FlashCallahan Russian soldiers accidentally unleash the servant of Dracula, as well as his dog, during excavations of Romania. Together, they set out for America, to find the last descendant of the great Count...I had heard that the film was poor, but sometimes you just want to watch a bad film, to have a laugh and forget about the world, right?But this is just puerile, from the weird old bloke pouting with a torch under his head every time the titular dog attacks, to the actual dog with his lit up eyes, it's pretty dreadful stuff.The plot is weak, the performances are dreck, and what should be funny ends up as boring as hell.When you start to wonder how on earth they got the fangs on the dog, or the fact that they must have buried that puppy in order for it to climb out of the ground, your in trouble.Ferrer tries to add a little gravitas, but the clothes he wars just cannot be taken seriously, and also according to the film makers, everyone who goes camping in a tent, sleeps outside.It's awful stuff, not even worth it for the curiosity factor, and the ending promised a sequel. Well, 34 years down the line, it's doubtful.Good.

Paul Andrews Zoltan, Hound of Dracula starts in Romanian as the local there seems to be blowing holes in the ground for no apparent reason, while doing this seemingly random act of environmental vandalism they unearth an ancient tomb belonging to the Dracula's. They post a soldier there to guard the tomb until a further more detailed examination can be made, that night one of the coffins open & the soldier is stupid enough to remove a wooden stake from whatever it is embedded in & before he know's it a Vampire Dog named Zoltan has returned to life & bit his throat out. Zoltan then pulls the stake out of his master's remains, his name is Veidt Smith (Reggie Nalder) & is servant to Dracula who is long since dead. Feeling unwanted & lonely Veidt travels to California to find Michael Drake (Michael Pataki) who is the last living blood relative of Dracula, using the vicious Zoltan he plans to turn Drake into a Vampire like his ancestor & serve him for all eternity...Originally released as Dracula's Dog this American & Italian co-production was produced & directed by Albert Band, this Dog of a film really should be taken away & put down humanely as it's absolutely terrible & I had a hard time getting to the end. Everything about this lousy film is terrible, I had heard of the film before but thought it would be better. I don't know why but I always imagined it to be a period Gothic horror film featuring Dracula himself set in Transylvania in a big stone castle like Hammer Studios were making at their peak but I was wrong, I was very wrong as Zoltan, Hound of Dracula features Vampire Dog's & is set in some woods near Los Angeles. The idea of a Vampire biting another person & turning them into a Vampire is standard horror film stuff but a Vampire Dog that bites other Dog's turning them into Vampires is just weird & is as ridiculous & absurd as it sounds. It's hard to keep a straight face during the majority of Zoltan, Hound of Dracula with it's terrible attempts at tension & scares along with the barest of stories that drags on & on, throw into that a funny & utterly predictable twist ending (I kept saying out loud 'What about the puppy! What about the puppy!') in which a cute little puppy is meant to be scary as it has plastic fangs & glowing eyes. The character's are awful especially Drake who believes everything Inspectoir Branco tells him about Dracula & Vampires without questioning it, from bit part campers to Drake's wife & kids who disappear totally from the film about two thirds of the way through to Veidt Smith whose only motivation is to be a servant to Dracula. Hasn't this guy heard that slavery has been abolished? Why can't he just be his own man? Why can't he just enjoy his life with Zoltan his Vampire Dog? Why can't he & Zoltan just settle down somewhere in Romania & live happily ever after with some dignity & self respect? Why does he want to be a slave to Dracula? He may be evil but he has human rights too you know. I mean would Dracula even pay him a decent wage for his services? I doubt it. The guy's not much of a conversationalist either, I don't think he says anything to anyone during the whole film except Zoltan who he can talk to telepathically, seriously & Zoltan understands every word he telepathically says. At just over 80 odd minutes long Zoltan, Hound of Dracula drags & is very boring with not much going on. Also, has anyone else noticed that Michael Drake is constantly referred to as the last blood ancestor of Dracula yet he has two children of his own?Another big problem with Zoltan, Hound of Dracula is how seriously it takes itself with no attempt to ham things up a big & deliver on it's absurd title & premise. All we want is to be entertained & have a bit of fun while watching a film & Zoltan, Hound of Dracula fails miserably at this basic requirement. The direction is stiff & at times laughable, the Dog's on show are obviously tame & well trained so the attack scenes often look more like the Dog's are trying to play with people rather than rip them to shreds. Constant scenes of docile looking Dog's walking around with plastic fangs & glowing eye's is as silly as it gets. There's not much gore, a guy has his neck bitten, a few Dog's are staked through the heart & a camper is bitten by Zoltan but little else. Director Albert Band later went on to form the likes of Empire Pictures & Fullmoon Productions with his son Charles Band.Filmed on what must have been a low budget the effects, music & production values are all average at best, isn't it unusual how the Romanian army all speak perfect English & with Americn accents? The acting is not great, Oscar winner José Ferrer is slumming it while Michael Pataki looks likes he's there for the money & nothing else. Pataki also starred in the much, much better Vampire film Grave of the Vampire (1974) several years prior.Zoltan, Hound of Dracula is terrible, it really is & I found it pretty hard to make it to the end. It's a complete Dog of a film that sure be put down, it would be a mercy killing. Not recommended apart from the hilarious Vampire puppy at the end which is genuinely quite funny.

MARIO GAUCI I'd always been interested in checking out this title – even if it always promised to be a goofy and highly improbable variation on the Dracula legend. The opening crypt sequence features any number of hilariously named members of the infamous vampire family…and, then, Zoltan itself (oversized fangs and all) emerges from inside a coffin!The plot is quite simple-minded: Dracula's dog (actually, this film's original title) revives sinister-looking but mute vampire acolyte Reggie Nalder so that they can go to America in search of their new master – but the latter is actually determined to (pardon the pun) bury his past and, wisely, has changed his surname to Drake! An Inspector from the old country, Jose' Ferrer, follows in pursuit – but even he has a tough time persuading current vampire descendant Michael Pataki (his statement that he ought to sue the makers of previous Dracula movies is amusing, but would have undoubtedly worked better had this particular entry been somewhat better!) of the danger to his life and soul. That said, a lot of weird crap has been happening during the Drake family's would-be relaxing camping trip – mostly revolving around the two Alsation dogs they brought along and their cute puppies! It's rather amusing to see a plethora of canines getting vampirized as opposed to people – so much so that, at times, it feels like one's watching an antropomorphic rendition of the Bram Stoker chestnut! Adding to the inescapable feeling of absurdity here is a cheesy score; the twist ending, then, is entirely predictable but also incredibly daft. Besides, the numerous close-ups on Nalder's scarred features for ostensibly eerie effect seem merely pointlessly morbid to me! Ultimately, the film is redeemed somewhat by a couple of intense attacks by the pack of vampire hounds towards the end – one with Pataki and Ferrer inside a cabin and the other on the former's car (in which he's sheltered) – as, otherwise, I'd have rated this even lower!

leathermusic A great obscure B movie of the late 70's, Zoltan The Hound of Dracula is actually very well made. The music (which is practically constant) is very creepy, and the eeriness of the cinematography is super cool. I gotta tell the world about this masterpiece of cheese. The real laughs are not only experienced during the hilarious scenes of Zoltan sucking the blood of humans and dogs (and of the bat turning Zoltan into a vampire), but also with Michael Pataki's overblown delivery. The guy has probably got a bad temper in reality. Also, you gotta love the major padding that takes place when the family sets out on their camping trip "dogs and all" in their groovy motor home. Actually their are a couple scenes like this, where people are just driving from one location to another, dominated by happy synth pop that sounds really cool. You can't help but chuckle at how easily the people let their little puppy wander off, and how quickly they give up when the adult dogs get lost. "Oh well" our pure bred German shepherds are out there somewhere. "Oh Well" our prized puppy just bit the dust, we'll just bury the thing and continue with our fun vacation sitting around in a ugly looking vacant field just off the highway (some camping trip) These are just minor plot details that add to the ridiculousness that other writers have already noted. Other favorite scenes of mine include the rising of the vampire puppy from its fresh grave, and the gory mauling of a 70's hiking dweeb.Anyways, thought I should also mention the top notch job Anchor Bay did with remastering this thing. The picture is exceptionally clear, and the sound is immaculate. It should also be mentioned that everything is played totally straight, as if this was a very important film. Reggie Nadler is one creepy looking dude. This movie should appeal to anyone who likes horror movies that take themselves all serious when the scripts are completely hokey to begin with. I won't give away the ending, but it very far fetched and ridiculous. Whoever trained all the numerous dogs did a damn good job! A classic!