Herschell Gordon Lewis' own Dracula film is considered an overlong bore by many vampire (and HGL) lovers of the Bram Stoker character, with limited gore and extended takes of acting and dialogue in real, authentic locations in Miami. Uncharacteristic for HGL, "A Taste of Blood" is just about 2 hours in length and he admittedly took greater pains in setting the lighting and allowing for his performers to explore their characters with more depth. President of a company, John Stone (Bills Rogers), receives a package containing a small chest with two wine bottles inside containing the blood of Dracula. Stone, thinking the bottles are filled with wine, takes a drink, and after multiple tastes of the blood slowly is overtaken by the evil of Dracula soon pursuing humans when he runs out. Using a blue light and pasty make-up, Rogers is presented as a Dracula more akin to a zombie in Bob Clark's "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things" than the Hammer movies. While not as overly gory as the renowned "gore trilogy", there are some instances of bright red stage blood and open wounds (the most gruesome is where a female victim's throat is torn open by a voracious, unhinged Stone, fully overwhelmed at this point by Dracula's power). Because the movie is so dialogue-heavy with plenty scenes of characters talking for great lengths, I imagine (and have read) that this particular movie will fail to generate the same order of jovial fandom as HGL's schlocky, campy, gory splatterfests. That may be the problem: his fans expect the absence of restraint, having embraced the gratuitous nature of HGL's movies, wallowing gleefully in the over the top performances and violence. Elizabeth Wilkinson is Helene, John's concerned wife who can see the personality change, her life soon in danger when he finally becomes completely vampire; Bill Kerwin is Helene's doctor friend, Hank (he's in love with her), who she confides in. Otto Schlesinger is Howard Helsing, one of the last descendants of those who killed Dracula in danger of being a victim at Stone's hands (Stone went to London on "a business trip" killing several of the descendants of those behind Dracula's death), appealing to Hank for help. Wilkinson, while not much of an actress, is quite a pleasure to look at (I found my eyes always wandering to her boobs, although she is costumed in tight-fitting wardrobe elaborating her nice curvaceous figure). HGL has a small part as a British seaman (he even uses British dialect!)! The film includes all the requirements of vampire movies: the danger of the sun, annoyance of the crucifix, and the staking of the heart is how to kill Stone's vampire.
Review of A Taste of Blood
