After discovering that she can regain youth and beauty by bathing in the blood of maidens, an aged Countess (Ingrid Pitt) courts a handsome young cavalry officer, but after she learns that the sanguineous youthifying is temporary, the body count begins to rise. The film is one of Hammer Films' more 'adult' horrors, with less emphasis on the 'monster' (in this case just a murderous old woman obsessed with regaining her youth) and more on the dread surrounding her. Much of the lurid film is about sexual relations, including the strange 'four-sided triangle', in which an older man (Nigel Green) desires the mature countess while the young officer (Sandor Elès) lusts after her youthful incarnation. There is some gratuitous nudity thrown in for good measure but not a lot of overt gruesomeness (despite the premise). The story is based on the legend of Elizabeth Báthory, a real-life 16th century Hungarian noblewoman rumoured to have depraved tastes for torture and who allegedly bathed in the blood of virgins to maintain her beauty (the 'Dracula' in the film's title is more about marketing than about history, legend, or plot). Most of the script and acting (especially by Pitt when she is portraying the 'young' countess) is rudimentary but the production values are pretty good and the 'aging/ugly' makeup is effective (if sometimes inconsistent). In the end, I found the film watchable (and seemingly more than the sum of its parts) and the final scenes are quite good (although they may be a letdown for viewers expecting some kind of bloody dénouement). Not among of the best of Hammer's extensive horror output but at least a bit different from the Lee/Cushing canon (despite the derivative and misleading title).
