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Dracula's Dog (U.K. title: Zoltan...Hound of Dracula; original working title: Hounds of Dracula) is a 1977 American horror film starring Michael Pataki and José Ferrer. It revolves around a dog who is turned into a vampire by a member of the Dracula family, who is also a vampire.[2]

Dracula's Dog/ Zoltan...Hound of Dracula
DVD cover
Directed by	Albert Band
Written by	Frank Ray Perilli
Based on	Hounds of Dracula by Ken Johnson
Produced by	Philip Collins
Starring	José Ferrer Michael Pataki Arlene Martel
Cinematography	Bruce Logan
Edited by	Harry Keramidas
Music by	Andrew Belling
Production company	Vic Productions
Distributed by	Crown International Pictures (U.S.) EMI Films (U.K.)
Release dates	May 8, 1977 (1977-05-08) (U.K.) June 1, 1978 (1978-06-01) (U.S.)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States[1]
Language	English

The film's screenplay by Frank Ray Perilli was the basis for the mass market paperback novel Hounds of Dracula (1977) by Ken Johnson, which was re-titled Dracula's Dog upon the film's release in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the novel was titled Zoltan...Hound of Dracula.[3]

Plot

The Romanian army accidentally blasts open a subterranean crypt, and the army captain, fearing looters and criminals, stations a guard near the site. Late in the night, an earthquake shakes loose one of the coffins, which slides down and lands at the feet of the confused guard. Curious as to what has fallen before him, the guard opens the coffin and discovers a dog's body, impaled by a wooden stake. He removes the stake, which revives the vampiric Doberman Pinscher Zoltan.

After slaying the guard and drinking his blood, Zoltan opens another coffin shaken loose from the crypt, this one holding the body of his master, an innkeeper named Veidt Smit, who is also buried in the crypt, which belongs to the Dracula family, all of whom are vampires. Zoltan removes the stake from the innkeeper's chest, re-animating the innkeeper. The film cuts to a flashback of a village in Romania in 1670, over 300 years ago.

The dog of an innkeeper saves a sleeping woman from being bitten by Count Igor Dracula. Furious over losing his meal to a dog, Dracula, in bat form, bites the woman's savior, turning the dog into a vampire. Then Dracula, with the dog by his side, turns on his owner, turning the innkeeper into a "fractional lamia" (an undead creature that is only part vampire, able to function in the daytime and having no need to drink blood) and thus turning him into a slave of the Draculas.

Back in the present (1977), it appears that the Draculas have only one surviving (mortal) descendant, Michael Drake, a psychiatrist, and (unknown to him) the image of Count Igor Dracula. He decides to take his wife, Marla and their two children, Linda and Steve (who, technically, are also descendants of the Draculas), as well as their two German Shepherd Dogs, Samson and Annie, and their two puppies, on vacation in the family's Winnebago camper, hoping to spend some quality time with his family and their pets out in a national forest.

Still loyal to the Draculas, the vampire dog and his master travel to the United States, shipping themselves via boat to Los Angeles, California to make Michael their new master. Eventually, Zoltan and Smit find themselves in the same forest as Michael, his family, and their dogs.

Two fishermen, vacationing nearby with Buster, a Pointer belonging to one of them, discover that Zoltan bit their dog. The Drakes' two dogs are also bitten. The deceased dogs soon re-animate into vampire dogs, the minions of Zoltan. Veidt Smit and the four vampire dogs are all destroyed at the end of the film but, unknown to everyone involved, a vampire German Shepherd puppy (one of the two puppies belonging to the Drakes) that Zoltan had bitten before escapes destruction.

Cast

• Michael Pataki as Michael Drake/Count Igor Dracula
• José Ferrer as Inspector Vaclav Branco
• Reggie Nalder as Veidt Smit
• Jan Shutan as Marla Drake
• Libby Chase as Linda Drake
• John Levin as Steve Drake
• Cleo Harington as Pat Parks
• Arlene Martel as Major Hessel
• Tom Gerrard as Maslow, the guard
• Dimitri Logothetis as an army corporal
• Al Ferrara as Al, the deputy
• Roger Pancake as the sheriff

Release

Thorn EMI/HBO and United Home Video released it on VHS as Zoltan...Hound of Dracula and Dracula's Dog, respectively.[4] Anchor Bay Entertainment released it on DVD as Zoltan...Hound of Dracula on August 20, 2002.[5]

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes reports 17% of six surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 3.6/10.[6] Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times called it the nadir of vampire films.[7]TV Guide rated it 1/5 stars and called the film's premise "ludicrous".[8] Adam Tyner of DVD Talk rated it 2/5 stars and wrote that the film is too inept to be scary, though it is fun to mock.[5] Writing in The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, John Clute and John Grant call it "surprisingly dull", but complimented the dogs.[9] Welch Everman wrote in Cult Horror Movies that the film "could have been a pretty effective and frightening movie", but failed to live up to its potential.[4]

See also

• List of vampire films

References

External links

• Dracula's Dog at IMDb

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