The wheels were still on by this point, but they were getting wobbly. Christopher Lee returned as the count, begrudgingly as usual, but honestly one of the better performances in the later films.
We see Dracula (Lee) getting reborn in what might be the silliest way yet, namely a bat vomits blood and Dracula is reformed from that. The local villagers, meanwhile, have had just about enough of this whole vampire nonsense. Grabbing their torches and pitchforks, they storm the castle after muscling past Dracula's lackey Klove (Patrick Troughton). Torching most of the place, they figure it might be better to get back to the village when they fail to find Dracula. Getting back home right after dark, they find their women and children butchered at the fangs and claws of Dracula's bats.
Paul (Christopher Matthews) is in a bind. He was supposed to be at the birthday party of Sarah (Jenny Hanley), the girl he's seeing alongside his brother Simon (Dennis Waterman). Simon had the sense to be at the party, but Paul is tied up...literally with the burgomaster's daughter Alice (Delia Lindsay). The real bind comes from when Alice realizes she isn't the sole occupant of Paul's heart and her father comes home at the same time.
Paul barely has time to get his pants on before he's chased out. Falling into a passing coach, Paul is carried off into the countryside. After the coach wrecks, Paul makes his way to a nearby inn, owned by one of the ringleaders of the failed raid. It's after dark though, and Julie (Wendy Hamilton) is under strict orders not to let anyone inside. Seeing a castle off in the distance, Paul figures he'll try his luck there.
He is greeted by Klove, who drives him to the castle where proper introductions are made. Dracula welcomes Paul into his home. Tania (Anouska Hempel) welcomes him to bed, but before she can bite him, Dracula kills her. Paul is a bit freaked out, but his escape attempt only succeeds in getting him trapped in Dracula's personal vault.
Back in the city, Simon and Sarah are growing worried. Tracking Paul to the village, they retrace his steps, but will they share his fate?
Not bad; Lee is far more active here than previous installments and gets to do so much more. The level of violence and even sex is upped, but it isn't over the top. It's just at the right level to shock the audience. It does retread more than a few plot elements (unsuspecting victim taken to the castle, paranoid villagers, even man servant Klove), but Lee pulls the material up by force of will.
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