BLACK BELT against BLACK MAGIC

May 29, 2009 3:19 AM

The Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires combined the tail end of Hammer film's Dracula series with, the then, burgeoning martial arts craze to create "The First Kung Fu Horror Spectacular!"

Trailer
Posters
The whole film on Google video
The ending, "You must destroy her!", Chinese Disco (in Spanish)
Comic adaptation.
Poss NSFW... brief nudity

posted by fearfulsymmetry (11 comments total)

As a lover of both wacky Shaw Brothers kung fu and low budget horror, this of course was right up my alley. A great idea, and a fun movie, but I still wish the two styles had merged a little more in the execution. The Hammer scenes and the kung fu scenes seemed to be separate entities from what I remember (but it's been a while - now that it's on Google, maybe I'll give it a second viewing!).

I never heard about the comic version though. Nice post!
posted by p3t3 at 3:59 AM on May 29, 2009

Podcast of Peter Cushing narrating the story for radio

Kung fu and Dracula, sans any visual medium. Having only heard this I kinda wondered if maybe someone had an idea that was tossed out before it got any farther than radio. Reckon not.
posted by rahnefan at 4:22 AM on May 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

Good comic.
posted by WalterMitty at 4:55 AM on May 29, 2009

I just watched the first two minutes, and I'm saving this to watch later with my son. It looks fun!
posted by not_on_display at 6:11 AM on May 29, 2009

I'm not saying it's good exactly, but I'm very fond of it.
posted by Artw at 6:37 AM on May 29, 2009

Oh this movie ranks right up there with Dracula AD 1972 as absolutely one of the BEST of Hammer's superb vampire oeuvre. While it is, alas, lacking in the white go go boot discotheque scene that makes Dracula AD 1972 such a cogent commentary on the status of the undead in this cold modern world, still, the juxtaposition of ancient martial arts with ancient somewhat deceased bloodsuckers is both poignant and evocative. Truly, a venture into the darkness of sort of but not really recorded history is always worthwhile and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires frames important questions that we would all do well to ponder, such as, which came first, the vampire or the karate chop?
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:27 AM on May 29, 2009 [2 favorites]

Oh, Dracula AD 1972. Was the tagline really "The Count is back, with an eye for London's hotpants . . . and a taste for everything"? Hotpants? In 1972? I still haven't finished the movie, but it was weird. I thought weird in a good way, but my wife disagreed, which I thought was odd as she's a big fan of Rocky Horror. Maybe it's the wrong sort of camp?

I'd like to see a mash-up of 7 Golden Vampires with Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Because it would be weird, no matter how it worked out.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:31 AM on May 29, 2009

I thought the film was utterly hilarious. One note: Dracula's vampire hordes are supposed to be "Jiangshi", or Chinese hopping vampires. Unfortunately, in the horde scene, they're going downhill on a dirt road, so they end up skipping.

A crowd of Chinese skipping vampires just ain't right.
posted by happyroach at 9:48 AM on May 29, 2009

Documentary about the making of the film.
posted by the cuban at 10:11 AM on May 29, 2009

Peter Cushing and David Chiang in the same film. 'Nuff said.
posted by cazoo at 12:14 PM on May 29, 2009

wow, I own this movie, on VHS no less....
posted by yodelingisfun at 2:06 PM on May 29, 2009