The Dracula Saga (1972)

While I have formed somewhat of an affinity for films that most people don't usually consider watching (Hammer and B-movies in general) I still find it extremely difficult to attain much enjoyment from one particular cult genre, Spanish Horror, specifically those put out in the 1970's.

The Dracula Saga is one of the few remaining, widely available, Spanish Horrors or Euro-Horrors that I have yet to view which include the lovely Helga Line.  The story centers around Berta, the granddaughter of Count Dracula who has returned home to Transylvania with her husband to give birth to their son.  As soon as they arrive into town they are thrust into a varying array of strange occurrences, the first being the discovery of a girl in the forest with bite marks on her neck who is thoroughly drained of blood.  This is only the first of many sudden random attacks that begin to occur throughout the outskirts of the town. 

But it's not only the town that has changed, Berta's home, Castle Dracula, seems quite dead and empty.  The discovery of her grandfather and cousin's tombs only adds to the fear and confusion that already plagues her.  Thoroughly frightened by the events in town and the state of the castle causes Berta to want to leave, but by now they find themselves locked in the castle, no way of escape.  When night falls her family appears to great her, but they've all changed and look like walking death.  Her grandfather discounts their condition as a genetic illness, but it's clear to any laymen that they are all vampires, and they await the birth of Berta's son who will become the new powerful heir in the Dracula line.

As a fan of Helga Line I enjoyed her earlier entries into Euro-horror with Nightmare Castle and The Blancheville Monster, but all the 1970's horror films, with the exception of Horror Express, I've found to be completely bizarre and often slow moving.  To true fans of the genre those two descriptions probably ring as true aspects of the genre but with them garner an obvious opposite reaction.  But The Dracula Saga has another glaring issue that I didn't find as prevalent in some of other films; the story made almost no sense.  While I ultimately understood that Berta's son was to become the next Dracula, nothing that lead up to it is ever explained very well.  Berta wasn't a vampire, and she was unaware of her grandfather and cousins "conditions" before her return, so reason dictates they weren't originally vampires and that it was probably the Count's new wife, Munia (Helga Line), that was responsible for turning them.  But the real question is how does the child inside Berta then become a vampire and essentially drive her mad later on in the film?

Essentially what I was able to grasp from the film is that it's the chronicle of the birth of the original vampire version of Count Dracula.  It's the only conclusion I can arrive at that ultimately makes any sense, even though story itself is really pretty sketchy in it's explanations.  As the staple of Euro-horror in the 1970's is blood, guts and eroticism, The Dracula Saga manages to have a number of scenes with women disrobing and feasting on their prey, but the amount of blood and guts really pales in comparison to the two Naschy films which also co-stared Helga Line.  It seemed like every time there was going to be a gruesome scene the camera would pan away only to then return and reveal the aftermath. 

Overall, I'd stick The Dracula Saga somewhere in between Nashy's Horror Rises From The Tomb and The Mummy's Revenge, the two other 1970's Euro-horror I didn't find particularly enjoyable.  The only real highlights of the film are of course Helga Line, as usual, and the film manages to portray and sustain a relatively convincing creepy vibe throughout via the music, locations, sets, costumes.  Even the strange style of filming, which on occasions looked like someone threw a handkerchief over the lens, gave somewhat of a unique effect.  If this is your type of genre then you'll probably get a slight amount of enjoyment out of it, but it's still probably low on the list of quality Euro-horror.  For me I'll stick with the more conservative black and white Euro-horror of the 1960's those seem to be more my taste.

4/10

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