A Taste of Blood (1967)

User Rating:

4.6/10   

Director:

Herschell Gordon Lewis

Writer:

Donald Stanford (writer)

Release Date:

9 August 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

A ghastly tale drenched with gouts of blood spurting from the writhing victims of a madman's lust!

Plot:

A businessman turns into a vampire after drinking brandy laced with vampire blood and sets out on an odyssey of killing the descendent's of Dracula's executioners.

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | Brandy | Blood | Florida | Throat Ripping

Cast

Bill Rogers	...	John Stone
Elizabeth Wilkinson	...	Helene Stone
William Kerwin	...	Dr. Hank Tyson (as Thomas Wood)
Lawrence Tobin	...	Det. Crane
Ted Schell	...	Lord Gold
Otto Schlessinger	...	Dr. Howard Helsing
Eleanor Vaill	...	Hester Avery
Gail Janis	...	Vivian
Herschell Gordon Lewis	...	The Limey Seaman / Voice of Baron Khron (as Seymour Sheldon)
Judy Waterberry	...	Ida, the maid
Dolores Carlos	...	Sherri Morris
Roy Collodi	...	Delivery Man
Karl Stoeber	...	Man walking dog
Thomas Rowland	...	Detective
Sidney J. Reich	...	Arthur Morris (as Sidney Jaye)

Also Known As:

The Secret of Dr. Alucard

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Miami, Florida, USA

Company:

Creative Film Enterprises Inc.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: In the night-time scene on the ship docked in London's East End, lights from Miami Beach's high-rise hotels and apartment buildings can be glimpsed in the background.

Quotes:

The Limey Seaman: Hi ya Governor! Aint t'night fit for t'devil!
John Stone: I wouldn't know.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Twisted Sex Vol. 12 (1996) (V)

A Taste of Herschell

The director of what is widely considered the first splatter film ever made(Blood Feast) directed this film about a man, through drinking a brandy laced with blood and his ancestral relationship to Count Dracula, that turns slowly into a vampire and begins to kill the relatives of the six men that killed the famous count. If you are looking for the typical Herschell Gordon Lewis trademarks of great quantities of un-realistic blood, super bad acting, gobs of intestines and the like, inferior lighting, and a litany of other flaws in film-making that seem to find such a home in Lewis's work, you might be disappointed. This is easily Lewis's best film in terms of direction and acting. The actors in here are average. No small feat for a Lewis film. Even Bill Kerwin(one of Lewis's regulars) does a decent job! The female lead was also average, and that says a lot for a Lewis film. Usually he just puts pretty girls with no acting talent in his films like Connie Mason, but sexy Elizabeth Wilkinson has some acting talent(albeit not a lot) as well as boobs! Bill Rogers makes an adequate vampire as well. Not only are the actors decent, but the script is interesting. Donald Stanford used some interesting tie-ins with the novel by Bram Stoker for the names of the relatives. I thought it was a fairly unique concept. The film is two minutes shy of two hours, and it is a tad long. It is very apparent though that Lewis wanted to make this film the best that he could. It shows. It shows he has some talent as well. Lewis also has a bit part as a sea captain affecting a working-class English accent. He is pretty good too. There is not much in the line of killing or gore though. The film shows far less blood that you would see in your typical Hammer feature. There are some obvious budget concerns with sets, etc..., but all in all this is a decent film about the vampire myth in a modern setting.