The final entry in the Christopher Lee/Hammer/Dracula series, THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA has finally been given the definitive visual treatment it deserves thanks to the Warner Archive Collection’s highly anticipated Blu-ray.

Two years after the events of Hammer’s previous Dracula entry – DRACULA A.D. 1972 – investigating Secret Service man Hanson (Maurice O'Connell, A PRAYER FOR THE DYING) escapes from Pelham House, barely with his life. Suffering from torture wounds, Hanson reveals on his deathbed that the country research estate harbors a satanic cult led by Chin Yang (Barbara Yu Ling, HARDWARE) where four prominent citizens (Richard Mathews, Patrick Barr, Lockwood West and Freddie Jones) are secretly involved with. Hanson had also taken photos of the four implicated dignitaries, but a fifth photo shows no image of a person and is assumed to be taken in error. Secret Service agent Torrence (William Franklyn, QUATERMASS II) and Secret Service official Colonel Mathews (Richard Vernon, CASH ON DEMAND) team with Scotland Yard’s Inspector Murray (Michael Coles, SLADE IN FLAME), who consults with occult expert Professor Lorrimer Van Helsing (Peter Cushing, TWINS OF EVIL) to try and get to the bottom of things. Since Van Helsing is familiar with one of the dignitaries – off-balanced scientist Julian Keeley (Jones, FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED) – he visits him at his home clinic to fish for information. Van Helsing discovers that Keeley is entangled in bacteriological research designed to create a strain of bubonic plague, as mandated by Count Dracula (Christopher Lee, I, MONSTER) himself, as the vampire king is dead and well and living in London!

THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA immediately continues the fun of Hammer's previous installment, DRACULA A.D. 1972, transporting the legendary vampire king to modern 1970s London. With the same director (Alan Gibson) and screenwriter (Don Houghton, who also produced along with future Hammer-head Roy Skeggs), the film also carries over not only the main characters of Dracula and Van Helsing the 3rd, but also has Michael Coles again as the dependable Inspector Murray and Jessica Van Helsing (now more interested in her grandad's work rather than partying with her friends), this time played by Joanna Lumley (ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS). Taking much less interest in the youth-oriented “Swinging London” vibe of its predecessor despite the modern setting, the film takes a comparatively more adult (Dracula bullying a group of elder prestigious citizens into dabbling in the Black Arts) and darker (Dracula planning to take over the world by unleashing a deadly virus) tone, and the espionage plot sort of unravels like “Dracula Meets The Avengers” (ironically, Lumley would take the female lead in “The New Avengers” British TV series several years later). This is not a bad thing; the film is actually very offbeat and filled with unique scenes which compliment its gothic and conventional horror portions, including the demise of a wine cellar full of vampire women (Maggie Fitzgerald, Pauline Peart, Finnuala O'Shannon, Mia Martin) from a sprinkler system, and the notorious below-the-breast staking of a sultry vampire woman played by Valerie Van Ost (CORRUPTION). As the blonde vampire girl who also doubles as a sacrificial altar victim, Mia Martin accounts for much of the film’s R-rated nudity, and I’m pretty certain the actress also appears (uncredited) during the flashback debauchery scenes in Amicus’ underrated AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS, shot around the same time as this.

Christopher Lee was 50 years old at the time of shooting (Bela Lugosi was pushing 50 the first time he portrayed the character on screen) and looks as imposing as ever as the Count. Although Dracula’s screen-time seems commonly brief (and he only puts the bite on one victim, the aforementioned Van Ost in a terrific vampire seduction bit), Lee actually has more dialogue here than any other film he did for Hammer’s long-running series. This mainly comes down to Dracula posing as foreign-accented industrialist D.D. Denham – who shows up only to have his master plan of a worldwide bacterial virus destroyed in a fire in a matter of seconds – and his high-rise office meeting with Van Helsing, who easily uncovers his secret undead identity. In the climatic cat and mouse chase between Dracula and Van Helsing, Van Helsing proves he can build a better mousetrap as he effortlessly leads Dracula into the deadly thorn bush just outside the confines of his mansion. Dracula gets caught in the branches, clumsily trips and is conveniently staked in a typical yet traditionally satisfying Hammer vampire demise. The energetic score – which playfully merges TV police drama melodies with more conventional, albeit modern, horror movie strains – was done by John Cacavas of TV’s “Kojak” and HORROR EXPRESS. Despite whatever flaws you might think it has, THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA is still quite enjoyable, the cast of British stalwarts is terrific, and it's great to see Lee and Cushing reprise their classic Dracula/Van Helsing cinematic rivalry one last time.

With filming commencing in late 1972 under the proposed title “Dracula is Dead...and Well and Living in London”, THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA didn’t see theatrical release in the UK until early 1974 as distributed by Warner Bros. Even after creating publicity materials for the film, Warner Bros. in the U.S. decided not to release it theatrically, and it sat on the shelves for years until 1978 when independent company Dynamite Entertainment (run by former Amicus co-head Max J. Rosenberg) released it as COUNT DRACULA AND HIS VAMPIRE BRIDE. Although Warner retained television rights in the U.S. in the 1990s, the film fell into the public domain here, and was released on videotape by several companies such as Liberty Home Video (with a horribly scratchy soundtrack). When Hammer retained U.S. home video rights to the film in late 1990s, it was released on laserdisc from the Roan Group and on VHS and (non-anamorphic) DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment. The film’s assumed public domain status still led to a constant array of budget label DVDs, and most recently, Snappy Video released the film as BD-R from their own new film transfer, but was asked by Warner to “cease and desist” the release, as Warner purchased U.S. home video rights a few years back with full intent on doing something with the title.