Today’s horror movie is from Hammer films and, needless to say, it’s lot of fun.  In The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, an ennui-stricken Count Dracula (James Forbes-Robertson) leaves his castle and travels all the way to China.  Once in China, he resurrects the legendary 7 golden vampires and uses them to raid a nearby village.  One villager (played by David Chiang) goes to the legendary Prof. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing, of course) for help.  Van Helsing, along with his son (Robin Stewart) and a wealthy widow (Julie Ege, who decorated several Hammer films), goes to the village to battle the vampires.  Providing protecting for Van Helsing’s group is Chiang’s sister (Szu Shih) and six other brothers.

First released in 1974, The Legend of the 7 Vampires was Hammer’s attempt to revive the failing fortunes of their most iconic monster by collaborating with Hong Kong film producer Sir Run Run Shaw.  The result is an entertaining hybrid of a traditional Hammer vampire film and a Hong Kong kung fu movie.  While James Forbes-Robertson makes for a poor replacement for Christopher Lee, Cushing is perfect as always.