The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)

Country of Origin: UK/Hong Kong
Year of Production: 1973
Running Times: 88m [UK theatrical]
Length: 7,962 ft [UK theatrical]
Format: 35mm, Panavision
Colour Format: colour
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Sound: mono

DIRECTION

Director: Roy Ward Baker

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Hammer Films/Shaw Brothers
Producers: Don Houghton, Vee King Shaw
Production Manager: Chua Lam
Unit Manager: Shen Chung

SCRIPT
Script: Dan Houghton

DIRECTION
Assistant Director: Erh Feng
Continuity: Renee Glynne

PHOTOGRAPHY
Directors of Photography: John Wilcox, Roy Ford
Camera Operator: Roy Ford
Focus Puller: Keith Jones

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Chris Barnes
Assistant Editor: Larry Richardson

MUSIC
Musical Supervisor: Philip Martell
Music: James Benard [real name: James Bernard]

SOUND
Sound Recording: Les Hammond
Boom Operator: Tommy Staples
Sound Editor: Frank Golding
Sound Maintenance: Dan Grimmel

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Costumes: Liu Chi-Yu
Make Up: Wu Hsu Ching
Hair: Peng Yen-Lien

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Les Bowie

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Johnson Tsau
Props Master: Li Wu

OTHER CREW
Floor Manager: Peng Cheng
Production Secretary: Jean Walter
Assistant to Producers: Christopher Carreras

LOCATIONS
Locations: Hong Kong

STUNTS
Martial Arts Sequences: Tang Chia, Liu Chia-Liang

CAST

Peter Cushing (Professor Lawrence Van Helsing)
David Chiang (Hsi Ching)
Julie Ege (Vanessa Buren)
Robin Stewart (Leyland Van Helsing)
Shih Szu (Mai Kwei)
John Forbes-Robertson (Dracula)
Robert Hanna (British Consul)
Chan Shen (Kah)
James Ma (Hsi Ta)
Liu Chia Yung (Hsi Kwei)
Feng Ko Anh (Hsi Sung)
Chen Tien Loong (Hsi San)
Wong Han Chan (Leung Hon)
Liu Hoy Ling

PLOT SUMMARY

1904: Chinese occultist Kah travels to Transylvania seeking out Count Dracula who promptly steals his body. A century later, Professor Van Helsing is on a lecture tour of China when he becomes involved in the plight of a small village under attack from seven legendary golden vampires.

As Hammer's fortunes faltered, their desperate attempts to try something different and outlandish culminated in this deeply strange, flawed, but undeniably entertaining hybrid. The horror scenes are directed with some style by Baker and the energetic old-school kung fu sequences never fail to impress. Forbes-Robertson is no replacement for Christopher Lee, but Cushing almost makes Houghton's atrocious dialogue seem believable.

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Warner Brothers

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Dynamite Entertainment
Video Distributors: 21st Century Video; Anchor Bay Entertainment Inc; Electric Video; Genesis Video; Media Home Entertainment; Sinister Cinema
Television Distributor: Warner Brothers Television
DVD Distributor: Anchor Bay (DV 10560)

Australia
Rating: M

UK
Rating: X; 18
18 version is cut by 12 seconds

USA
Rating: R
The US theatrical version, titled The Seven Brothers Meet Dracula, runs just 72 mins and is missing a large chunk of Van Helsing's universitylectures, an equally large chunk of the party at the beginning of the film, much of Kah's meeting with Dracula and elmost all of the romantic dialogue in the cave. Scenes are also re-edited and the vampire attack on the village is now placed at the beginning of the film. Much of the sex and violence has been removed altogether.

1974
June
6: UK - rated X by the BBFC (with cuts, for theatrical release)

October
6: UK - theatrical release

1992
January
Day Unknown: UK - television broadcast (on ITV)

1998
November
3: USA - DVD release (Anchor Bay (DV 10560))

1999
July
5: UK - television broadcast (on Channel 5)

2001
January
6: UK - television broadcast (on Channel 5)

Hammer Horror! Dragon Thrills! The First Kung Fu Horror Spectacular!

7 Brothers and a Sister Meet Dracula
7 Brothers of Dracula - working title
7 Brothers Versus Dracula
7 Golden Vampires - working title
7 vampires d'or, Les - French title
Dracula and the Seven Golden Vampires - working title
Kung Fu contra los siete vampiros de oro - Spanish title
Last Warning, The - working title
Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, The - alternative spelling
Leggenda dei 7 vampiri d'oro, La - Italian title
Seven Brothers Meet Dracula, The - US title
Seven Golden Vampires: The Last Warning - working title
Sieben goldenen Vampire, Die - German title

PERIODICALS

Cinefantastique vol.9 no.1 (Autumn 1979) p.40 (USA)
review

CinemaTV Today no.10098 (31 August 1974) p.15
credits

Classic Images no.313 (July 2001) p.41 (USA)
soundtrack review

Dark Terrors no.14 (June 1997) p.41 (UK)
illustrated short article

Films and Filming vol.21 no.1 (October 1974) p.43 (UK)
review

Flesh and Blood no.3 (1994) p.49
illustrated credits, review

The House That Hammer Built no.8 (April 1998) pp.458-460 (UK)
illustrated credits, synopsis, review

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.41 no.488 (September 1974) p.202 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review

Variety 4 June 1975 p.19 (USA)
credits, review

BOOKS

English Gothic pp.219-220
illustrated credits, review (by Jonathan Rigby)

The Hammer Story pp.164-165
illustrated article, review (by Marcus Hearn and Alan Barnes)

Ten Years of Terror pp.215-216
illustrated credits, review (by Jonathan Sothcott, David Flint)

KEYWORDS

vampires, dracula, martial arts, vampire slayers, china, cults, villages

Last Updated: 26 April, 2010