"The moon is full... the grave is empty... and terror stalks the land!"
Count Dracula is a 1970 film directed by Jess Franco and starring Christopher Lee as the titular Dracula in a non-Hammer Horror incarnation, reported to be the only incarnation of the Count Lee enjoyed portraying as he felt it was most faithful to the original.
Klaus Kinski plays Renfield, Herbert Lom plays Dr. Van Helsing, and Soledad Miranda plays Lucy Westenra.
Not to be confused with Count Dracula (1977).
Tropes:
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Mina is blonde, and Lucy is brunette, whereas in the novel Mina is agreed to be brunette and Lucy is implied to be blonde.
- Bedlam House: Averted; the psychiatric clinic is mostly well-established. The asylum is even operated by Dr. Van Helsing instead of Dr. Seward.
- Blond, Brunette, Redhead: Dracula's brides
- Burn the Undead: Harker and Quincey burn Dracula's coffin, forcing the vampire to be fatally Weakened by the Light.
- Cassandra Truth: Jonathan's claims of having escaped vampires are not taken seriously until Dr. Van Helsing spots two puncture wounds on his neck.
- Composite Character: Quincey Morris is combined with Arthur Holmwood, now being Lucy's fiancé and British.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the novel, Quincey Morris kills Dracula by plunging a bowie knife through his heart. In the film, he and Harker kill Dracula by setting fire to his coffin.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: Dr. Van Helsing ends up in a wheelchair after having a stroke. That doesn't stop him from aiding in the hunt for Dracula. And then he just gets better.
- Dracula: Who else?
- Fainting: Lucy has a fainting episode during her and Mina's visit to the asylum.
- Handicapped Badass: Even after experiencing a stroke and had to be in a wheelchair, Dr. Van Helsing doesn't let it stop him from helping hunt Dracula's trail and protect Mina from the vampire.
- Improvised Cross: Dr. Van Helsing uses a fire poker to scratch a scorched cross on the floor, driving Dracula away from Mina.
- Missing Reflection: Dracula casts no reflection in Harker's mirror.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Dracula boasts about an ancestor (possibly himself) who defeated his enemies single handedly.
- Spared by the Adaptation: By virtue of being combined with Arthur, Quincey survives this version.
- Super Window Jump:
- Jonathan does this to escape Dracula's castle.
- Renfield attempts this himself, but he's not that successful escaping the asylum.
- Truer to the Text: Lee enjoyed portraying this Dracula because it was accurate to the novel.
- Vampire Refugee: Mina, of course.
- The Voiceless: Aside from a few shrieks, Renfield has no lines of dialogue. This was a choice of the actor, who felt it was more effective (according to Franco on a 2006 interview included on the DVDs and Blu-rays)
- Wooden Stake: A stake through the heart is what ends Lucy's vampirism. The same fate befalls the Brides.
