Professor Van Helsing, a researcher into the arcane legends of vampires, is on a mission to find and kill the dreaded Count Dracula. When his friend Jonathan Harker is killed, he follows Dracula's trail to Harker's fiancée, Lucy Holmwood, in the hopes of finding and dispatching this evil fiend ...
Of all the screen versions of Dracula, for me this is probably the best one. It's not perfect; like them all it deviates from the book (it's all set in Germany) and it's not as stylish as either the Francis Coppola or Werner Herzog versions, but as a straight-ahead, no-frills, let's-do-it-properly version of the classic story it's fabulous - scary, evocative, constantly surprising and extremely well made. When Hammer decided to remake the old Universal monster classics they made three key design differences; make them in colour with flesh and blood aplenty, replace hammy histrionics with quality casts, and make the characters richer and more complex. I love the old 1931 Tod Browning version, but everything in this is better. Cushing and Lee are the definitive Van Helsing and Dracula. Cushing lends so much credibility to the picture with his no-nonsense, dogmatic, physical performance - he is obsessive, but not a caricature like so many other more acclaimed actors who have played this role (Laurence Olivier, Anthony Hopkins). And whilst Lee's role is limited he is simply unforgettable - imposing, lustful, wicked menace defined - his first appearance, followed by his charming authoritarian presence, is one of horror's best moments. There is also fine support from Stribling and Marsh as Mina and Lucy respectively; I love the way in Hammer movies the women are so much more sexual and conniving, and never simply dull screaming victims. Bernard Robinson's sets are terrific (it was all shot at Bray Studios in Berkshire), particularly Castle Dracula, and there is a memorable score by James Bernard which is a great example of the batter-the-viewer-into-submission style. Fisher, who made an astonishing eighteen films for Hammer between 1957 and 1974, had an incredible talent for the pacing of scenes; like the best directors he intuitively knew when to move the camera, when to generate suspense, when to play a comedy moment, and how to craft all of these crowd-pleasing moments together. This movie was so successful, particularly here in Britain, that Hammer made six more Dracula movies and nine other vampire films over the next sixteen years - all are good, but none are as good as this original. I was fortunate enough to see the recently restored (by the British Film Institute) print in my local arts cinema and it looks as sensational as ever. Isn't it funny how if trash can manage to last long enough it turns into culture ? Don't miss this classic adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, which is arguably the definitive British horror film of all time. Originally released in the US as Horror Of Dracula.
Of all the screen versions of Dracula, for me this is probably the best one. It's not perfect; like them all it deviates from the book (it's all set in Germany) and it's not as stylish as either the Francis Coppola or Werner Herzog versions, but as a straight-ahead, no-frills, let's-do-it-properly version of the classic story it's fabulous - scary, evocative, constantly surprising and extremely well made. When Hammer decided to remake the old Universal monster classics they made three key design differences; make them in colour with flesh and blood aplenty, replace hammy histrionics with quality casts, and make the characters richer and more complex. I love the old 1931 Tod Browning version, but everything in this is better. Cushing and Lee are the definitive Van Helsing and Dracula. Cushing lends so much credibility to the picture with his no-nonsense, dogmatic, physical performance - he is obsessive, but not a caricature like so many other more acclaimed actors who have played this role (Laurence Olivier, Anthony Hopkins). And whilst Lee's role is limited he is simply unforgettable - imposing, lustful, wicked menace defined - his first appearance, followed by his charming authoritarian presence, is one of horror's best moments. There is also fine support from Stribling and Marsh as Mina and Lucy respectively; I love the way in Hammer movies the women are so much more sexual and conniving, and never simply dull screaming victims. Bernard Robinson's sets are terrific (it was all shot at Bray Studios in Berkshire), particularly Castle Dracula, and there is a memorable score by James Bernard which is a great example of the batter-the-viewer-into-submission style. Fisher, who made an astonishing eighteen films for Hammer between 1957 and 1974, had an incredible talent for the pacing of scenes; like the best directors he intuitively knew when to move the camera, when to generate suspense, when to play a comedy moment, and how to craft all of these crowd-pleasing moments together. This movie was so successful, particularly here in Britain, that Hammer made six more Dracula movies and nine other vampire films over the next sixteen years - all are good, but none are as good as this original. I was fortunate enough to see the recently restored (by the British Film Institute) print in my local arts cinema and it looks as sensational as ever. Isn't it funny how if trash can manage to last long enough it turns into culture ? Don't miss this classic adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, which is arguably the definitive British horror film of all time. Originally released in the US as Horror Of Dracula.