Plot

In China, Professor Van Helsing helps eight kung fu-trained siblings reclaim their ancestral mountain village, now the domain of seven powerful vampires and their army of undead slaves.

Count Dracula journeys to a remote Chinese village in the form of a monk to command six vampires who have lost the seventh member of their cult. At the same time, vampire hunter Professor Lawrence Van Helsing happens to be lecturing in the country and is persuaded by villagers to help them fight this curse of the ages.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

In 1804 in Transylvania in Romania, a Chinese monk heads to Castle Dracula. He awakens Count Dracula from his rest in his coffin and explains that he is Kah, the High Priest of the 7 Golden Vampires in China who are now powerless. He needs Dracula to restore them to their former power and the Lord of the Vampires possesses Kah's body. One hundred years later in 1904, Professor Lawrence Van Helsing gives a lecture at a Chinese university about the legend of the 7 Golden Vampires but the students leave the auditorium, thinking that all of the exposition is mere superstition. However, a student named Hsi Ching meets Van Helsing at home and tells him that the legend is true and he knows the location of the vampires. Van Helsing accepts to travel to the village in the countryside to help destroy the vampires and the wealthy widow Vanessa Buren, who has befriended his son, Leyland Van Helsing, offers to fund the expedition provided she is allowed to go with them. Soon they embark with the seven brothers and their sister, all of them masters of kung fu, in a dangerous expedition to destroy the vampires and Dracula.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This is the ninth film in Hammer's "Dracula" series. Christopher Lee ain't present in this one n' Peter Cushing reprises his role of Van Helsing for the fifth and final time. In 1904, Professor Lawrence Van Helsing is a lecturer visiting China whose theory about a village that is terrorized by seven vampires is dismissed by the students, except for one whose grandfather was killed by the same seven vampires. He asks Van Helsing if he would be willing to travel to the village and destroy the vampires. Van Helsing agrees and embarks with his son Leyland, the student n' the student's six brothers and one sister, all eight of them masters of kung fu. The dangerous journey is funded by a wealthy widow who was saved by the brothers. Old Van Helsing ain't aware, however, that his archenemy Count Dracula traveled to the same village 100 years ago in 1804 n' it is he who commands the seven vampires n' an army of the undead.—Fella_shibby@yahoo.com

Hammer Films meets chop-socky Hong Kong. While lecturing in the Far East, Professor Lawrence Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) tells some university students of a village in China that becomes cursed every year at the time of the seventh full Moon. Van Helsing is persuaded by a family of eight kung fu experts (seven brothers and one sister) to rid this village of the 7 Golden Vampires that torment its citizens.—Ray Hamel <hamel@primate.wisc.edu>

Transylvania, 1804: Kah [Shen Chan], the High Priest of a temple in Pang Kwei in Szechuan Province, China, has obviously traveled a long way on foot to ask for Dracula's help. Kah's temple has fallen out of power. He requests that Dracula [John Forbes-Robertson] resurrect seven vampires in order to restore that power. Dracula thinks about it, then agrees...and possesses Kah's body to do it.

Chung King, 1904: Professor Lawrence Van Helsing [Peter Cushing] is lecturing at Chung King University about legends of ancient China. In particular, he mentions Pang Kwei, a village that becomes cursed by seven vampires each year during the seventh full Moon. He relates the story of Hsi Phen An (spelling?), a farmer who attempted to fight against the vampires but was killed in the process. Before he died, however, Hsi Phen An placed one of the golden medallions worn by each of the vampires on a wayside shrine. When the vampire tried to retrieve it, he was destroyed. After listening to Van Helsing's stories, all the students laugh and walk out...except for one. Hsi Ching [David Chiang] is the grandson of Hsi Phen An and proves it by showing Van Helsing the golden medallion. Ching and his family have pledged to rid Pang Kwei of the vampires' curse, but they need Van Helsing's help, so Van Helsing and Ching put together a group of vampire hunters composed of both of them, Van Helsing's son, Leyland [Robin Stewart], Vanessa Buren [Julie Ege] (a rich Scandinavian widow who agrees to finance the trip on one condition: that she is allowed to go with them), Ching's six brothers (the twins Sung [Fong Kah Ann] and San [Chen Tien Loong], Ta [James Ma], Kwei [Liu Chia Yung], Jin How [Liu Hoy Ling] and Bao Kwei [?]) and his one sister Mai Kwei [Szu Shih], each of them skilled in various martial arts.

On the road to Pang Kwei, romance blossoms between Leyland and Mai Kwei and also between Ching and Vanessa. Meanwhile, the six remaining vampires attack the village and carry off some of its young girls (true Chinese take-out?). As the group of vampire hunters near the village, it becomes apparent that the vampires know that they are coming. One cold night, the troop takes shelter in some caves, although Van Helsing pronounces the caves to be "malignant". Sure enough, while the vampire hunters sleep, they are attacked by bats who turn into the vampires, aided by dozens of their zombie Renfields. Kwei manages to destroy one of the vampires with a bow through its heart. One of the twin brothers destroys another vampire with his sword and Van Helsing sets another vampire on fire and destroys it, leaving three vampires left out of the seven.

When the vampire hunters reach Pang Kwei, they devise a security system of wooden stakes and trenches filled with oil. That night, when the three remaining vampires and their zombie Renfields attack, the village is ready for them. They light the oil and pick up their stakes. One of the vampires is destroyed in the burning trenches. Unfortunately, he also kills one of the brothers. Another brother is stabbed to death. The twin brothers die together. Vanessa is bitten by another one of the vampires, then she, in turn, bites Ching. Ching destroys Vanessa by impaling her on a stake and then he impales himself on the stake as well at the same time, then the villagers stake the vampire. Mai Kwei is captured by the seventh and last remaining vampire and taken to the temple where Dracula awaits. Leyland follows it there and tries to rescue her. Just as the vampire seems to be getting the best of Leyland, Van Helsing arrives and thrusts a stake into its heart.

But there is still Dracula to be dealt with. After Leyland and Mai Kwei leave the temple together, Van Helsing stays behind and convinces Dracula to leave Kah's body and return to his actual form. A short and anticlimactic fight ensues in which at the end of it Dracula leaps at Van Helsing, who holds up a stake just in time for Dracula to fall onto it, piercing him through the chest and back, then a long and anticlimactic scene follows this one in which Dracula slowly disintegrates into dust, after which Van Helsing leaves the temple as well. [original synopsis by bj_kuehl]