THE LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES

Hong Kong/UK, 1974, 83 minutes, Colour.
Peter Cushing, David Chiang, Julie Ege.
Directed by Roy Ward Baker.

The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires is an attempt for the Hammer Studio’s horror tradition to use the Kung Fu tradition of Hong Kong: the setting to China, the atmosphere to horror with Peter Cushing and vampires. However the locations and setting provide for sufficient Kung Fu and marshal arts presentation to satisfy the fans. Whether such a blending of two different traditions can come off will depend on audience reaction to the various genres and personal taste.

1. How entertaining? How commercial a film? Did this matter for its success and entertainment?

2. How much did the horror predominate? Why do audiences like such horror films? The presuppositions about vampires, Transylvania, Dracula?

3. The Hammer films with Peter Cushing etc.? The importance of the character of Van Helsing? The_ importance of the lecture sequence and our reactions to the Chinese criticism? The response to Dracula and his taking over of the Chinese man? response to the Chinese atmosphere of the vampires, the techniques? Vampire lore? The final confrontation? Where did the film use the vampire conventions best? Was it original in any way?

3. How well did the film use Chinese locations? The Chinese Dracula figure? The Seven Golden Vampires, their masks and decay, their style? Fighting and menace, the house with its victims. the living dead arising and corrupting, hobbling and riding horses? How much Chinese tradition went into these characters?

4. How well were the marshall arts sequences portrayed? Were they well integrated into the horror,? The initial scene with the jewel thieves and the fighting of the seven brothers with the army? The use of marshall arts in fighting the Seven Golden Vampires? Did this add to the enjoyment of the film? The violence and gore?

5. Were the characters important in this film or were they conventional? Professor Van Helsing and his relentless crusade against Dracula? Peter Cushing style and personality? Identifying with him for the audience against Dracula? Van Helsing's son and the romance? The hero and his sister and the potential romances? Mrs Buren and her support of the expedition? Her conventional western beauty figure? The irony of her being vampirised? The drama of her death and the hero’s death?

6. Comment on the use of the Chinese landscapes and sets and their adding to atmosphere.

7. The film was a commercial success. What implications are there in this for audience tastes and popular entertainment styles for the seventies?