Contest: Win Hammer's LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES Soundtrack on Vinyl

SHOCK gives you the chance to win the soundtrack to Hammer classic THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES on vinyl.

Come1973, as horror fans flocked to edgier, sophisticated fare like THE EXORCIST and the more provocative pictures leaking out of Europe, Britains Hammer Studios were having great difficulty staying relevant, especially in North America. Their experiments with inserting graphic sexuality and violence into their standard blood and bodice formula (see films like 1970s THE VAMPIRE LOVERS and 1972s VAMPIRE CIRCUS) were met with some interest, but not enough to keep the company riding the highs they enjoyed in the 1960s. Outside of horror however, another sub-genre was taking hold of the American pop culture zeitgeist, that of the Kung-Fu flick. It seemed a natural fit for Hammer to blend chills and chop-socky shenanigans into one solid shocker. The resulting experiment, a co-production with Hong Kong martial arts movie kingpins The Shaw Brothers, was 1974s THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES, released in the US in a heavily (and ludicrously) edited version as THE SEVEN BROTHERS MEET DRACULA.

The resulting film was not the success Hammer had hope it would be and the films failure signified the beginning of the end of the studio, with only a handful of films released until the studio finally wound down (for the first round) its theatrical film production wing in 1979.

But time has been kind to THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES and, despite the fact that DRACULA star Christoper Lee refused to partake in the picture (actor John Forbes-Robertson stepped in to wear the cloak and fangs), the movie stands today as the most fascinating Hammer horror film experiment of all time, a film packed to the peak with non-stop Kung-Fu battles, lavish costumes, beautiful rural Chinese photography, oceans of blood, a smattering of sex and acres of sheer weirdness. And in the middle of it all is Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, holding it together and selling the film seriously…

And, no matter your thoughts on the film, the score by Hammer legend James Bernard is an absolutely smashing affair. It combines the brash brass bursts and romantic string sections that Bernard is famous for as well as an Eastern flavor suiting the setting expertly woven in to the mix. The score was featured in a deluxe vinyl soundtrack released in 1974 by Hammer City Records that had music running under the story of the film, narrated by Cushing himself and littered with amazing sound effects from the picture placed at key moments. That release quickly fell out of print and is still a hot piece of Hammer memorabilia.

But now, UK label Dust Bug Records has licensed (like they did with the vintage Hammer DRACULA album featuring Christophe Lee last year) the work and faithfully, beautifully, have re-released the album on vinyl, a limited edition affair with only 500 numbered copies pressed.

Its a lovely thing…