Count Dracula's Great Love (1974)

Very well executed

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Paul Naschy authored the story and co-wrote the screenplay for this decent vehicle for himself. He plays Dr. Wendell Marlow, who offers sanctuary to five travelers on their way through the Carpathian mountains. They consist of four gorgeous babes and the studly male Imre (Victor Alcazar); Imre is certainly in enviable company. Of course, there are no prizes for guessing who Marlow REALLY is. He falls in love with one of the woman, and she will ultimately have to make a decision: "live" forever as his bride, or turn him down and live as a mortal.Only the amusing ending lifts this above average for this genre. It does have a fair bit to offer Euro horror lovers, like the expected sex (some of the ladies bare their breasts), the violence (the camera really loves zooming in on the red stuff), and the sadism (virgin girls are whipped so their torturers can lick up their blood). And, of course, it's a Naschy film, so you can't really go wrong. The thing is, the film just doesn't have that great a story. Other than that ending, there's nothing nuanced or particularly interesting about it.At least viewers can soak up that atmosphere common to so much Euro horror. Naschy, as usual, has a compelling presence, and it's nice that he was an actor who embraced being a genre star. The other performances aren't as effective, but it's doubtful that people are going to care too much, since it's such an attractive cast.The opening credits are priceless, though. They play over a scene of a murder victim tumbling down some stairs. This sequence is reversed and then played again numerous times.Not prime Naschy, but if you're a completist of his works, you'll still want to see it.Six out of 10.

Though all the available prints pretty much suck, and Naschy's dubbed voice is one of the worst in his oeuvre, I can still make out a truly fine film underneath all the muck (the whole film is on YouTube, but with commercials). Naschy had a very specific body type, so it's great to see those films where he didn't let his shorter, stockier physique get in the way of playing characters that are traditionally tall and/or gaunt. And this is a great little spin on the Dracula story too, with an ending even I did not see coming. The plot of Count Dracula's Great Love concerns ye olde sanguine's attempts to procure the blood of virgins and innocents so as to revive his dead daughter (which is a great twist from the usual lost-love pining). Rosanna Yanni is simply fantastic as the lusty Senta, and in fact, all four of the female co-stars really shine here. This film has atmosphere in spades, much like Aguirre's previous film with Naschy, The Hunchback of the Morgue. Dracula still lives in an old Gothic castle, and the surrounding area is fog-shrouded, but the art direction is so superb that it elevates the film far beyond the assumed banal. And Naschy proves that he can play a romantic lead without the crutch of Waldemar, though his Count Dracula is more akin to Barnabas Collins than the manic blood-junkies one normally has to endure in a vampire film (though there's nothing wrong with the occasional manic blood-junkie). Unfortunately Dracula's heart is too big to fit through the needle of his immoral deeds, and so we're left with one of the most striking and shocking endings in the entire canon of vampire movies. What can I say? Like Naschy's Dracula, I'm a sucker for a/the romantic.

Oh dear god! I can't believe how bad this was. Where shall I begin? I'll start with the atrocious dubbing if you don't mind. It's a joke. there's no emotion in the dubbing whatsoever. I had to laugh when Dracula says "I'm the happiest man in the world." In a tone more suited for a sentence like "I can't find my keys."Also, Dracula speaks in this mind-numbing, monotonous voice for the whole movie! It's like listening to someone read mass.What about the plot you may ask. There isn't one. Just a random series of events: shots of day becoming night, scenes of people walking down empty corridors for what seems an eternity. Absolutely horrendous! The only reason this movie was made was to show tits. I was screaming at the film to end after the 50 mins mark, it's just so goddamn, dull. After watching it through however I can safely say two things. 1)This is easily the worst movie ever made. 2) I'd like to have met Mr. Paul Naschy before he died. So I could kick his ******* ass.

A bunch of beautiful women get stranded near a castle one night. Naturally Count Dracula (Paul Naschy) lives there and attacks them all. However he falls in love with one and gives her a choice to live as his lover for all eternity...or death. At least that's what I could make out.I saw the dubbed American print. To make it even worse I caught it on TV late at night so it was edited to pieces. Naschy (an old pro at this) was good and there were a few good scenes--Dracula and his female vampires walking down a hall ready for a night out and the ultimate fate of the female vampires. But, aside from that, this was VERY confusing, made next to no sense and all the violence and sex was completely cut out! Also Naschy was showing his age when he made this one. He looks far too old (and heavy) to play Dracula. I've heard the uncut print is MUCH better so try to seek that out. This version gets a 1.