Mark Turner This review is of the Vinegar Syndrome edition just released on blu-ray.While watching this film I kept thinking how familiar it seemed. The further into it I got I finally realized that I had seen this movie years ago in a terrible format from a video vendor of public domain titles I won't name. That's because it wasn't their fault, they were offering the best they could with the quality of the film they had on hand. Needless to say the quality of that film didn't help my enjoyment of it. So while watching it this time I'm pleased to say the quality of this blu-ray release from Vinegar Syndrome made it a much better time.The story follows 5 companions, one man and four women, traveling through the Carpathian Mountains when their carriage breaks down and loses a wheel. Imre (the man) and Marlene are secretly lovers and while they go in search of the wheel, the driver is killed by the horse. The group walks along in hopes of reaching a nearby castle now owned by Wendell Marlow (Paul Naschy) who in reality is Count Dracula. He makes the travelers welcome, feeds them and offers them shelter until someone can come and take them on their way.Legend has it that Dracula can return to human form when a virgin offers her love to him willingly, an offering that will include making a blood sacrifice to bring back his deceased daughter as well. Of course this means that at least one of these women must be the love of his life and willing to do so. Unfortunately there are other vampires among the household and they begin picking off the guests who in turn set out to transform their friends as well. Along the way plenty of flesh is exposed, the typical Euro-horror inclusion of lesbian attraction between the female vampires, gore enough to satisfy those seeking it as long as they keep in mind the film was made in Spain and in 1973 and a lack of concern from the characters over the disappearance of their friends. And yet…it works.Part and parcel of the reason it works is the performances on display. Each of the actors here presents their character with enough conviction that they are believable as opposed to caricatures we've seen in other films. They do seem like friends, they do seem to care for one another (even if they don't question each other's disappearances) and they offer performances that don't come across as low budget at all. I've only come across Naschy in recent years (I know, forgive me) but each time I watch one of his films I see a passion for the genre that many tend to want to deviate from. Instead he embraces it. His performance here is one of the most subtle from him I've seen.All of this being said the true test of this release is how it looks. With all previous efforts to present this film have been severely lacking, offering washed out prints, visible scratches and a version from Elvira that included her performance as that character, I wondered what this version would look like. It was the first thing I've seen from Vinegar Syndrome so I had no idea what to expect.What I found was that this is a company that gets what fans want. Unlike those previous incarnations of this film this one was given star treatment with a transfer that is stunning to view. Gone are the washed out colors and scratches replaced by a crisp and clean print that fans will clamor for. Without those distractions the cinematography can now be appreciated and for the most part the film is well shot. If that wasn't enough, the disc comes with the inclusion of several extras including a commentary track with director Javier Aguirre and actor Paul Naschy, a video interview with actress Mirta Miller, both an English dub and Spanish language soundtracks, a still gallery, an 8 page booklet and reversible cover artwork.Horror fans and Naschy fans will want to toss aside any of those previous releases of this film and add this one to their collection immediately. With any luck Vinegar Syndrome will find access to more films Naschy has done and release them in the quality format that they have here.

Coventry I always had some sort of respect for the late Paul Naschy and I even definitely consider myself a fan of the Spanish horror legend, but I really have to be in a special kind of mood in order to enjoy – or sometimes even endure – his films. This is mainly because the majority of Naschy's flicks are incoherent, senseless and largely just intended to flatter his own damn ego. I have seen a few Naschy movies that are quite bonkers already, but "Count Dracula's Great Love" is surely one of the craziest. In spite of what the title suggests, the film has very little do with the classic Dracula tale and – quite honestly – I don't even understand one iota of the plot as presented here. Our hero Naschy stars as Count Dracula, but he has actually taken the human shape of Dr. Wendell Marlow. He will only become a vampire again if a true virgin falls in love with his personality. The blood of this virgin, along with that of a random other virgin, will then subsequently resurrect Dracula's daughter. Meanwhile, Dracula's raises a small army of buxom vampire vixens. They are women who craved for Marlow's body, but they weren't virgins anymore so he just killed them. Typically Paul Naschy … In practically all of the films that he (co-)wrote, his character is extremely successful amongst the ladies even though he's not the least bit attractive. He also cannot decide whether he wants to be the hero or the monster and a combination of both most definitely doesn't work in a Dracula movie; as illustrated during the incredibly preposterous and pseudo-melodramatic finale. Fans of gory and sleazy 70's exploitation flicks certainly can't complain, though, as "Count Dracula's Great love" is a 80 minutes showcasing of gratuitous nudity and thick red bloodshed. Quite often, the two are even combined, as the film contains numerous images where blood is slowly running down from the girls' necks and over their breasts. I suppose Paul Naschy and director Javier Aguirre must have thought that male viewers get aroused by a sight such as this. Purely talking technical, "Count Dracula's Great Love" is truly horrible. The dubbing and sound quality are horrendous, but still I'm willing to blame that to the DVD release. The painfully bad acting performances, the clumsy photography, the lazy directing and the amateurish editing are strictly due to a lack of skills. This film is only recommended to avid Naschy fans. People who have yet to get acquainted with him should primarily see some of his better movies, like "Inquisition", "The Hunchback of the Morgue" or – naturally – the "Hombre-Lobo" cycle.

Scarecrow-88 The late great Paul Naschy had his chance to step into the role of Count Dracula, and scripted this weird variation on the vampire. Five tourists, one man taking four lovely ladies on a tour through the Carpathian Mountains, when their horse carriage loses a wheel and one of the steeds kicks the driver in the head killing him. They make their way up to a castle once ran as an asylum, and are greeted hospitably by a doctor living on the residence, Dr. Wendell Marlow(Naschy). Before this story's set-up we see two deliverers dropping off a casket to the castle, both falling prey to, we presume, Dracula of the title, one bitten on the throat, another taking a hatchet to the noggin, falling down a flight of steps. The deliverer bitten takes a bite out of Imre(Víctor Alcázar), the man of the group staying with Marlow, and it sets of a chain reaction where by film's end, practically everyone is a vampire. Dracula and the sole survivor, Karen(Haydée Politoff)fall in love and this makes his prospects of using her(..and a village girl virgin)blood to reawaken his dead daughter who has been resting for centuries. Everything seems to go according to plan(..added to the script is the act of flogging the virgin village girl as part of the ceremony!)but Dracula finds it difficult to have Karen sacrifice herself to give life to his beloved daughter once again. The other girls who become Dracula's vampire slaves to do his bidding include, the luscious, voluptuous Senta(Rosanna Yanni), Marlene(Ingrid Garbo), and Elke(Mirta Miller). What Dracula eventually decides when Karen decides whether or not to be his undead bride, is stunning to say the least(..it's certainly unusual for this type of film and rather tragically romantic!).I won't lie, this is very slow to start, hitting it's stride right around the 45 minute mark, as the boobs and bloodletting commence. The script does more than establish the characters and director Javier Aguirre has plenty of time to milk the castle setting and the area around it. Shooting it a lot at night or daybreak, you get a good sense of foreboding, and eventually your patience pays off when the girls go on the attack, fangs expressed, blood slowly dribbling down throats and across the mouths of the vampires. Naschy even gets to evoke Bela Lugosi, doing his best imitation, methodically approaching a girl from her window, closing in like a midnight intruder. There's plenty of devious activity to make up for a leisure first half, with flesh wounds on display including a dagger cutting across skin, and the vampire girls drawing into the bloody gashes on the back of the village virgin girl, bound, after being whipped. You even get a very lengthly 'deterioration" sequence at the end where the sun is shown slowly coming up as a vampire fades into skeletal remains. The print I watched, on the Elvira DVD, was rather ghastly.Taking the liberties afforded to him, Naschy's script allows for vampires to slowly disrobe their female targets, as they enjoy their bloody neck meals, the lips steadily moving down the breasts and chests of the women victims. Such as example is Dracula's major attack scene near the end, where he confronts his female victim, pulling down the sheets to reveal her breasts..a luxury, Lugosi didn't have in his day!

Aaron C. Schepler DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE (1972) ** ½ Paul Naschy, Haydée Politoff, Rosanna Yanni, Ingrid Garbo. Four women and a man wreck their stagecoach and must take refuge in a nearby castle. Unfortunately for the travelers, the castle's owner, Dr. Wendell Marlow (Paul Naschy), turns out to be none other than Count Dracula. After Dracula falls in love with one of the women, she must decide whether to live eternally as Dracula's bride or reject him and continue to live as a mortal. Her not-so-surprising choice leads to a strange and surprising ending. Like a lot of '70s European horror movies, the film suffers from slow pacing and a somewhat muddled plot. But there's lots of gothic atmosphere and a few creepy moments here and there to keep things interesting. Worth a look.