- Communist soldiers accidentally unleash the part-vampire servant of Dracula, as well as Zoltan, his vampire dog, during excavations in Romania. Together, they set out for America to find the last living direct descendant of the great Count. Meanwhile, said descendant, unaware of his true heritage, goes on vacation with his family and their dogs, not knowing they are in great danger. Fortunately, a vampire hunter is also on the case and is tracking down the servant and his dog, as well as the descendant, in order to destroy the former and protect the latter.—Humberto Amador
- While blowing up a field, soldiers find an underground cave with several graves in it. The commander assigns one soldier to stand guard overnight in the cave until an archaeologist can be brought in. There is a tremor, and one coffin falls off on the floor. The soldier opens the coffin and removes a stake from the corpse of a dog. Immediately, the dog revives and attacks and kills the soldier. Then the dog releases another body and when the stake is removed, a man revives but they leave the cave, which is collapsing. Inspector Vaclav Branco investigates the site and discovers that members of the Dracula family who were vampires were buried in the tomb. He notes that the Draculas' servant Veidt Smit is missing and burns the bodies. Then he travels to the U.S. to seek out the last living mortal descendant of the Dracula family, Michael Drake, to warn him that Smit is looking for him. Meanwhile, Michael is traveling on vacation with his wife, children and dogs in a camper while Veidt Smit and the dog Zoltan are stalking Michael.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Romanian Communist soldiers are doing some blasting in a field in when they unearth a tomb filled with the coffins of the Dracula family. There are six plaques inside the tomb, four of them inscribed Eva Dracula, Mikhail Dracula, Frederic Dracula, and Igor Dracula, along with one plaque inscribed Veidt Smit and one with no inscription. While Major Hessel [Arlene Martel] sends for Inspector Vaclav Branco [Jose Ferrer], a well-known expert on vampires, a young soldier guards the tomb. When a slight tremor caused by the blasting dislodges the uninscribed coffin, the soldier opens the lid and finds a shrouded, indistinct body with a wooden stake sticking up through the shroud. The soldier pulls the stake out of the body. Suddenly, a big black dog leaps out of the coffin and onto the soldier, then bites into his neck with two long front canine teeth and drinks his blood. Over 300 years ago in 1670, the Doberman Pinscher Zoltan was bitten by Count Igor Dracula himself and was turned into a vampire dog. Zoltan then proceeds to pull out the coffin of Count Igor Dracula's Renfield, Veidt Smit [Reggie Nalder], then pulls a wooden stake out of his shrouded body, reviving him as well. Unfortunately, Smit cannot survive without a master. The last direct mortal descendant of the Dracula family, Michael Drake [Michael Pataki] (who, unbeknownst to him, is the spitting image of Count Igor Dracula), is a psychologist living in Los Angeles, California with wife Marla [Jan Shutan], daughter Linda [Libby Chase], and son Steve [John Levin]. The only thing for Smit and Zoltan to do now is to travel to the United States, find Michael Drake, and turn him into their new master. The two undead creatures escape from the tomb before another slight tremor buries it again. The next day, Branco arrives at the tomb site and, on his suggestions, the four coffins are burned along with their contents and the dead body of the young soldier, whom Branco drives a wooden stake into his heart after finding two small holes in the side of his neck. Later, Branco reveals to Major Hessel Smit's identity, revealing that he is a fractional lamia, an undead creature who is only part-vampire, meaning he can function in the daytime and has no craving for blood (thus being Igor Dracula's perfect servant). He also reveals Michael Drake's address in the United States (he was taken out of Europe as a boy by his parents for his own safety), after which arrangements are made for him to go to America and find Michael, with both of them unaware that Smit is hiding in the shadows in the same room and has overheard everything.
Smit transports Zoltan and himself to Los Angeles, California by ship, steals a hearse from a local cemetery at night to serve as a transport for Zoltan's coffin and goes to the Drakes' house the next night. The Drake family is all excited about their upcoming vacation, a month long camping trip to Clear Lake, away from civilization. Marla has even talked Michael into taking along their four German Shepherds - Samson, Annie, and their two puppies. While the Drakes sleep, Zoltan leaps up to the roof outside Michael and Marla's bedroom, but before the dog can enter and bite Michael, a tile from the roof slips out from under his foot and breaks below, causing Samson and Annie to bark out an alarm and forcing Smit and Zoltan to flee, unseen by anyone.
The next day, while packing for the trip, Michael decides to take a gun with him for protection, despite Marla's misgivings. When he finds the gun's bullets in an old trunk of his, he also finds old photographs of his parents from the old country. Then he finds a daguerreotype of his ancestor Count Igor Dracula with Zoltan, but does not know who they are. Soon, the Drakes are on their way. They know that they are going to have fun. What they do not know is that Smit is following them in the stolen hearse bearing the coffin that holds the sleeping body of Zoltan.
Day 1: The Drakes set up camp while Smit and Zoltan park the hearse on a ridge overlooking the Drakes' camp. Another camper finds the hearse and starts his own investigation. While the Drakes eat dinner, one of the two puppies runs off, gets trapped in an abandoned canoe and becomes a blood meal for Zoltan that night. Next, Zoltan kills the nosy camper on Smit's orders. Then, while Linda and Steve are sleeping outside the camper with the dogs, Zoltan sneaks into the camp, but Samson drives him off. During the chase, Zoltan easily leaps over a tall wooden fence onto a ridge and continues running. Samson is forced to crawl on his belly under the fence and tries to pick up Zoltan's trail again. After chiding Zoltan for his failure, Smit opens the hearse's trunk and lets Zoltan into his coffin just as the sun begins to rise. Failing to pick up the now-cold trail, Samson returns to the Drakes. "Wolf," concludes Michael.
Day 2: Michael, Steve and Samson set off to find the puppy. After a while, Linda goes to help, but instead finds the hearse and Smit. Michael and Steve find the dead puppy in the canoe. Michael then notices two small holes in the side of the puppy's neck. When Steve asks about them, Michael tells him that he thinks a rattlesnake bit him. Meanwhile, Linda is asking Smit if he has seen the puppy. Just as Veidt is starting to hypnotize her, Linda hears a call that that the puppy has been found and runs off, only to find out that the puppy is dead. The family buries it, with Linda saying she knows where "a funeral car" is, but unfortunately, no one takes any notice. That night, the puppy digs its way out of its grave and staggers off into the forest, again unseen by anyone. Meanwhile, after Smit sends Zoltan out to get help for them, Zoltan gains the attention of Buster, a Pointer accompanying two fishermen [Simmy Bow and Jojo D'Amore], then hypnotizes and bites him, immediately turning him into a vampire dog. Zoltan and Buster then sneak into the Drakes' camp. First, Buster enters into the camper and tries to attack Michael, but Samson drives him off. Then, when Michael goes outside, Zoltan attacks him but, when he sees the silver crucifix on Michael's neck that he always wears, he recoils in pain and runs off. Michael shoots at Zoltan with his gun, but despite hitting him three times, the bullets have no effect on the dog. "Wild dogs," concludes Michael.
Day 3: Inspector Branco arrives at L.A. international Airport, rents a convertible, and goes to Michael's house. Pat Parks, the Drakes' neighbor, tells him that the Drakes are camping somewhere between Clear Lake and Big Bear, so he heads off in that direction. That night, the two vampire dogs start howling. Annie hears the howling and runs off to discover Zoltan and Buster, then is hypnotized and bitten by Zoltan. Linda sees Annie running off and follows her. Linda is then attacked by Zoltan and Buster, but the two fishermen arrive and drive off the dogs. They bring Linda back to the Drakes' camper. While they are relating what happened to Michael and Marla, the howling begins again. This time, Samson runs off, having recognized one of the howls as that of Annie, his mate.
Day 4: Michael decides that the family vacation is now over. As they pack up to leave, taking the remaining puppy with them, Inspector Branco arrives. Branco speaks to Michael privately and informs him about his true heritage as the last mortal direct descendant of the Dracula family (to which Michael briefly makes a joke, saying that, if what Branco says is true, he will be able to make a lot of money by suing all the people who have made Dracula films without his permission). He also tells him about the tomb and Veidt Smit and that Smit is trying to make into another master he can serve. Branco then advises Michael to send his family home and join him at a hunting cabin he has rented. Together, they will hunt down Smit and do what must be done. Marla takes the children and the puppy home in the camper, and Michael moves into the cabin with Branco. That night, they are attacked by the three vampire dogs who try all night to get into the cabin, tearing through doors, walls, and the roof. Michael and Branco briefly keep the dogs at bay with makeshift torches, but are knocked out when the dogs bring the cabin's roof down on top of them. Before Zoltan can bite Michael, drink his blood and kill him in order to turn him into their new master, the sun starts to rise and the dogs must flee before the sunlight can destroy them. "Canyon dogs," say the police when they see the ruins of the cabin the next morning.
Day 5: Michael and Branco go back to the spot where the Drakes had set up their camp. That night, Smit again reminds Zoltan of their mission and sends him out, where the other vampire dogs are waiting for him to lead them. Armed with wooden stakes, Michael stays with the car and Branco goes looking around. Branco finds the hearse and Smit attacks him. After a fierce struggle, Branco overpowers Smit and drives a wooden stake into his heart, destroying him. The three vampire dogs find Michael, and he barely makes it back to the convertible in time to get inside and put up the top. While the dogs try to tear through the convertible from the side, the back and the top, Michael recognizes Annie as one of his attackers. Then Michael gets a good look at Zoltan and finally recognizes him from the daguerreotype he saw of the dog with his ancestor, Count Igor Dracula. Michael puts the car in reverse and quickly backs up, tossing the dogs off. The dogs, strangely, do not resume their attacks. When Michael notices Samson running up to the car, he stops it and allows him into the back seat. Bad move on his part. Michael looks in the back seat at his pet and finds out too late that Samson has also become a vampire dog. Now Michael ends up struggling with Samson inside the car while Zoltan, Buster and Annie immediately resume their individual attacks on the outside. Just then, Branco arrives, followed by the two fishermen, both of them carrying rifles. One of them shoots each of the three vampire dogs, but again the bullets have no effect on them and they keep tearing away at the car as though nothing had happened. Michael finally manages to drive a wooden stake into Samson's heart, then throws Branco two more, where he does the same thing to Buster and Annie with the two fishermen watching in astonishment, leaving only Zoltan still among the undead. Zoltan runs off and Michael goes after him. He corners Zoltan on top of a ridge, where the dog tries to hypnotize him. He resists, tears open his shirt, exposes his silver crucifix and forces Zoltan back and over the ridge, where the dog is impaled through the back and chest on one of the spikes of the tall wooden fence below that he had previously leaped over four days before. When Michael returns and says the dog is dead and it is over, the fishermen tell him that Branco has told them everything, but they find it hard to believe. Michael assures them that Branco has told them the truth and that it is all over now. When one of the fishermen asks about what is to be done with the dead dogs, Branco says that they and Smit are to be burned to ashes and those ashes are to be scattered into the wind. "You can go home now, Mr. Drake. That was the last of them," says Branco. "Thank God," says Michael.
Remember the German Shepherd puppy from before? It, too, is now a vampire dog and witnessed much of what had happened that night...
Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.
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