Great opening for this installment, a deaf altar boy discovers a young woman hanging upside down from the church bell, blood dripping from her neck. Move forward a year and Count Dracula is accidentally revived. He goes on his usual round of terror and bloodsucking, his target of desire being the beautiful Veronica Carlson. He certainly has great taste in women!
The sets are great, I felt like I was almost in the mountain village. Good cast, nice to see Hammer's most prolific actor Michael Ripper have a larger part than normal. No Peter Cushing here, which makes the vampire hunter aspect interesting. There is some debate within the film of faith versus atheism, apparently staking a vampire does not work if the person doing the staking lacks religious belief. Interesting.
We have no nudity but there are sexual overtones. Thankfully we get plenty of blood, plus Hammer's trademark day for night scenes and swirling fog.
Not one of the studio's best vampire movies but it's still a wonderful piece of Gothic horror, I grew up on watching these films and love immersing myself into them, over and over again.