When a bat bleeds on the ashes of Dracula (Christopher Lee), the vampire rejuvenates and once again begins terrorizing the countryside. The villagers gather their pitchforks and torches and head for the castle. They set the castle on fire and return home. Dracula, sleeping high up in a stone room, survives the fire, as does his servant, Klove (Patrick Troughton). When the men return to the village, they find that all the women have been slaughtered by a colony of vampire bats.
In the village of Kleinenberg, Paul Carlson (Christopher Matthews) is caught dallying with the burgomaster’s daughter, Alice (Delia Lindsay). He flees. When he gets to the next village Paul looks for a place to sleep for the night. At the local inn the barmaid, Julie (Wendy Hamilton) lets him in. The innkeeper (Michael Ripper) throws him out.
While walking through the forest Paul comes upon a horse drawn carriage. He slips inside to take a nap. Klove returns to the carriage with some freshly killed game. Not realizing that Paul is in the carriage, the servant returns to the castle. At the castle, Dracula’s mistress, Tania (Anouska Hempel), lets Paul in. Paul ends up in bed with Tania. Dracula is furious and kills Tania. Paul ends up trapped in the castle. Paul is carrying a small picture of young woman with him. Klove finds the picture and become infatuated with the woman in the portrait.
Paul’s brother, Simon (Dennis Waterman) and his girlfriend, Sarah (Jenny Hanley) go looking for Paul. The innkeeper refuses to talk to them or let them stay. Julie tells Simon that Paul went to the castle. With no place to go Simon and Sarah head up to the castle. Dracula plans on biting Sarah but the crucifix she is wearing stops him. He orders Klove to remove it. Klove sees that the woman that Dracula wants is the same one as in the small portrait. He refuses to obey Dracula’s command. Simon and Sarah get away, but not for long.
“Scars of Dracula” was released in 1970 and was directed by Roy Ward Baker. It is a British horror movie produced by the Hammer Film Studios. It is the sixth Dracula film done by Hammer. Hammer did a total of nine Dracula films.
This is the first of the Hammer Dracula films that features bats. Even though the bats are prominent in the film, Dracula never turns into a bat here or in any of the Hammer Dracula films. Christopher Lee also has more screen time and dialogue than in previous films. Lee played Dracula in seven films for Hammer Productions and three in other productions.
Technically it is not an actual sequel to any of the previous Dracula films. What it does have that is similar is that the resurrection and the death of Dracula are different in each of the various Hammer renditions.
This is probably one of the weakest of the Hammer Dracula films. The storyline is generic and the silly rubber bats make it campy. Adding to the camp is the villagers running around with torches looking something to set on fire. Although it is unique in that the village riot happens at the beginning of the film instead of at the end. The highlight of the film is Dracula’s coffin room. Instead of being in a crypt it is situated in a doorless room of the tower. The only way in is through a small window. To get to it one must either be able to fly or crawl up the tower from the outside.