The Erotic Rites of Countess Dracula

I've been curious of the output from Seduction Cinema and its sister companies for some time. Having regularly perused their distribution site Alternative Cinema many times basically because they seem to have a great line of grade z movies packed full of gorgeous babes (well have you seen Factory 2000's Misty Mundae? What an absolute honey!), I was more then curious when I popped 'The Erotic rites of Countess Dracula' into the old DVD player...

The film opens with guns a blazing (well in the lesbo vampire style) with the lovely Countess rolling around the floor with three sexually wired vampirettes, complete with low budget gothic opening titles promising a lot for what's to come. So with the films title in mind and the gothic lesbo opening sequence I was indeed hoping for a soft-core smutty interpretation of the old Hammer classics - I didn't really get it but I still had lots of fun!

The film opens proper in the 1960's where we meet rock star wannabe Scarlet Brooks loitering outside a recording studio, building up courage to go record her stab at fame. Things go awry for her when she is approached by the great man himself Count Dracula (played admirably by William Smith) who (after the usual Transylvanian chat up banter) goes for her jugular - transforming her into Countess Scarlet (Hammer chick lookalike and bored creature of the night!) The Count swiftly exits stage left to go back to the home country leaving the Countess in the protective company of loyal servant and ageing Hollywierd bug eater Renfield. Years pass by and the poor Countess has grown bored with the her vampiric lifestyle and after pleading with Renfield to finish her off (kill her that is) with the old wooden stake method, Renfield reveals to her that she could in fact return to her human form if she feasted on the blood of three virgin girls in one single night! The race is on, can Scarlet find some willing virgins to sup on or will she be destined to live immortally as a creature of the night!

As I mentioned earlier, 'The Erotic Rites of Countess Dracula' only hints at the gothic Hammer horror origins that could have been expanded on but it doesn't take away from what is in fact a mindlessly entertaining romp! Very much a fun B-movie with lots of titillation to keep all amused - a nice mixture of sexy fun and low budget chuckles that will suit folk that like exactly this sort of flick. Writer/director Donald F Glut does a solid enough job, in fact probably better than the budget allowed with some nice atmospheric set-pieces that are cookily strange alongside the standard dancing babe shots and lesbian shenanigans. I did indeed chuckle away at some of the onscreen fun though I did feel that if some of the sex scenes had been a touch stronger (in the x rated sense) they would have had much more appeal and impact all round. That said though I'm sure many of our readers could still jerk off a few times checking this one out (well hell, there are some very attractive women cast here - the goth vampire wannabe was particularly cute).

The disc itself is a pretty good package also with a nice mastered print on show with clear audio throughout. There's not much in the way of extras but what is there adds to the experience with a full audio commentary with director/writer Donald Glut (which delivers some additional amusing insights) and a collection of out-takes and blooper scenes that will put a wry smile on your face also. What did have me drooling personally though was some of the trailers included on the 'Trailer Vault' section which includes some very interesting trailer reels. Of special note was some of the 'Retro' title line with some great looking discs of old gems like the 'Inga' series, the Factory 2000 offshoots et al - I'm very much now looking forward to checking some of this stuff out soon also!

So if you've a penchant for grade z sexy soft-core lesbo vampire fun then you really will have a laugh (and even perhaps a rummage downstairs) with this frisky goth-core release!

Review by Alan Simpson

'The Erotic Rites of Countess Dracula' can be ordered direct from Alternative Cinema by clicking here.