the legend of the 7 golden vampires
the legend of the legend of the 7 golden vampires, or how hammer headed east .
listen to the legend of the 7 golden vampires: original motion picture soundtrack now .
the legend of the 7 golden vampires dvd is a fun hammer vampire movie with a kung fu twist .
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the legend of the seven golden vampires dvd (2004) pete... the legend of the seven golden vampires dvd (2004) pete ...
fanservice extra: the 7 golden vampires seem to really prefer their victims topless .
malevolent masked men: the 7 golden vampires (golden masks) and their mooks (skull masks) .
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dracula and the 7 golden vampires (hk title) seven brothers meet dracula (int. title) les 7 vampires d' or (french title) la légende des 7 vampires d' or (french title) les sept vampires d' or (french title )
super rare hammer horror! the legend of the 7 seven golden vampires 2 different versions of the film! uncut asian release and u. s. release! plus alot of extras !
hunter, i. q. “the legend of the seven golden vampires. ” postcolonial studies 3. 1 (2000): 81–87 .
shawscope! the shaw brothers were the lords of hong kong action cinema. dig the homicidal hardware and krautrock groove of master of the flying guillotine or the shaws' collaboration with britain' s hammer house of horror, the legend of the 7 golden vampires .
classic hammer horror release on warner bros in 1974. horror icon peter cushing narrates the plot of the 7 golden vampires while the music is composed by james bernard. track list: a1 the legend of ancient china a2 prologue a3 the seven golden vampires a4 the chinese embassy party a5 the street fight and the martial arts fight a6 the legend of ancient china b1 the legend of ancient china b2 preparation for the trek b3 the lovers b4 the vampires attack b5 romance blossoms b6 the destruction of the vampires b7 the lovers' death b8 count dracula' s death and disintegration b9 epilogue b10 the legend of ancient china i own nothing, all rights belong to their righful owners .
there is no denying that the legend of the 7 golden vampires is a fun blend of hong kong martial arts and hammer gothic horror. you would be hard pressed to find any other film in existence that features hopping vampires, peter cushing, and martial arts. therefore, the legend of the 7 golden vampires excels based purely on its uniqueness and blend of genres. unfortunately, the film is only able to represent the most superficial elements of each company, thereby lacking the strong points that made each company’s strongest films classics .
human sacrifice: the 7 golden vampires require sacrifices. much of their terror comes from how they ride the countryside at night and snatch young girls to that end .
chinese vampire: used as hopping mooks to the more athletic european - style golden vampires .
the r2 releases (apart from spain) have the better (anamorphic and proper) transfers, but the r0 us release has additional extras & the shorter us - version of the film. this film is also known as: - 7 brothers versus dracula - 7 brothers and a sister meet dracula - 7 brothers of dracula - 7 golden vampires - dracula and the seven golden vampires - the last warning - seven golden vampires: the last warning it' s rumoured that the shaw brothers' edit of the film ran 110 minutes, but if this version exists it not turned up on any home video format .
the original album is now a collectible item, but fans also have the opportunity to hear it on the anchor bay dvd release of the legend of the 7 golden vampires, were it is included as an extra. in 2012, bsx released the album alongside the original, unadulterated score on cd .
dvd title
la legende des 7 vampires d' or
. encoded r2 / 4 & 5 .
dracula is opposed by joseph van helsing who was studying the legend of the seven golden vampires. the chinese vampires and van helsing' s vampire hunters are depicted as martial artists, following the kung - fu fad of the time. but the two leads' fighting skills are underwhelming .
tags: anchor bay. shaw brothers, don houghton, hammer horror, james bernard, legend of the 7 golden vampires, little shoppe of horrors, peter cushing, philip martell, roy skeggs, shih szu, soundtrack lp, the seven brothers meet dracula, warner brothers
i love legend of the 7 golden vampires. this for me, is the only genuine cult movie, that hammer had anything to do with. the whole thing smacks of a wonderful desperation on the part of hammer. i enjoyed reading the contextual background information you included brian, and also appreciated the detailed perspective of the shaw brothers side of things, an aspect of the production which often gets overlooked .
by the time of the legend of the 7 golden vampir es in 1974 hammer studios was dying. thanks to the vérité horrors of films like night of the living dead (1968), their unique brand of gothic chills seemed archaic - as dusty as one of dracula' s cobwebbed tombs. indeed, golden vampires would mark the last appearance of their erstwhile count and hammer would soon after stagger into the graveyard of television and, finally, oblivion. golden vampires is filled with the kind of desperation akin to someone in their death throes and the assimilation of kung fu (then all the rage) reeks of a company all out of ideas. but despite this golden vampires actually has a lot to offer. in fact, it is one of hammer' s best films of the 1970s and remains a fitting send off for one of the giants of british cinema .
slashed throat: hsi tien - en in the flashback, who manages to destroy one of the golden vampires, had his throat cut by the swords of two others .
even though i spent most of this review bashing the legend of the 7 golden vampires, i still recommend it to the uninitiated. the film is a fun historical gem in which two legendary and iconic companies teamed up to produce a film that offered each of their stars and genres. while most definitely a far cry from each company’s best, legend is still a blast to watch if you turn off your brain and soak in the b - movie goodness. if anything, the legend of the 7 golden vampires should be on your viewing list come next halloween if you need a little action to go with your horror. just don’t expect anything elegant or thematic. this is hammer / shaw schlock through and through, courtesy of the year 1974 .
the legend of the 7 golden vampires was one of hammer’s final horror films until the company’s recent revival, appearing in 1974. it marked the final appearance of dracula in a hammer film (and for the first time, the character was not played by christopher lee) and was also peter cushing’s last movie for the company (though he did appear in an episode of hammer house of horror in 1980) .
the legend of the 7 golden vampires opens with a prologue set in 1804 in transylvania where a man named kah tracks down the infamous count dracula. kah begs dracula to revive the seven golden vampires in china so that their reign of terror may continue. dracula agrees, but only if he can take over kah’s body in order to escape his castle. the film than fast - forwards 100 years to chung king, china where professor van helsing (peter cushing) lectures on a chinese legend concerning the seven golden vampires. one of the students, hsi ching (david chiang), reveals his relation to the man in helsing’s story and proclaims the legend to be true. ching and his seven brothers offer for helsing, as well as his son and their new friend vanessa (julie ege), the chance to travel to the village of pang kwei with them in order to destroy the golden vampires once and for all .
the legend of the 7 golden vampires was hammer' s last ditch attempt to bring fresh blood (pun intended or not? you decide) into their ever popular (certainly stateside who routinely insisted on including the count - and if possible christopher lee - in their vampire films) yet running on empty dracula series .
dracula: who dares to disturb the sanctity of count dracula. dracula: who are you. kah: my lord, my name is kah. i am the high priest of the 7 golden vampires in ping kwei in the province of szechwan in china. when the vampires walk... my temple was the centre of all... dracula: ...
: my lord, my name is kah. i am the high priest of the 7 golden vampires in ping kwei in the province of szechwan in china. when the vampires walk... my temple was the centre of all power in the area, the populace bore allegiance to me. but now... my lord. the vampires sleep, and the people go their own ways. the power is lost, i have travelled many moons. seeking the castle dracula, i look to thee. for thy help. ressurect the 7 ...
the hybrid genre film, the legend of the seven golden vampires, incorporates the genre conventions of kung fu and those associated with dracula. lee analyzes this unique hong kong - uk transnational horror co - production in which count dracula goes to early twentieth - century china, and van helsing (peter cushing) teams up with chinese martial arts brothers to fight against seven golden vampires, and ultimately dracula, who takes over the body of the chinese villain, kahn. reading the legend of the seven golden vampires entails that we should situate the film in terms of its geopolitical and generic positions in hong kong and the uk film history and legacy. lee provides much - needed critical insight into the politics and poetics of transnational co - productions .
. legend of the seven golden vampires, the very first horror kung fu combo, falls somewhere in the middle. it' s definitely an original take on a time worn tale and one that proved to be one of the most tumultuous, headache inducing experiences for both east and west .
dvd title
die 7 goldenen vampire
. encoded r2 / 4 & 5 .
in 1804, in transylvania, a chinese walker heads to the castle of dracula. he awakes dracula from his tomb and explains that he is kah, the high priest of the seven golden vampires in china that are powerless. he needs dracula to restore their power and the vampire takes kah' s body and image. one hundred years later, professor laurence van helsing gives a lecture at a chinese university about the legend of the seven golden vampires but the students leave the auditorium finding that the all the exposition is superstition. however the student hsi ching meets van helsing at home and tells 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 to destroy the vampires and the wealthy widow mrs. vanessa buren, who has befriend his son leyland van helsing, offers to sponsor the expedition provided she may go with them. soon they embark with seven siblings skilled in kung - fu in a dangerous expedition to destroy the golden vampires and dracula .
in 1804, in transylvania, a chinese walker heads to the castle of dracula. he awakes dracula from his tomb and explains that he is kah, the high priest of the seven golden vampires in china that are powerless. he needs dracula to restore their power and the vampire takes kah' s body and image. one hundred years later, professor laurence van helsing gives a lecture at a chinese university about the legend of the seven golden vampires but the students leave the auditorium finding that the all the exposition is superstition. however the student hsi ching meets van helsing at home and tells 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 to destroy the vampires and the wealthy widow mrs. vanessa buren, who has befriend his son leyland van helsing, offers to sponsor the expedition provided she may go with them. soon they embark with seven siblings skilled in kung - fu in a dangerous expedition to destroy the golden vampires and dracula .
peter cushing is my favorite van helsing and in this film it is a totally welcomed change of just battling the evil dracula. van helsing takes on the legend of the 7 golden vampires that are martial arts experts whom also have the power of calling up dead victims to fight the undead. a number of very exciting battles against the dead makes this film a classic vampire feature. the hammer producers also weave into the film the king of vampires, the count himself, dracula. the makeup is rather swallow at times but the story and action make you forget the small problems. cushing still swings a deadly fiery weapon as he battles to the death the unliving .
hammer flew their crew to out to hong kong in 1973 to shoot two films back - to - back with the shaws; legend of the 7 golden vampires and a stuart whitman action vehicle called shatter, a film so problematic its director vowed never to make another again. while golden vampires was the more palatable product of the two, its shoot was equally tough. the chinese and british crews had wildly different ways of working and the added language barrier ensured an air of tension and confusion throughout that, unfortunately, feeds into the film. it' s a shame because, at the heart of david houghton' s screenplay is the spark of a great idea that just never quite catches fire .
the legend of the 7 golden vampires is a fun martial arts film co - produced by the hong kong based shaw brothers and the british centric hammer pictures. while most action fans are familiar with the shaw brothers, some may not be as familiar with hammer. hammer pictures was a british production company that flourished in the late 50s and 60s with their colorful and gothic horror films that made stars out of christopher lee and peter cushing. technicolor classics of theirs include horror of dracula, the curse of frankenstein, and the mummy, all starring lee and cushing .
of all hammer' s attempts to stay relevant to cinema audiences of the early 1970s, nothing else they churned out comes off as quite so wacky as 1974' s the legend of the seven ...
zombie army! apparently, in china, the vampires can summon zombies. i guess
kill it with fire: prof. van helsing makes good use of this trope, first by killing one of the seven golden vampires by accidentally sticking a torch into it, and later giving the same fate to some mooks in the finale .
despite the package’s flaws, i’m not recommending viewers steer clear of the set. it does offer anamorphic upgrades of dracula prince of darkness and legend of the 7 golden vampires (while ab’s disc of the frankenstein film is still recommended, it is out of print and pricey), and it can be had very cheaply (it’s $ 6. 99 before shipping at urltoken right now). purchasing it also lets millennium know that there is interest in the hammer library, and hopefully they might upgrade all three titles for future release (hopefully with extras including the dracula commentary). (eric cotenas )
a transylvanian prologue set in 1804 introduces us to an evil taoist priest named kah who has found the castle of count dracula (played by john forbes - robertson in what amounts to a glorified cameo). the vampire’s vampire has somehow been magically imprisoned. it' s not clearly explained why but let' s go with it. let’s also just go with how kah wants dracula' s help in restoring the glory of the 7 golden vampires (a group of ancient bloodsuckers who have been terrorising a chinese village for centuries but whose powers are weakening) and how dracula decides that he will possess kah' s body and become the 7 golden vampires' leader himself ...
hammer eventually made attempts to revitalize their production company as gothic horror went out of style in the 70s. therefore, hammer got in on the martial arts craze when they teamed up with the shaw brothers for the legend of the 7 golden vampires. the two companies set out to produce an action film that would offer the best of what each studio had to offer, as well as two of their biggest stars: peter cushing (horror of dracula) and david chiang (vengeance). even though this action / horror hybrid is a blast to watch, the film lacks the distinct qualities that made the best hammer and shaw films classics .
count dracula journeys to a remote chinese village in the guise of a warlord to support six vampires who are dispirited after the loss of a seventh member of their cult ...
tcm will play some of these at times but its hit and miss. i was flicking thru the channels a few weeks ago and caught the golden voyage of sinbad .
hammer films meets chop - socky hong kong. while lecturing in the far east, professor van helsing (peter cushing) tells his students of a doomed village in china that becomes cursed every year at the time of the 7th moon. van helsing is persuaded by a family of kung fu experts to rid the village of the 7 vampires that torment its citizens .
to be honest, i' m not sure quite why they stopped going down the path of present day dracula as they had done with dracula ad 1972 and the satanic rites of dracula. but, they did and in 1974, just one year after, they did the time warp again, taking us a little bit further in their vampire chronology to the early 1900s and further still, to hong kong and an unusual collaboration with chinese martial arts film makers, the shaw brothers. taking the ever reliable peter cushing along for the ride as van helsing once more for the legend of the 7 golden vampires .
dvd title
kung fu contra los 7 vampiros de oro
. appears to be a ntsc to pal transfer .
professor van helsing travels to a remote chinese village to defeat the legendary seven golden vampires. fortunately, he takes seven kung fu experts with him - and their various fighting skills are sorely needed .
angel big bad buffy buffy speak buffy the vampire slayer dollhouse dr. horrible' s sing - along blog emmy female protagonist feminism firefly front row golden globe hush joss whedon mash monster of the week much ado about nothing naomi alderman nebula awards once more with feeling radio 4 roseanne sarah michelle gellar slayer teen choice awards the avengers the cabin in the woods the donna reed show the gift the golden girls tv tropes twilight upn vampires wb writer
roy ward baker has directed some of the finest examples of hammer films style of gothic horror. some of these are considered classics
tagged with: angel big bad buffy buffy speak buffy the vampire slayer dollhouse dr. horrible' s sing - along blog emmy female protagonist feminism firefly front row golden globe hush joss whedon mash monster of the week much ado about nothing naomi alderman nebula awards once more with feeling radio 4 roseanne sarah michelle gellar slayer teen choice awards the avengers the cabin in the woods the donna reed show the gift the golden girls tv tropes twilight upn vampires wb writer
after the titles, we cut to 1904 chungking, china, where professor van helsing (the ever - reliable peter cushing) tries to relate the stories of dracula to incredulous students. he demonstrates his own knowledge of the seven golden vampires, masked and medallioned vampires on horseback, with an army of zombie - like soldiers terrorising villages and taking virgin women to drain their blood, until one farmer was brave enough to steal the medallion off of one vampire, killing him…
the legend of the seven golden vampires is not perfect. it is at times over serious, the effects creak and it misses christopher lee as the count (here replaced by john forbes robertson). but it is amazing how influential the film became. it can be seen as a precursor to john carpenter' s big trouble in little china and the fusion of east and west seen in the matrix. in china it spurred a whole subgenre of supernatural kung fu epics, such as mr vampire (1985) that still continues today. the film may have been mocked by critics, but its legend lives on - even though it failed to keep hammer from its early grave .
and of course, if you' re a martial arts fan you' ll love the balletic dance of death that the brothers and their sister undertake when battling the vampires, the undead and numerous mountain bandits throughout .
in 1804, a man named kah awakens dracula from his slumber and asks him to help bring his masters, the seven golden vampires, back to power. dracula instead decides to take the whole operation over and sets out for china .
if you really want a good chinese vampire flick, i' d stick with ricky lau' s seminal mr vampire (1985) but legend of the 7 golden vampires, while not the dream project it could be, is definitely an odder prospect and a unique one too. it' s not quite mad enough that you' d invite friends round on a friday night but it' ll entertain any hammer or shaw brothers fan through a sunday afternoon hangover. and at least, unlike dracula ad 1972, it does spare us the upsetting sight of any flared trousers or paisley blouses .
if you really want a good chinese vampire flick, i' d stick with ricky lau' s seminal mr. vampire (1985) but legend of the 7 golden vampires, while not the dream project it could be, is definitely an odder prospect and a unique one too. it' s not quite mad enough that you' d invite friends round on a friday night but it' ll entertain any hammer or shaw brothers fan through a sunday afternoon hangover. and at least, unlike dracula ad 1972, it does spare us the upsetting sight of any flared trousers or paisley blouses .
the legend of the 7 golden vampires 1974 david chiang - peter cushing - shih szu. directed by: roy ward baker. a. k. a. the seven brothers vs dracula. kung fu ghouls. plot: count dracula journies to a remote chinese village in the guise of a. visita blog - out! ! - - { } - - ¡¡visita blog - out! ! theatrical trailer for this horror film produced by hammer studios and shaw brothers studio. it was released in north america in an edited version as the seven. i don' t own anything on this video. all credits go to james rolfe and cinemassacre .
zhang, zhen. “bodies in the air: the magic of science and the fate of the early martial arts film in china. ”
always been a favorite of mine, its so different! plus, its fast paced, and it has kung fu! plus the most unexpected things happen. i preferred the chinese monk dracula to the english actor, if they weren' t going to have lee on it, they might as well had simply used a chinese vampire monk, it would have been better. i love the seven titular vampires, they look like these weird vampire zombie things... and that army of darkness they resurrect? awesome stuff! there are two versions of this film, but my favorite is the one called legend of the seven golden vampires as opposed to the seven brothers meet dracula. somehow this review feels perfectly in place on this blog! shaw brothers kung - fu plus vampires! great mix .
while lecturing in china, van helsing agrees to help seven kung fu trained siblings reclaim their ancestral mountain village, now the domain of seven powerful vampires and their army of undead slaves .
r0 the hammer collection america - anchor bay entertainment - no cuts - includes the original british version (88: 57 ntsc) and the alternate us version ,
the 7 brothers meet dracula
( 74: 54 ntsc) .
count dracula journeys to a remote chinese village in the guise of a warlord to support six vampires who are dispirited after the loss of a seventh member of their cult. at the same time, vampire hunter prof. van helsing happens to be lecturing in the country and is persuaded by villagers to help them fight this curse of the ages .
this is a typical movie from the 1970s. back then it would have been horror. now it is a mix of vampires, martial arts and light sex .
dvd synopsis and information: hammer' s original uncut version. professor van helsing (peter cushing) and count dracula (john forbes - robinson) meet again in this kung fu horror spectacular set in the village of ping kuei. after learning about the seven golden vampires of the village, hsi ching, vanessa beren and mai kwei offer to guide van helsing and his son to ping kuei to free it from the curse of count dracula .
their masks and swords. the undead do not concern themselves with the possible dangers of exposing young children to massive amounts of
sanjek, david. “twilight of the monsters: the english horror film 1968–1975. ”
the fight sequences, while manic and bloody, are never particularly exciting or gripping. besides an impressive bout between the seven brothers and a group of men in an open field, legend features several uneven fights where characters either defeat their enemies with ease or fall at their hands conveniently. this unfair balance deprives the film of any danger or stakes (get it, stakes) and makes the characters’ fates all the less worrisome. stronger action sequences, as well as more finely tuned characters, would have strengthened legend’s action / horror hybrid proceedings .
the cast is a lot of fun, as the film features both peter cushing and david chiang in dual lead roles. cushing portrays van helsing once again for hammer as a man who has decided to move to china to look for the seven golden vampires. however, he gets more than he bargained for when he ultimately realizes that dracula himself is behind the raising of the seven vampires. the film itself has no true connection to any previous hammer dracula film, even though cushing returns as helsing. even dracula himself is recast, with john forbes - robertson taking over for christopher lee. dracula fans should be warned though that the lord of darkness only appears in the film for mere minutes .
church, david. “one on top of the other: lucio fulci, transnational film industries, and the retrospective construction of the italian horror canon. ”
whilst travelling around asia to spread the word on vampirism, professor van helsing (peter cushing) is approached by hsi ching (david chiang), a man in desperate need of help. his remote village has fallen victim to the curse of the seven golden vampires, an ancient evil who desecrate all and kidnap buxom young virgins for sacrificial rites. van helsing, famous for his destruction of the arch vampire dracula, accepts and along with his son leyland (robin stewart) and the heiress vanessa buren (julie ege) journeys across china to wipe out the vampires once and for all. but the forces of darkness are also moving and the seven are growing in strength, thanks in part to their new master... count dracula himself .
wood, robin. “burying the undead: the use and obsolescence of count dracula. ”
all the students leave – except for one, hsi ching (david chiang), who believes the story – because the farmer was his grandfather, and hsi shows van helsing the medallion. hsi, his brothers and sister mai kwei (shih szu), all experts in martial arts and differing weapons, have sought van helsing’s aid, because the golden vampires are on the rise again. van helsing agrees, as does his son leyland (robin stewart), who has an eye for mai kwei, and vanessa buren (julie ege), a wealthy scandinavian widow who funds the expedition looking for some adventure. the party leaves the city, momentarily distracted by some thugs sent by a local warlord insulted by vanessa buren’s rejection of his advances. but soon they’re deep in the countryside. and deep in trouble; the remaining golden vampires are getting ready for them…
i would have loved to have seen, kali, devil bride of dracula get made, (perhaps with some help from harryhausen) but i’ll have to settle for the 7 golden vampires. this is the one hammer horror film i have not seen, its on my list but i was hoping to catch it on tv. which reminds me, are we getting ripped - off with cable channels, or what? i got 300 channels and i rarely see an old hammer film, godzilla flick, or classic 50’s sci - fi / horror movie .
meanwhile, van helsing' s son leyland has upset a local chungking gangster by vying for (and winning) the affections of vanessa buren, a rich and beautiful scandinavian widow (julie ege). this provides not just a pressing impetus for the party to leave chungking but, in the form of vanessa, gives them the money and resource to do so, setting in place a grand old adventure. as our merry mismatched band travel the country, you' d expect characters to develop and things to happen but this is where 7 golden vampires somehow loses the plot entirely. a huge section of the film is just people walking from one place to the next, spouting clunky exposition. there are several fights but nothing ever feels like it has any narrative consequence until the very end of the film where suddenly everyone starts martyring themselves and it goes from 0 to 100 then ends .
a study of hong kong cinema in the seventies, the 8th hong kong international film festival .
johnny alucard raises count dracula from the dead in london in 1972. the count goes after the descendants of van helsing .
one thing is for certain - - the shaw' s were able to instill an epic feel that hammer couldn' t have done at the time. compared to the other strange vampire picture from the company, captain kronos (1972), the shaw - hammer co - production is the better film in my opinion. kronos has a tv movie feel and outside of some fun ideas and quirky moments, the action pales when compared to baker' s movie. golden vampires looks like a hellish version of seven samurai (1954) while kronos is simply bland .
humble farmer decides to save daughter from vampire sacrifice. farmer goes to vampire hangout, frees daughter, but the vampires go apeshit. farmer makes it out of the building - - but wait! what' s that coming out of the ground? it' s a rotting human hand! zombie !
in its eagerness to cover all the bases, the film throws in the topless maiden victims of the vampires who are drained into a big vat and a streak of tear - jerking tragedy (when ege becomes a vampire, the hero impales her and himself on the same stake) but it boils down to yet another confrontation between the indomitable cushing and an arrogant, soon - to - crumble cloaked count .
the effects are feeble at best (yeah, and i bet you thought the idea of rubber bats on strings was just a joke, right ?) and there’s only a trickle of blood here and there (though they make up for it with scenes of the undead rising from the graves en masse). the vampires and zombies disintegrate in a good old fashioned way, and we do get some boob shots. tastefully done, of course .
it' s hard not to like this film, for pure kitsch value alone; witnessing the mishmash of kung fu and vampires, and more than a nod to the seven samurai too. i' m sure that with the mania for kung fu films at the time here in the west it was equally engaging when it came out for the cinema goers and horror fans of 1974. but it wasn' t enough to save the vampire series, nor hammer itself which continued to trudge on aimlessly for a handful of films until the end of the decade .
the dawn of the 21st century signaled a comeback for aussie horror movies. a string of releases did solid business on video in the us: the inventive slasher cut (2000), the supernatural hellion (2002), the murder mystery lost things (2003) and the psychological terror of visitors (2003). the year 2003 witnessed the surprise success of the zombie comedy undead, which earned a rare, albeit limited, theatrical release in america .
jermaine fowler and omari hardwick of sorry to bother you take us back in time to the worst jobs of their careers .
from the front (and back) seats of drive in' s across the nation, to the sleaze pit theaters of new york' s famed 42nd street, to the comforts of home watching fantastic cinema on the late show, remember those classic (and sometimes classless) films of old and even discover some new ones .
hooks and crooks: some of the undead mooks attack leland with chinese hook swords during the cave ambush .
directed by: roy ward baker. a. k. a. the seven brothers vs dracula. kung fu ghouls. plot: count dracula journies to a remote chinese village in the guise of a warlord to support six vampires who are dispirited after the loss of a seventh member of their cult. at the same time, vampire hunter prof. van helsing happens to be lecturing in the country and is persuaded by villagers to help them fight this curse of the ages. own it on dvd! : urltoken
hammer studios delve into the oriental art of kung fu in this coda to their dracula series. professor van helsing (peter cushing) finds himself battling the disciples of his old enemy dracula when he ventures into 19th century china to combat a deadly plague. aided by a family of martial arts warriors, van helsing discovers that the disease transforms bats into deadly sword - wielding vampires .
professor laurence van helsing travels to china to speak about his ordeals with the supernatural and discovers through an interested student that count dracula is alive and well and lording over a peasant village miles away from civilization. taking his son and a wealthy lady traveler who finances the expedition, van helsing joins up with an honorable, yet vengeful chinese warrior and his seven brothers, one of which is a feisty female fighter. they make their way to the village to protect it from dracula and the dreaded golden vampires and their army of undead followers .
buffy was one of the first shows to understand where the medium could go (for people who were not just casual viewers). it took a show that could have been a simple monster of the week show into one with growth and great story arcs. these story arcs took the form, generally speaking, of the ‘big bad’. in each season, there would be one main antagonist. there would continue to be monster of the week type episodes throughout the season, but the story would also be building to a major fight with the ‘big bad’ for the end of the season. this mixture of the small with the big meant that the fights could mean more and allowed for greater character growth for the main characters .
this movie also has something that kronos doesn' t have and that' s peter cushing. the gentle old man of horror always brings something to even the lower level pictures he appeared in. if he was miserable on set, it doesn' t show. cushing was 60 when this film went into production in 1973 and gets down with some kung fu of his own during the battle royal at the conclusion. he battles the golden vampires, their zombie slaves and then finally dracula. van helsing had more to do here than probably all his other ventures combined .
. madison, wc: the university of wisconsin press. 1987. print .
like nearly every international co - production, legend faced many problems from the very start. the english actors and technicians arrived in hong kong expecting sound studios, but the shaw brothers preferred to film without sound, dubbing dialogue later for whatever market they were shipping out to. veteran director roy ward baker’s ability to direct the action sequences was questioned, and the chinese actors had difficulty reading the english lines. chairman of hammer films, michael carreras, would later remark of the finished film, “let’s just say that east did not meet west” .
the ending might suck, but the rest is made of pure and utter win. saw a few familiar faces in there of other kung fu movies i like .
the highlight of this film early on is watching a vampire being repulsed by the statue of the chubby buddah. it' s laughable. then later, peter cushing explains that vampires are not just afraid of crucifixes, but any holy symbol .
like your lord buddah
he says. hammer always had a way of coming up with a cool, original ending... a new way to kill dracula in each film. this ending was a bit of a letdown. too simple a death. but still, it' a enjoyable. hammer atmosphere has never been matched. the fog, the music, the darkness, the old castles, the 1800 transylvanian villages. i' ll take that mood anyday instead of blade or the lost boys .
this selected list of 24 notorious examples of cinematic sex, violence, brutality and blatant unwholesomeness is a companion piece to the ...
the dark arts v martial arts... ... a masterpiece of horror
i raced through the rest of the seasons (and quickly had my mother joining me on the sofa as i did). before long, i was at the local dvd store, making an ass of myself as i tried to hold seven stacked seasons between my arms and my chin, only to have them tumble spectacularly to the floor as i reached the checkout. stupid amounts of money later, i was the proud owner of the full run of buffy. after i moved out of home, i bought the complete series again for my mother. everyone needs a little buffy in their lives .
in new zealand, however, the story was quite the opposite. the late' 80s and early' 90s witnessed the rise of kiwi director peter jackson, whose lord of the rings films would later turn him into one of the biggest filmmakers in the world. jackson made a name for himself in the horror genre with the graphic, campy
splatter
fare bad taste (1988), meet the feebles (1989) and dead alive (1992). his first american co - production, 1996' s the frighteners, remained in the horror - comedy vein, but without all of the gore. jackson' s success no doubt opened the door for a new generation of kiwi genre filmmakers .
a hundred years later, professor van helsing (peter cushing) is lecturing in china, but is about to leave as his vampire theories have been met with disbelief. he then meets hsi ching (david chiang), who tells him that his home village is under the golden vampires' terror, and asks his help. van helsing agrees and sets out with hsi ching' s brothers and sister to the village .
we have this peppy, pretty little blonde who is a ninja badass. it was a little bit ridiculous at times, right? she had to fight vampires while keeping up with her homework and trying out for the cheerleading squad. the story was often dark, but at the end of the day, these were teenagers. teenagers who worried about boys and being cool. the show always knew what it was and was never afraid to mix the silly with the dark. thank god it did. one of my favourite examples of this is from the season three episode ‘helpless’ :
dracula is in this movie presumably because that was the deal but the story is independent of him and if you cut the first and last scenes he wouldn' t be in it. that would be just as well since the actor is a very weak substitute for christopher lee. but it doesn' t matter to the movie. it' s silly but it has a lot of good things in it. it' s well shot (although indifferently edited), the scenes of the vampires and their zombie army are genuinely creepy, the action scenes are fun, all the women are very attractive - - for some reason the vampires first strip off their blouses; maybe they moonlight, or sunlight, as modeling agents - - and the occasional contrasts between the christian and buddhist religions are intriguing (and might have been expanded into a general theme for the movie). the tape i saw included both the original version and the shorter american version, which is a shambles. what instructions did the cutter have: mess it up ?
three distinguished english gentlemen accidentally resurrect count dracula, killing a disciple of his in process. the count seeks to avenge his dead servant, by making the trio die in the hands of their own children .
wha? sanctity? sanctity as in
the state or quality of being holy, sacred, or saintly .
i thought that was the last thing dracula would want to relax in the middle of .
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. for many years this picture was given the cold shoulder by most hammer fans. the plot and the preponderance of chinese and kung fu in the film seem to turn people off who are more accustomed to the more familiar european settings. still, a lot of those same people
the lowest - priced item in unused and unworn condition with absolutely no signs of wear .
as ever though, it' s the peerless peter cushing who impresses; rising above the poor lines and substandard material with a gentlemanly professional air. he even manages to convince us in one scene where he details that the vampires of europe are subdued by the sign of the crucifix, whereas here in the orient, it will be the image of the lord buddha... just as well he didn' t have to knock together one of those impromptu as he did so many times with the crucifix in previous films! it' s also interesting to note the costume he wears here, as i' m fairly certain it' s the same one he wore in the doctor who films some ten years prior, which given that cushing would occasionally buy the costumes he wore for films would not surprise me in the least. i fear this outfit was ruined for this film however, as there' s a rather distressing and possibly accidental moment where cushing, repelling the vampires, falls into the campfire. it' s cut away from very quickly, leaving the audience to wonder and fear for him, and the jacket is charred and torn in later scenes .
the plot finds an excuse to send such hammer staples as dr van helsing (peter cushing) and his arch - enemy count dracula (john forbes - robertson replacing christopher lee) to china, where they are mixed up in an extremely weird rerun of the magnificent seven (us, 1960), in which the hsi family, martially - skilled siblings, are sworn to protect a remote village from the periodic ravages of the eponymous golden - masked eastern bloodsuckers and their zombie hordes .
throughout its run, the critical reception of buffy was excellent. although it was nominated for a number of awards, it won few. ‘hush’, from season four, was nominated for an emmy (despite most of the episode having no dialogue), but didn’t win. the much - lauded musical episode, ‘once more with feeling’, was ‘accidentally’ left off the emmy nomination voting ballots. it did win ‘most memorable moment’ for the season five finale, ‘the gift’, however. buffy herself, aka sarah michelle gellar received several nominations for her portrayal of the titular character, including a golden globe, teen choice award, and nebula award – but she failed to win. despite the show’s failure to win many awards, it is so widely viewed as one of the greatest tv shows of all time (and appears on many such lists), it has also spawned a number of academic studies .
well as you have been reading the reviews of this film, two definite trends seem to emerge. one is that this film has been critically panned for a couple of decades, and, two, this film seems to be genuinely liked by those that take actual effort to watch it. the film surely has its faults, but the overall effect it creates diminishes its shortcomings. the film is about a small town in china that has been ravaged for many years by a band of seven vampires. professor van helsing, giving a lecture in china, is approached by someone from that village that requests van helsing' s assistance. the rest of the story concerns van helsing, his son, a lady benefactor, and seven chinese brothers and their talented sister trekking across china to get to the village and face the seven deadly vampires in the charge of the one and only european count dracula. along the way, we the audience are treated to some first - rate martial arts, scary atmospheric settings which include zombie servants rising from fog - filled cemetaries, and the ultimate climax of good fighting evil. all in all it is one exciting piece of entertainment. the story at the end is a bit weak, as is the character of van helsing' s son, who seems to manage to stay alive despite being a weakling.
the legend of the 7 golden vampires is a 1974 horror film produced by hammer studios and shaw brothers studio . it is the ninth and final film in the hammer dracula series . it was released in north america in an edited version as the seven brothers meet dracula , and alternatively known as the seven brothers and their one sister meet dracula . the film is notable for having an actor other than christopher lee portray count dracula in the hammer dracula series ; before this film was made , lee left the role of the count . the role of dracula is played by john forbes-robertson ( though the actor 's voice is dubbed by david de keyser ) . 
the legend of the 7 golden vampires is a 1974 horror film produced by hammer studios and shaw brothers studio. it is the ninth and final film in the hammer dracula series. it was released in north america in an edited version as the seven brothers meet dracula, and alternatively known as the seven brothers and their one sister meet dracula. the film is notable for having an actor other than christopher lee portray count dracula in the hammer dracula series; before this film was made, lee left the role of the count. the role of dracula is played by john forbes-robertson (though the actor's voice is dubbed by david de keyser).
the legend of the 7 golden vampires is a 1974 horror film produced by hammer studios and shaw brothers studio. it is the ninth and final film in the hammer dracula series. it was released in north america in an edited version as the seven brothers meet dracula, and alternatively known as the seven brothers and their one sister meet dracula. the film is notable for having an actor other than christopher lee portray count dracula in the hammer dracula series; before this film was made, lee left the role of the count. the role of dracula is played by john forbes-robertson (though the actor's voice is dubbed by david de keyser).