I must admit, I'm a sucker for those sleazy, cheesy Euro-productions of the 70's, especially the film noir and horror production, that would feature one or the other American B-actor (in this case Brad 'The Profile' Harris) and a cohort of cameo appearances of German TV- and cinema-stars.
Where did it go wrong? Well, for one, director Franz Josef Gottlieb is a veteran of shallow teen- and even raunchier adult-comedies. However, the director seems unable to cope with the concept 'horror-film'. The attempt to create a hybrid (to mind comes Roman Polanskis "Dance of the Vampires") fails miserably. The jokes are so flat and outdated that they would have been considered lame in the 1950's and the horror elements are as frightening as a Halloween edition of "The Muppets".
Speaking of veterans: Theo Lingen, Eddie Aren't, Roberto Blanco and Walter Giller are names that viewers of the time were extremely familiar with (they would appear in every second comedy of the period) and would guarantee at least a few uncomfortable giggles. In this case they do appear but none of them delivers.
Evelyne Kraft as the protagonist cannot fill the shoes of anybody called "Dracula". Yes indeed, she's cute like a button, the audience can't wait to see her (semi)-nude but her performance as Countess Dracula is thoroughly unconvincing.
Having spoken of the mandatory American import-actor, let's speak of Stephen Boyd who has a minor appearance as Count Dracula, looking as if they dressed him up for a costume-ball. Remember the Count from "Sesame Street"? Infinitely scarier. Sadly, this would be Boyd's final performance and you'll probably barely be able to recognize this wreck of a man who once was Masalla in "Ben Hur". There could have been a more fitting epitaph.
The films ending is as much a letdown as the rest of the film and comes so sudden, one is almost convinced the crew had run out of film (if it weren't for Eddy Aren't of course, who has ended Edgar Wallace- and countless other German films that way).
There are first Grade vampire-comedies like "Dance of the Vampires", B-grade like Clive Donners "Old Dracula", stinkers like "Dracula – Dead and Loving It" but this film really tops the bad, bad vampire comedies. Not even bad as in "so bad it is good" but simply awful as a comedy and anaemic as a vampire film. Trust a seasoned Horror-flick fan: avoid this like the plague.
