The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula [The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)] - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - July 11, 1979

The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula was the truncated version of The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, one of the very last gasps of the foundering and failing Hammer Film production company. While the original version ran 89 minutes, The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula, shorn of some 14 minutes, was a brisk and, perhaps, borderline incoherent 75 minutes.

Adding further insult to injury was the film having been shelved, or passed over, for theatrical distribution for a whopping five years before getting a token release. My guess is the distributor wanted a Dracula title to capitalize on the expected box office success of Universal's big budget remake of Dracula, which was opening the following Friday, July 13th.

For snorts and giggles, I thought it would be fun to consult the theatre guide for the co-hits(s) that were paired with The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula.

The LUX co-features were Hot, Cool and Vicious, a 1977 martial arts import, and Caravans, a historical adventure from the director of The Enforcer (1976) and Every Which Way But Loose (1978). 

But if triple-features were not your kind of thing, then the Eastmont Four had The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula paired with Mean Frank and Crazy Tony, which was an Italian buddy film about a small-time criminal (Tony LoBianco) teaming up with a high-profile gangster (Lee Van Cleef) to escape from prison. 

I know Mean Frank and Crazy Tony better as Escape from Death Row and remember being low-key surprised by how light-hearted and delightful the movie turned out to be.