This Horror Movie Turned Christopher Lee’s Dracula Into A James Bond Villain (1 Year Before His Actual 007 Film)

Christopher Lee’s final time playing Hammer’s Dracula saw the star basically auditioning for his eventual James Bond villain role. Lee’s filmography is littered with great performances, with some of the most famous being Lord Summerisle from The Wicker Man and The Lord of the Rings‘ Saruman. One of Lee’s most famous parts is Count Dracula, a character he played no less than ten times. Christopher Lee’s Hammer Dracula movies make up seven of these efforts, with the 1958 original being the actor’s breakout. He brought a menace and a sexuality to the role that hadn’t been attempted onscreen before.

Lee had a mixed view of Dracula run, feeling frustrated with his later typecasting in the role and disappointed over the sequel’s increasing lack of connection to Bram Stoker’s novel. He also claims to have been emotionally blackmailed into most of his appearances in the Hammer Horror film series, with producers stating that if he didn’t play Dracula, the financing would fall through and crews would lose work. Outside of Hammer, Lee played the vampire in 1970’s Count Dracula, the comedy One More Time and his final appearance was in French comedy Dracula and Son.

The Satanic Rites Of Dracula Turns Christopher Lee’s Count Into A Bond-Style Villain

The Satanic Rites of Dracula marked Lee’s final turn as Hammer’s bloodsucker

One of Tim Burton’s favorite films is Dracula AD 1972, a hopelessly dated horror sequel that attempted to update The Count for younger audiences. Tellingly, Lee barely appears in the film, with Dracula spending 90% of his screentime hiding out in an abandoned church while his minions do the heavy lifting. Lee followed up with 1973’s The Satanic Rites of Dracula, a strange blend of James Bond-inspired spy thriller with a standard Hammer Horror outing.

The plot involves MI5 looking into a mysterious cult, who have resurrected Dracula once again and are developing a virus capable of wiping out the planet. Lee is largely absent from The Satanic Rites of Dracula, where the titular vampire is pretending to be a reclusive businessman named Denham. The first big meeting between Lee’s Dracula and his nemesis Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) could have been ripped from a James Bond movie, with The Count hidden in shadow and explaining his fiendish, world-ending plot.

In truth, The Satanic Rites of Dracula is more a spy movie than a horror. It opens with a secret agent escaping from a mansion, and there are numerous car/bike chases and fistfights throughout. Sometimes Dracula’s brides attack, but the scale is still tipped towards being a spy thriller. For all intents and purposes, Lee’s Dracula in this Hammer sequel is a Bond villain in the vein of Dr No or Hugo Drax. The big difference is that, instead of trying to hold the world to ransom, he aims to destroy mankind, so he can finally rest in peace.

Christopher Lee Would Play An Actual Bond Villain The Year After The Satanic Rites Dracula

Christopher Lee became The Man with the Golden Gun in 1974

In real life, Lee was the step-cousin of Bond author Ian Fleming, with the latter even having suggested his friend could play the villain in Dr. No. That didn’t come to pass, but in 1974, Lee starred as the assassin Francisco Scaramanga in the 007 adventure The Man with the Golden Gun. In the story, Scaramanga is a legendary assassin who always kills with one shot, with his next target being Roger Moore’s James Bond. In truth, The Man with the Golden Gun nearly ended Bond, with the film’s lukewarm reviews and box office signaling the series was in trouble.

Regardless, Lee is as great as Scaramanga, being both very charming and unnerving. The Satanic Rites of Dracula actually proved a good testing ground for Lee to play a shadowy megalomaniac being targeted by British agents, though the star is clearly having more fun in The Man with the Golden Gun.

The Satanic Rites Of Dracula Convinced Lee To Quit The Series

Christopher Lee counted himself out of more Dracula

Lee’s dissatisfaction with the later Hammer Dracula films came to a head with The Satanic Rites of Dracula. While Hammer made one more Dracula movie with The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, Lee rejected the project after reading the script. Instead, the role was recast with John Forbes-Robertson, while Cushing returned once again as Van Helsing. The sequel was unique for its era, with The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires being a co-production between Hammer and Shaw Brothers Studio.

This means it’s a gothic horror film that just happens to feature multiple martial arts sequences. The sequel was still poorly received but has since become a cult favorite. It’s doubtful Lee ever regretted his decision to pass on what would prove to be Hammer’s final Dracula either, since The Man with the Golden Gun led to more international work for the veteran star. It speaks to how wild a journey Lee had with the vampire that he began with a straight adaptation of Stoker’s work, and closed with a James Bond knockoff.