HAMMER FILMS: 'A LONG WAY TO FALL' THE DEATH OF DRACULA IN TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA

There's a unique sadness to Dracula's destruction at the end of Hammer Films TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA. Yes, once more, good overcomes evil and the nasty man is destroyed. By lightning, by drowning, staking or frying, he always eventually.... and dramatically exits. I have to confess, since I was a boy, it's the thing I always lookforward to the most and still do when revisiting the films. Christopher Lee just does something. It's the whole package. The eyes, the face contortions and of course, those hands and fingers. The 1958 DRACULA did it with class. DRACULA AD 1972, Lee pulls out all the stops...twice!

For me, TASTE marked a change in the Hammer DRACULA saga. All the films that came after would be peppered with only moments. The closing scene from TASTE ironically features Dracula taking a long fall to his death. Before the death dive, the expressions and emotions shown in the Counts face say it all. Trapped, beaten and over powered. Once more, Christopher Lee showing his amazing range when dealing with pathos. In TASTE, Dracula was there only because the money said so. The film featured a wonderful supporting cast, impressive sets and a truly haunting score. But the Count had become a puppet, grafted onto a script that never intended to feature him. For Dracula, after he had RISEN in 1968 it was always going to be long way to fall.     

Marcus.