The Thursday Horror Picture Show will screen The Satanic Rites of Dracula and Night of the Living Dead on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 9:15 p.m. at The Grail Moviehouse, hosted by Xpress movie critic Scott Douglas.
Satanic Rites of Dracula/Night of the Living Dead
Movie Information
In Brief: Halloween is upon us, which means it's time for the Asheville Film Society's month of monstrosities to draw its dying breath with one last double feature, and in memoriam I've scheduled an undisputed classic alongside a heavy dose of classic camp. First up we have the final Hammer pairing of Christopher Lee's Dracula with Peter Cushing's Van Helsing, 1973's Satanic Rites of Dracula. Quite possibly the worst of the Hammer Dracula films, come see the film that essentially put a stake through the heart of a once prolific studio — seriously, words don't do this one justice. Then we have the film that launched a thousand rip-offs, George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. No matter how many times you've seen it (and I may be nearing triple digits) it's well worth revisiting on the big screen, especially if you've been recently disappointed by its bastard child The Walking Dead. Could there be a better ghoul's night out?
| Score: | |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Director: | Alan Gibson/George A. Romero |
| Starring: | Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing/Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea |
| Rated: | NR |
With the election just around the corner, DRACULA A.D. 1972 gets my vote for being the worst Hammer Dracula movie ever. Then there’s THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES followed by SCARS OF DRACULA.
For the record it was 1976’s TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER that essentially finished the studio off although it was the 1979 remake of THE LADY VANISHES with Cybill Shepherd, Elliot Gould, and Angela Lansbury that proved to be the final nail in the coffin.
While To the Devil a Daughter is the film that nearly bankrupted the studio, both that picture and The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires were significant deviations from the classic Hammer formula. When I say that Satanic Rites “essentially” finished off the studio, what I’m suggesting is that since this was the last film in the Hammer mold, they must have been in dire enough straits after it flopped that they changed up their strategy, ultimately leading to the studio’s demise. I will grant you that Dracula A.D. 1972 may well be worse, but that’s why I threw a qualifier in there.