Now, hear us out on this one. Hammers last Dracula movie is generally remembered as either their greatest folly, or one of their boldest and most influential moves, seeing them team up with Hong Kong action masters the Shaw Brothers to make the first kung fu horror movie. Its also notable for being the one which Christopher Lee refused to make, seeing the role of Dracula instead taken by the rather less charismatic John Forbes-Robertson. However, there is a subtle romantic undertone to The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, made all the more pleasantly surprising for its progressive bent. The film sees Peter Cushings Van Helsing head out to China with his son Leyland (Robin Stewart) and their financier Vanessa Buren (Julie Ege), to help a family of kung fu experts defeat the undead fiends of the title who are terrorising a village. The early scenes hint at a romantic interest between Leyland and Vanessa, but once their mission is underway Vanessa instead falls in love with master fighter Hsi Ching (David Chiang), and Leyland with Chings sister Mai Kwei (Shih Szu). Bit of a spoiler now... things end somewhat tragically for Vanessa and Ching, but it results in one of the most poignant death scenes youll ever see in a Hammer horror movie. Having been bitten and turned into a vampire, Vanessa lures the unwitting Ching to her and bite his neck too and knowing the fate that awaits them, he impales them both on the same wooden stake. Which, it must be said, is a pretty romantic way to go.
