Count Dracula’s Great Love

Two delivery men arrive with a large man-shaped crate near the Carpathian sanatorium. They quickly scheme to steal valuables from inside, hoping to find money or jewels. Their greed ends violently when one is struck in the head with an ax and the other is killed by a mysterious attacker in a black cape with velvet lining.

A stagecoach carrying Karen, Senta, Marlene, Elke and their friend Imre Polvi loses a wheel on the dangerous Borgo Pass. They decide to seek shelter in the nearby sanatorium to wait out the storm. Their arrival unsettles the locals as they are welcomed by Doctor Wendell Marlowe.

Doctor Wendell Marlowe greets the travelers and offers them shelter for as long as needed. His courteous hospitality puts them at ease despite the ominous surroundings. The sanatorium's quiet halls conceal a far darker purpose.

It is revealed that Marlowe is Count Dracula in disguise. His charming facade masks a predatory nature as he extends hospitality to his guests. The revelation shifts the mood from welcome to looming danger.

Dracula explains that he needs a blood ritual to resurrect his daughter Radna. The ritual requires the life force of his guests and the willing bride, Karen, to complete it. The plan ties Karen's fate to Radna's return from darkness.

Dracula begins biting the guests one by one, transforming them into his undead army. The hallways fill with the creeping threat as the numbers of the living dead grow. Karen remains unturned, watched by the encroaching darkness.

Dracula seduces the four young women and then chains them in his dungeon. The captive women are bound to his dark design as the ritual draws closer. The terror in the sanatorium deepens with each passing moment.

Karen remains virtuous and resists Dracula's seduction. Yet Dracula reveals that he loves her and cannot let her join the ranks of the living dead. The conflict between his monstrous plan and his personal longing intensifies.

As dawn breaks, the four imprisoned women who were turned into vampires are killed by exposure to sunlight. The ritual's momentum collapses with the coming light. The sanatorium is left in a tense, uneasy quiet.

Dracula, having found true love in Karen, decides he cannot let her become undead. He sacrifices himself by thrusting a wooden stake into his own heart. Before he dies, he utters Karen's name as a final plea and farewell.

With Dracula dead, the fate of Karen and any remaining survivors is not clearly stated in the summary. The sanatorium settles into a quiet, haunted silence as dawn gives way to an uneasy calm.