The world’s first kung fu horror movie. That’s what everybody says, at least. Until England’s Hammer Studios and Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers teamed up in 1974, nobody else thought to send Dracula to China to take up with a vampire cult and fight a team of martial arts masters. Peter Cushing tags along as Van Helsing, ever pursuing old Fangface wherever he may flap his cape. It’s a film that’s perfect for both an old Times Square “Kung Fu Hits” triple bill and the all-night horror marathon. It still plays well today as primo action-packed trash that cares more about frantic chopsocky, cool scenes of undead vampire minions rising from their graves and gratuitous breasts than it does in making a nickel’s worth of sense. The only nonsense moment here that bothers me is that the film gives Hammer house director Roy Ward Baker sole credit when he actually co-directed with Shaw’s own go-to man Chang Cheh. This was one of five films that the busy Cheh directed that year, so maybe he didn’t care, but let’s give credit where its due.