Zoltan, Hound of Dracula (a.k.a. Dracula's Dog) is a 1977 American horror film starring Michael Pataki and José Ferrer.
A group of Russian soldiers accidentally unearth the underground tomb of Dracula. A guard resurrects Dracula's faithful hound Zoltan, who after mauling the guard, in turn resurrects his master Veidt Schmidt. Schmidt and faithful Zoltan have to find the last descendant of the Dracula line, who has emigrated to America, and is living under the name of Michael Drake.They are pursued by dogged Inspector Branco who knows a thing or two about vampire slaying, and Drake's true identity. However, by the time Branco finds Drake to warn him, Zoltan's been very busy converting the local four legged population into canine corpses ready to do his evil bidding. Does every dog have its day, or will Zoltan triumph?
Tropes:
- Alliterative Title: The film's alternative title is Dracula's Dog.
- Animal Eye Spy: The Renfield Veidt is able to see through the eyes of the vampiric hound Zoltan.
- Antagonist Title
- Badass Bystander: The two hunters who first save Linda from the pack of vampire dogs, and then later reappear to help Michael and Branco destroy the pack. Unlike Drake and Branco they have no connection to Dracula, and no idea about vampires. They just happen to be in the area and step in to do the right thing when they see someone in trouble.
- Burn the Undead: Inspector Branco burns the bodies of all the vampires he stakes and then scatters the ashes.
- Chairman of the Brawl: When the vampiric dogs attempt to break in through the cabin window, Michael hits one with a chair and then wedges the chair in the window frame to block their entry.
- Crash in Through the Ceiling: Zoltan chews through the shingles on the roof of the fishing cabin, and then crashes through the ceiling to land on top of Michael and Inspector Branco.
- Dhampyr: Dracula turns the innkeeper Veidt Smith into a "fractional lamia": an undead creature that is only part vampire, able to function in the daytime and having no need to drink blood and a slave of the Draculas.
- The End... Or Is It?: At the end of the film, Veidt and all of the vampire dogs have been destroyed. However, just before the final credits roll, the audience sees the vampire puppy Zoltan created earlier digging its way out of its grave.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Zoltan was originally this: turned by Dracula in vengeance after it protected a woman from him. The Drake's dog Samson is also this.
- Glowing Eyelights of Undeath: Zoltan's eyes glow an eerie green every time he uses his vampric powers.
- Hollywood Torches: Michael and Branco improvise flaming torches by dipping their Wooden Stakes in kerosene and lighting them: using them to hold the pack of vampire dogs at bay.
- Holy Burns Evil: Michael is saved from Zoltan's fangs when Zoltan rips open his shirt in an attempt to get to his throat and exposes the cross Michael is wearing around his neck, which repels the dog. Later Michael opens his shirt to expose the cross which drives Zoltan off a cliff where is Impaled with Extreme Prejudice on the spiked fence below.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: During the climax, Michael's cross drives Zoltan off a cliff where he falls on top of a spiked fence and is impaled.
- Inertial Impalement: During the climax, Michael's cross drives Zoltan off a cliff where he falls on top of a spiked fence and is impaled.
- Metallicar Syndrome: Even allowing for the fact that Veidt has an undead hound to transport with him, surely an ordinary van would have been a less conspicuous choice than a hearse. When Inspector Branco goes looking for anything suspicious, a hearse parked by itself in the middle of the woods certainly fills the bill.
- Raising the Steaks: A dog is discovered with a stake through its heart. Removing the stake leads to the vampire Rottweiler reviving with a thirst for blood. Flashbacks reveal that this was originally an Evil-Detecting Dog, turned by Dracula in vengeance after it protected a woman from him. Once revived, Zoltan starts turning other dogs.
- The Renfield: Dracula turns the innkeeper Veidt Smith into a "fractional lamia": an undead creature that is only part vampire, able to function in the daytime and having no need to drink blood and a slave of the Draculas.
- Role Called: Zoltan, Hound of Dracula
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Russian soldiers accidentally unleash the servant of Dracula, as well as his dog, during excavations of a tomb in Romania.
- Tae Kwon Door: Veidt is lying in the back of the hearse as Inspector Branco approaches, and kicks the rear door open and into Branco as he gets close.
- Too Dumb to Live:
- At one point in the fight between Zoltan's pooches of evil and Drake, his lost dog Samson comes running up to the car Drake is in. Drake, knowing that there are vampire dogs on the loose, lets Samson in and has the nerve to act shocked when his pet dog turns out to be one of Zoltan's pack.
- The Soviet soldier who removes a wooden stake from a cloth-covered something in a coffin without even taking a peek first and ends up as Zoltan's dinner also qualifies
- Vampire Hunter: Inspector Branco is an expert in vampires and how to destroy them—despite the Communist regime in Romania officially not believing in them—and is willing to travel halfway around the world to ensure that Zoltan and Veidt are laid to rest.
- Wooden Stake: The Soviet soldier left to guard the tomb finds a body in a coffin containing a body with a wooden stake driven through it, and decides to pull the stake out without even bothering to check what is beneath the shroud.
