Rapid Response: The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula (Patreon)

1970's Scars of Dracula - released by Hammer Studios on a double bill with The Horror of Frankenstein - had been a weak entry in the series, performing poorly in the US. This came at a bad time for the studio, which was already struggling with financing, distribution and the loss of much of their creative team. The Dracula franchise was a vital part of their output - it had to make money, and so studio decided to push the boat out.

Regular screenwriter John Elder (a pseudonym for Anthony Hinds, son of Hammer's founder, William) turned out a script designed to reinvigorate the series and take advantage of frozen assets that financiers Warner Brothers' had in India, taking Christopher Lee's Count to a new and exotic location, away from the usual eastern European gothic of the series. The script was originally titled Dracula - High Priest of the Vampires and then became The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula. It would have been one of Hammer's most ambitious films, featuring thugees, temples, Hindu gods, bloody rituals, references to tantric sex and a surprising nod to E. M. Forster's A Passage to India, culminating in a spectacular cliff-top climax involving a flock of vultures! But Warners turned out not to have the assets they thought they had and Hammer's money woes doomed the project. The feeling amongst the decision makers was that they could re-energise the series more effectively (and more cheaply) by taking a lesson from what was popular at the time. Period gothic looked outdated up against the fiercely contemporary horror of Night of the Living Dead and Rosemary's Baby, and Count Yorga had proved that vampires could survive in a modern setting. Hammer determined to bring their most popular character into the 20th century and right up to swinging date with Dracula - Chelsea, a title that was thankfully changed to Dracula A.D. 1972. Written by Don Houghton (Anthony Hinds wanted nothing to do with the idea), the film is now considered a 'camp' classic, and it divides fans and critics in a way that it certainly didn't when it came out.

The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula was later touted as a follow-up to The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, with the title Kali - Devil Bride of Dracula (poster attached), and with Peter Cushing's Van Helsing crow-barred in, but the interest wasn't there. 7 Golden Vampires would be Hammer's last Dracula film and The Unquenchable Thirst remained unmade. In 2015 the script was dusted off for a live reading at the Mayhem Film Festival, but now the BBC has gone one better with a radio version, as part of their Unmade Movies series (which also includes radio adaptations of unproduced scripts of Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles). Directed by League of Gentlemen star and massive horror movie buff, Mark Gatiss, this is less a radio play - adapting a film that never existed - and more an audio version of the script itself. The radio script (sympathetically adapted by Gatiss and producer Laurence Bowen) includes many of the stage directions of Hinds' original, read in florid style by narrator Michael Sheen, entering into the spirit of the thing and having the time of his life. Dracula himself is played by impressionist Lewis MacLeod, who does a fair job but is no substitute for Christopher Lee (who is?). That said, the original was written at a time when Lee was distancing himself from the character, and so Dracula's appearances are limited and his dialogue still more so. Meera Syal makes an effective secondary villain as cult leader the Rani and, unusually for the era, the script has an Indian hero in Prem, played by Nikesh Patel. But the star of the piece, and the character who most makes you wish that the film had been made, is heroine Penny. Played by Anna Madeley, Penny is a rare strong heroine in a Hammer film who has come to India to search for her missing sister, and she drives the narrative rather than being a pawn or a victim.

Would The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula have been a better film than Dracula A.D. 1972?
Well, I don't really like the latter film, having never bought into its 'camp' value because I know Hammer can do better, so I would say definitely yes. It lacks Peter Cushing, but it has scope, and an ambition that goes beyond desperation to fit into the current zeitgeist. There's still a lot of exploitation - blood, sex and exotic nudity - but that sits better in a period Boys' Own adventure like this than it does in the trendy Chelsea setting, where it just feels forced. It's florid, over the top, and wholly typical of Hammer in this period, but turned up to 11. 

Would The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula have saved Hammer?
No. It would have been as out of step with popular taste of the time as the rest of the studio's early 70s output. But an ambitious failure is always better than a safe failure (although not financially).

So what about the BBC version? Radio has the benefit that everything from domestic scenes to space battles can be achieved on the same budget. Of course, Hammer films are overwhelmingly, joyously visual, and this adaptation lacks that. But with strong performances, good use of sound effects, and a score by Blair Mowat that instantly evokes classic Hammer, the images spring to mind as you listen - which is what good radio does. You'd rather the film had been made but, in a way, this is the next best thing - better than actually shooting the script. Any film made from that script today would not look like Hammer - you can't replicate that, people have tried. But on radio, with the pictures in your mind, it can look exactly like Hammer at their peak.

The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula is a worthwhile and lovingly executed resurrection of a sadly unproduced film, and is well worth tracking down for a listen (which you can do via BBC i-player).