It stars Christopher Lee as Dracula, Herbert Lom as Van Helsing, and Klaus Kinski as Renfield, along with Fred Williams, Maria Rohm, Soledad Miranda, Paul Muller, and Jack Taylor.

[7][citation needed] Among other details, it was the first film version of the novel in which Dracula begins as an old man and becomes younger as he feeds upon fresh blood.

Jonathan Harker, a lawyer traveling from London to Transylvania to secure property for Count Dracula, arrives at Bistritz to stay for the night.

Harker wakes up in a private psychiatric clinic outside London, owned by Dr. Van Helsing, in the care of Dr. Seward.

Unbeknownst to them, Count Dracula has followed Harker back to England and now resides in an abandoned abbey close to the hospital.

Dracula has been secretly appearing to her by night and drinking her blood, growing younger as he feeds off his victim.

The ordeal is put to an end when Quincey, Seward and Van Helsing ambush Lucy, stake her through the heart and decapitate her.

Quincey, Harker and Seward track Dracula to the abandoned abbey, but he has fled to Transylvania with the aid of a traveling Romani band.

[10][11] Franco originally wanted to cast Vincent Price as Professor Van Helsing, but he was under contract to American International Pictures.

The film premiered in West Germany on April 3, 1970 under the title Nachts, wenn Dracula erwacht (lit.

Special features include an interview with director Jesús Franco, a reading from Bram Stoker's Dracula novel by Christopher Lee, and a text essay on the life of actress Soledad Miranda.

[12] The DVD has come under criticism for omitting the scene in which a distraught mother pleads for her baby's life at the door of Dracula's castle.

[13] The DVD also uses the Italian credits for the film but with the French title card Les Nuits de Dracula.

Even Christopher Lee (in an uncharacteristically weak performance as Dracula), Klaus Kinski (as the mad Renfield), and seven credited screenwriters cannot make this confused, distant film worthwhile.

Franco appears as a servant to Professor Van Helsing (Herbert Lom), and though certainly literate, the film nevertheless fails as both horror and drama.

[17] Cuadecuc, vampir is a 1970 experimental film by Pere Portabella that was shot behind-the-scenes of Count Dracula, including candid footage of the stars during the production.