2009 SGM Month of Halloween Horror Movie for October 5

Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)

Phobia: Hematophobia (Fear of blood)

Quote: “Having tried everything that your narrow imaginations can suggest, you’re bored to death with it all. Right? … And now, you want someone with infinitely greater experience than yourselves to suggest alternatives. Just how far are you willing to go? ... For instance, would you be willing to sell your souls to the devil?” – Lord Courtley (Ralph Bates), setting up his plans for the weekend.

Synopsis: It's the boys' night out, time for bawdy fun. Yet revelry alone can't satisfy these community leaders out on a lark. There's still an adventure they can be duped into trying, one that will transform a certain Count from moldering dust into blood-lusting flesh.

Taste the Blood of Dracula, the fourth film in Hammer Studios' cycle of hemogobbling Victorian -Era horror, is a showcase of why Hammer became the name in Gothic terror. The solid cast and rich production design raise goosebumps to real-life fear and otherworldly dread. And Christopher Lee dons his red-lined cape again to become Evil Incarnate. He's Count Dracula, a being neither dead nor alive... but his movies are livelier than ever.

Fear creeps in at 00:37:37: Lord Courtley has coerced the group of Hargood, Paxton, and Secker to purchase some occult items, and they are meeting in the abandoned Courtley chapel to conduct a Black Mass ritual. Courtley pours putrefied blood into glasses held by the trio; he then turns to the altar and slices into his hand. He drips his own blood into the glasses, and the putrefied blood begins to feast on the fresh blood, turning into a rising tide of crimson. Courtley, once finished, commands the group, “Now ... drink!”

See also: Cabin Fever; The Shining; I Drink Your Blood