtaking the horror.

The film's big theme is of love's power over destiny. Dracula seeks a virgin woman to fall in love with him on her own, and give her soul over willingly. This will make his power strong enough to dominate the entire world. But Dracula soon becomes the one in peril when his own growing feelings for this woman endangers his whole plan.

Great Love's connection with the book, and its explanation of how he survives, is that Dracula reincarnates with each generation, each new form worse than the last. This does kinda open up a plot hole with the book's date, but oh well. The movie has good lore and backstory, but does suffer a little from describing events that sound much better than what we're seeing.

The film is generally serious, but the dialogue can be a hoot!

The girls on their horny friend: "You'd do it with a broom as long as it wore pants."

Then there are moments where the cast talk about how nice things are, or not to worry: "I'm scared, something tells me we shouldn't stay long in this house."-"Don't be silly, you're just scared because of Imre's stories and the coachman's death.". Oh, is that all? Another line has them complain about having their nice day ruined just because two of their friends had the gall to go missing. And at one point one girl says "You know, I'm glad all this happened". Well that came out wrong. Would the dead coach driver agree with you?

There are some neat spooky and majestic lines too, like "Dracula shall always be horror and loneliness". Horror is par for the course, but things like loneliness or remorse are always interesting emotions to attach to demons

Dracula's Great Love has a brisk 80+ minute runtime, and despite only having the one location it never gets boring. After a laidback first act, with enough little events to set the mood, the movie takes an unexpected turn when main characters suddenly start dropping like flies!

The last act is when everyone else is dead and all pretense from Dracula is dropped. It's a bit of a random hodgepodge of scenes, including a sunlight execution for the last vampire servants, and a love scene in front of a mirror, 'showing' off Dracula's lack of reflection. The movie has a lot of 'show, don't tell' moments too, with Dracula telling us big things it would've been nicer to actually see.

Despite not being the strongest of people, Karen is smart and not a total pushover. It is funny seeing how Dracula, mighty prince of darkness, recoils from two sticks tied in a rag. I guess the movie shows how this woman doesn't need to be physically strong for the strength of her love to be enough to spell Dracula's end. While the film's backstory could eliminate much tension if we know he's gonna come back endlessly, it's possibly implied that if Dracula dies through love that really will be his final end.

Dracula's death comes very suddenly with little build-up, but is otherwise a decent moment. Though it's almost comical how the film keeps cutting back to the rising sun with each stage of decomposition.

The cast here is large yet small. There are four main women to get to know as well as one guy, and they all blend together a little. I kept forgetting there were more than 3! The most distinct is the horny Senta, while Marlene gets a romance with Imre before their 'deaths'. It's Karen who gets the lion's share of screentime, only after all her friends have died and we can finally tell which one she is.

The various girls in the movie become Dracula's servants in death, forming a cadre of sultry lesbian vampires. Despite their new master, they don't seem particularly obedient. Dracula kills both of his male vampire servants, since they aren't hot enough for him, and thus expendable. But even the ladies can get staked if they step out of line and try drinking the blood of his girlfriend.

Dracula's character is interesting to think about. Or perhaps inconsistent. In his guise of Dr. Wendell Marlowe he's a charming and friendly host, and feels sincere. But when he's Dracula, he's like a different person. It feels less like he's putting on a mere act with Marlowe, but more that he's genuinely letting his human side come to the forefront. All in the name of becoming more powerful, but feeling these new emotions may tip the balance, and leave his human side in control.

Because of this this is a Dracula film where we see surprisingly little of Dracula himself in a way, and when he does appear he's a very basic kind of evil. Kinda funny how he's simultaneously an emotional developed character, and a blank slate. But it is intentional and kinda works.

The cast here is a good one. Naschy gives an affable and suave performance, and is intense enough when playing Dracula's evil side. He doesn't do a perfect job in the role, but he's certainly no slouch either! The girls are all gorgeous, and wear their period clothing very well. The guy does fine too, as do the few supporting players, be they victims or vampires. One girl gets what must've been the easiest paycheck of her career, getting to just lie back in a coffin, eyes closed, for a couple of minutes.

The direction by Javier Aguirre is very good, capturing the sets, outdoors location, and even some neat weather, very well. There's some great imagery here and there too, with one of the best shots ending up on the nifty poster. Turning the castle into a clinic is a neat touch, but since it's not yet occupied it's kind of a missed opportunity.

The effects can be cheesy, but are good, from the violence, to the fangs, and especially the more monstrous male vampires. There are some good death scenes too, and the way steam appears to rise from the vampires' bodies as the sun hits them is achieved well!

The music meanwhile is suitable spooky and dramatic, with enough tinkling melodies and BOMSSS to accentuate the mood.

Count Dracula's Great Love is a neat slice of Spanish horror, and addition to the Dracula mythos. It may not explore its themes enough for the liking of some, but the fact that it even gives such ideas a go should make it worth watching. And besides that it's just a fun 70s horror film, so what's the problem?...