''Dracula's Dog'', also known as ''Zoltan... Hound of Dracula'', is a 1977 American

supernatural horror film Supernatural horror film is a film genre that combines aspects of supernatural film and horror film. Supernatural occurrences in such films often include ghosts and demons, and many supernatural horror films have elements of religion. Common them ...

directed by

Albert Band Albert Band (born Alfredo Antonini; May 7, 1924 – June 14, 2002) was a French-born American film director and film producer. He was the son of artist Max Band, father of filmmaker Charles Band and of film composer Richard Band and the grandfath ...

and starring Michael Pataki and

José Ferrer José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992) was a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican actor and director of stage, film and television. He was one of the most celebrated and esteemed Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hi ...

. Its plot revolves around a Doberman Pinscher who is turned into a vampire by a member of

Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...

’s family. 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''.

Plot

The Romanian army accidentally blasts open a subterranean

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

, 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. The crypt belongs to the

family, all of whom are

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

s. Zoltan removes the stake from the innkeeper's chest, re-animating him. The narrative then cuts to a flashback of a village in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

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 victim to a dog, Dracula, in bat form, bites the dog, turning it into a vampire. Then Dracula, with the dog by his side, turns on the innkeeper, turning him 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) who can be used as a slave. Back in the present day, it appears that the Dracula family have only one surviving (mortal) descendant, Michael Drake, a

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

, and (unknown to him) the image of Count Igor Dracula. He decides to take his wife Marla and their two children, Linda and Steve—as well as their two

German Shepherd The German Shepherd, also known in Britain as an Alsatian, is a German Dog breed, breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various Old German herding dogs, traditional German herding dog ...

s, Samson and Annie, and their two puppies—on vacation in the family's Winnebago camper. The vampire dog and his master travel to the United States, shipping themselves via boat to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, to make Michael their new master. Eventually, Zoltan and Smit find themselves in the same forest as Michael and his family. Two fishermen, vacationing nearby with a Pointer called Buster, discover that Zoltan has bitten their dog. The Drakes' two dogs are also bitten and all the deceased dogs reanimate 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 previously, escapes destruction.

Cast

Production

''Dracula's Dog'' was produced under the

working title A working title is a preliminary name for a product or project. The usage is especially common in film and TV, gaming, music and publishing. It is often styled in trade publications as (wt) and is synonymous with production title and tentative ...

''Hounds of Dracula''. The film was shot in

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

. Scenes taking place at the Dracula family's tomb were filmed on the former site of

Griffith Park Zoo Griffith Park Zoo, referred to today as the Old Los Angeles Zoo, is a city-owned former zoo now in ruins, located in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California. The zoo opened in 1912, closed in 1966 with the opening of the Los Angeles Zoo, and now ...

. The

Port of Los Angeles The Port of Los Angeles is a seaport managed by the Los Angeles Harbor Department, a unit of the Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles. It occupies of land and water with of waterfront and adjoins the separate Port of Long Beach. Promoted as "Amer ...

was used as the port at which Veidt Smit and Zoltan arrive in California, and Lake Hollywood Park, which surrounds the Hollywood Reservoir, served as the location of the camping grounds.

Stan Winston Stanley Winston (April 7, 1946 – June 15, 2008) was an American television and film special make-up effects artist, best known for his work in the ''Terminator'' series, the first three '' Jurassic Park'' films, '' Aliens'', '' The Thing'', ...

served as the film's special makeup effects artist.

Release

Theatrical run

The film received a theatrical release in the United Kingdom on May 8, 1977, under the title ''Zoltan... Hound of Dracula''. It was released in the United States on March 29, 1978, as ''Dracula's Dog''.

Home media

The film was released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

Thorn EMI Thorn EMI was a major British company involved in consumer electronics, music, defence and retail. Created when Thorn Electrical Industries merged with EMI in October 1979, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituen ...

/HBO and United Home Video released under the titles ''Zoltan... Hound of Dracula'' and ''Dracula's Dog'', respectively.

Anchor Bay Entertainment The revived Anchor Bay Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company owned by Umbrelic Entertainment co-founders Thomas Zambeck and Brian Katz. Anchor Bay Entertainment markets and releases "new release genre ...

released the film on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

as ''Zoltan... Hound of Dracula'' on August 20, 2002.

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has an approval rating of 17% based on six surveyed critics, with an average rating of 3.6/10. Michael Wilmington of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' called it the nadir of vampire films. ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' rated it 1/5 stars and called the film's premise "ludicrous". Adam Tyner of

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

rated it 2/5 stars and wrote that the film is too inept to be scary, though it is fun to mock. Writing in ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'', John Clute and John Grant call it "surprisingly dull", but complimented the dogs. 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.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{Dracula 1977 films 1977 horror films American supernatural horror films American vampire films Dracula films Films about dogs Crown International Pictures films Films directed by Albert Band 1970s supernatural horror films Films set in 1670 Films set in 1977 Films set in Los Angeles Films set in Romania 1970s English-language films 1970s American films English-language horror films