Blood for Dracula 1974

In the early 1920s, a dying Count Dracula, Udo Kier, must drink virgin blood to survive as he travels from Transylvania to pre‑Fascist Italy, following his loyal servant Anton Arno Jürging in the hope of finding a virgin in a Catholic land. Along the way, Dracula’s family has vanished because virgins are scarce and their fearsome reputation keeps women away from his castle.

In Italy, he befriends the impoverished landowner Il Marchese di Fiore Vittorio De Sica, whose estate is slipping into decline and who hopes to marry off one of his four daughters to the stranger of wealth.

Of di Fiore’s four daughters, Saphiria, Stefania Casini and Rubinia Stefania Casini regularly share the estate’s handyman, Mario Balato Joe Dallesandro, a proud peasant and Marxist who believes a socialist revolution will happen soon. Esmeralda and Perla, the eldest and youngest, are virgins; Esmeralda is seen as plain and past her prime, while Perla, portrayed by Silvia Dionisio, is only 14 years old.

Dracula obtains assurances that all the sisters are virgins and drinks the blood of the two deemed marriageable. However, the blood of these tainted virgins reveals the truth and weakens him, even as he manages to telepathically enslave Esmeralda and Perla.

As di Fiore travels abroad to pay his debts, Mario uncovers Dracula’s true nature and the danger he poses to Perla. He uses the pretext of protection to commit a grave assault, raping her, and then warns La Marchesa di Fiore about Dracula’s plan. Meanwhile, Dracula, refreshed by Esmeralda’s blood, regains strength and turns her into a vampire.

La Marchesa confronts Anton; after he stabs her, she fatally shoots him before dying from her wounds. In the end, Mario defeats Dracula and Esmeralda, stepping into de facto master and manager of the estate.