Scars of Dracula (1970)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1970
Running Times: 96 mins
Length: 2,596 metres
Format: Technicolor     35mm
Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Hammer Films / EMI Film Productions Limited
Producer: Aida Young
Production Manager: Tom Sachs

SCRIPT
Script: John Elder (real name: Anthony Hinds)
Character: Bram Stoker

DIRECTION
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Assistant Director: Derek Whitehurst

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Moray Grant

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: James Needs

MUSIC
Musical Supervisor: Philip Martell
Music: James Bernard

SOUND
Recording Supervisor: Tony Lumkin
Sound Recording: Ron Barron
Sound Editor: Roy Hyde
Dubbing Mixer: Dennis Whitlock
Sound System: RCA Sound Recording

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up Supervisor: Wally Schneiderman
Make Up Assistant: Heather Nurse
Hair Supervisor: Pearl Tipaldi
Wardrobe Mistress: Laura Nightingale

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Roger Dicken

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Scott MacGregor
Construction Manager: Arthur Banks

MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: Betty Harley

LOCATIONS
Locations: EMI / MGM Elstree Studios, England, UK

STUNTS
Stunts: Eddie Powell (uncredited)

CAST
Christopher Lee (Dracula)
Dennis Waterman (Simon Carlson)
Christopher Matthews (Paul Carlson)
Jenny Hanley (Sarah Framsen)
Patrick Troughton (Klove)
Anouska Hempel (Tania)
Michael Gwynn (priest)
Wendy Hamilton (Julie)
Delia Lindsay (Alice)
Bob Todd (Burgomaster)
Toke Townley (waggoner)
Michael Ripper (landlord)
Margo Boht (Maria (landlord's wife))
David Leland (1st officer)
Richard Durden (2nd officer)
Morris Bush (farmer)
Clive Barrie (fat young man)
Olga Anthony (girl at party - uncredited)
George Innes (servant - uncredited)

PLOT SUMMARY

Paul stumbles upon the burnt out Castle Dracula and spends the night there, despite the warnings of a local innkeeper. Naturally, Paul falls prey to Dracula and his vampire bride with whom he shares both his ruined castle and a strange, parasitic relationship. Eventually, Paul's lover Sarah, his long suffering brother Simon and the obligatory soul searching priest converge on the castle.

Hammer's sixth movie in their Dracula series is a disaster, a bland and routine chiller that looks tired and is clearly devoid of any original ideas. The characters are the least memorable ever to disgrace a Hammer film, Baker seems to have phoned in his direction and the script is so inept it even botches the material it lifts wholesale from Stoker's novel. After the wonderful Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) this was a terrible disappointment.

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Anglo-EMI Film Distributors Limited through MGM-EMI Film Distributors Limited
Video Distributor: Thorn-EMI; Warner Brothers

USA
Theatrical Distributor: American Continental Films Inc / Levitt-Pickman
Video Distributor: Republic Pictures Corporation

Australia
Rating: M

Finland
Rating: banned in 1971

Norway
Rating: 16

Sweden
Rating: 15

UK
Rating: X; 18
The killing of the priest by bats and the stabbing of the female vampire by Dracula were both trimmed at the behest of the BBFC.

USA
Rating: R

1970
May
7: UK - principal photography begins

June
23: UK - principal photography begins

October
8: UK - theatrical release (on double bill with The Horror of Frankenstein (1970))

December
23: USA - theatrical release

1971
August
12: Norway - theatrical release
30: Sweden - theatrical release

1987
August
19: UK - television broadcast (on Thames Television)

1998
July
18: UK - television broadcast (on Channel Four)

2001
November
1: UK - television broadcast (on Carlton Cinema)

il revient! (French)

Blizny Drakuli - Polish title
Las cicatrices de Drácula - Spanish title
Les cicatrices de Dracula - French title
Dracula - Nächte des Entsetzens - German title
Draculas märke - Swedish title
Il marchio di Dracula - Italian title

SEQUEL TO
Dracula (1958)
The Brides of Dracula (1960)
Dracula Prince of Darkness (1966)
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)

SEQUELS
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1974)

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
Fright Night (1985)

MAGAZINES

Fangoria no.207 (October 2001) p.68 (USA)
illustrated DVD review

Filmfacts vol.14 no.11 (1971) p.264 (USA)
credits, reprinted reviews

Films and Filming vol.17 no.3 (December 1970) p.56 (UK)
credits, review

The House That Hammer Built no.7 (February 1998) pp.391-396 (UK)
illustrated credits, synopsis, review

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.37 no.442 (November 1970) p.233 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review

Music From the Movies no.29 (October 2000) pp.59-60 (UK)
soundtrack review

Today's Cinema no.9805 (19 May 1970) p.8 (UK)
credits

Today's Cinema no.9850 (23 October 1970) p.8 (UK)
review

Variety 28 October 1970 p.26 (USA)
credits, review

Video Junkie no.1 p.19
review

BOOKS

Creature Features Strikes Again p.336
credits, review (by John Stanley)

Elliot's Guide to Films on Video (3rd edition) p.705
credits, review

English Gothic (2nd edition) pp.173-174
illustrated credits, review (by Jonathan Rigby)

The Hammer Story p.139
illustrated article, review (by Marcus Hearn and Alan Barnes)

Horror and Science Fiction Film Volume II p.340
credits

The Illustrated Vampire Movie Guide pp.90-91
credits, review (by Stephen Jones)

Ten Years of Terror pp.46-48
illustrated credits, review (by Kim Newman)

bats, castles, dracula, sequels, vampires

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008