[1][2][3][4] Directed by Philip Saville from a screenplay by Gerald Savory, it stars Louis Jourdan as Count Dracula and Frank Finlay as Professor Van Helsing.

Lucy Westenra's sister Mina bids farewell to her fiancé Jonathan Harker, a solicitor  travelling to Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania to expedite his purchase of Carfax Abbey and other properties in England.

At the castle's door, Count Dracula welcomes Jonathan and easily carries his heavy trunk up to his room.

Among their friends are Quincey Holmwood (Lucy's American fiancé), and Dr. John Seward, who operates a local asylum.

Despite Van Helsing's efforts, she dies, but not before displaying signs of vampirism, such as a missing reflection and an uncharacteristic seductiveness and aggression when Holmwood comes to see her in her final moments.

Now a vampire and feral, Lucy attempts to seduce Holmwood, but is forced to flee from Van Helsing's crucifix.

Harker, Van Helsing, Seward, and Holmwood all go to Carfax Abbey to sterilize Dracula's refuges—the boxes of soil from his native Transylvania – with parts of the host used in the Eucharist.

Van Helsing touches the hysterical Mina's forehead with a piece of a host, which scars her; she declares herself "unclean".

Realizing they have only moments left, Van Helsing mounts the carriage and drives a stake into the vampire's heart; the body disintegrates in a violent burst of smoke, leaving only his clothes and ashes.

Writing in The Guardian, TV critic Nancy Banks-Smith stated it was "A nice plushy production with much galloping off in all directions and sulphurous smoke effects, a pleasant sensation of space and time and money.

[8] Film historian Stuart Galbraith IV said that "Count Dracula remains one of the best-ever adaptations of Bram Stoker's novel" despite a "couple of missteps", remarking that "the cast is excellent", in particular praising the performances of Frank Finlay and Louis Jourdan, whom he calls "especially good.

He felt that "few actors have ever played the role [of Van Helsing as] convincingly" as Frank Finlay, that "without doubt, [Jack Shepherd is] the best on-screen embodiment there has ever been of the fly-munching Renfield", and remarked of Jourdan's performance, "[His] Dracula ... exudes a quieter kind of evil.

"[1] Brett Cullum of DVD Verdict said the special effects were this version's "biggest downfall" and that it was "perhaps the least visually interesting" Dracula adaptation, though he offered a mostly positive review, remarking that there is "plenty to admire in the production", in particular the "sublime acting".

[11] MaryAnn Johanson of FlickFilosopher.com was less positive, writing: "Maybe it had more of an impact in the 70s ... but today, while it remains a stylishly surreal reinterpretation of Bram Stoker’s novel, there’s something a bit dated and stodgy about it".

[12] In 2002, BBC Learning released Count Dracula on DVD, for sale by direct mail order in the UK only.