The movie opens with a young woman driving her car out to the woods and going for a wander, skipping and smiling to herself as you do, when she is suddenly attacked by a Frankenstein-esque monster and carried off to meet her doom. We then move to an aquarium (bet you didn't see that coming!) where we are introduced to a hip young couple, a photographer and his model, who have just inherited a creepy old castle from a deceased uncle which he intends to turn into a studio. Unfortunately, the castle is currently being rented by an elderly couple who turn out to be Mr and Mrs Dracula (alias Townsend) and keep a plethora of young beauties locked up in their basement for a ready supply of fresh, young blood. Aside from their lumbering servant Mango and creepy butler, another associate of theirs named Johnny soon turns up who is a convicted murderer and yet harbours an even darker secret.

Welcome to Dracula's Castle.

You've probably guessed by now that this is the kind of film which will only appeal to you if you're a fan of very bad movies, although apparently by Adamson's standards it's actually rather good. There's lot of vaguely embarrassed acting and gaping plot holes, and it also has your standard funky sixties soundtrack, as do many of these low-budget horror movies of the period (with total disregard of whether or not it actually suits the film at all). It kind of works here, though, as tone the film is very camp and light-hearted for the most part. It also has John Carradine, although he doesn't play Dracula or a mad scientist as you'd expect but rather he plays the butler for the vampiric couple. He still has a great presence on screen and makes the movie a lot more worthwhile.

The high point of the film comes when the director realises he doesn't have enough budget to show the vampires actually turning to dust, so instead he focuses the camera on the hero who narrates, "My god ... they're getting old, they must be a hundred years old ... now they're turning to dust ...". Brilliant.

I'd like to know where in the world this film is supposed to be set. It's some kind of friendly wooded paradise where nubile women sit around next to waterfalls, wearing bikinis and waiting for some insane axe murderer or otherwordly creature to have their wicked way with them, or take them off to some bizarre underground dungeon. It's the kind of place that Paul Naschy probably wouldn't mind living, but unfortunately it only exists in the twisted mind of Al Adamson. If for some reason you'd care to visit, then this movie might be for you. But you might want to make a quick stop at the psychiatrist on the way.

The Wolf Early in the film, Count Dracula mentions that he's arranged for the release of a fellow named Johnny, and muses "I'll have to be more firm with him. He's only a problem when that damn moon is full." Johnny, of course, is our supposed werewolf character and turns up shortly after having escaped from prison. We see an awful lot of him in human form, wandering around randomly slaughtering anybody that he happens to come across. It appears he doesn't exactly need a full moon in order to ignite his murderous instincts. Anyway, it turns out the vampiric couple worship a God called 'Luna', and have to make a sacrifice at every full moon. Here's the thing, though; our wolf man doesn't transform. In fact, there's some debate over whether or not he is actually a werewolf, aside from a few mentions about him becoming a monster at the full moon. It's very unclear, and I was debating whether or not to include it on this site for that reason, but apparently some TV versions of the movie do splice in some shots of a guy in a werewolf mask (but not the theatrical print that I saw) so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. However, I can't really recommend it for werewolf movie fans.

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