Horror of Dracula

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Horror of Dracula

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Horror of Dracula

Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee

After Hammer Studios' tremendous success with The Curse of Frankenstein, they struck a deal to adapt Universal's catalog of classics and set their sights first on Dracula. Christopher Lee removes the ...( read more  read more... )monstrous makeup from the earlier film and makes his entrance as an elegant, confident, altogether seductive Dracula, a frightening figure of flashing eyes and erotic allure. Peter Cushing, with his hawklike profile and piercing eyes, turns his rationalist intensity to Van Helsing: man of science as crusading vampire hunter. Director Terence Fisher and screenwriter Jimmy Sangster make a few changes to Bram Stoker's tale; gone are Renfield, Transylvania, howling wolves, and transformations into bats. The Count is an old-world aristocrat firmly ensconced in a castle in England and Van Helsing a crusading vampire hunter who plots his demise with an elaborate plan. This is the first film to really mine the erotic appeal of vampires: Dracula seduces Mina and Lucy like a devil tempting good to the dark side through sex--more suggestive than explicit, but daring for 1958. Lee is electric as the ferocious Count, despite his limited screen time, and Cushing turns Van Helsing into a virtual swashbuckler of a hero, leaping and diving through the climax like an aging action hero. Cushing reprises his role in The Brides of Dracula, while Lee absented himself from the series until 1966's Dracula: Prince of Darkness. --Sean Axmaker

Id: 10681460

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Horror of Dracula Recent Reviews
  • BloodyKitten
    October 26, 2008
    BloodyKitten
    Along with the 1931 classic, Horror of Dracula is easily one of the best movies available with the Count in a starring role. Its gothic atmosphere is fantastic, and Lee and Cushing are at their best here. Overall, it's epic in the way only Hammer could make it. Definitely a mu...( read more)st-see for horror fans!
  • drblood
    August 8, 2007
    drblood
    A great atmosphere, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing fighting it out, beautiful actresses, rubber bats on wires, and all done on a budget which wouldn't even pay for Keanu Reeves' voice coach in a modern production!
  • flynnparadox
    September 27, 2006
    flynnparadox
    The best cinematic treatment of Dracula suceeds by ignoring the book almost entirely and creating a fast, scary and beautifully-shot, elegant horror film with great performances from Lee as a nearly wordless Dracula and Cushing as the best Van Helsing ever put on screen.
  • Dracula787
    May 16, 2009
    Dracula787
    This is actually the first time I?ve seen this or any other Hammer horror film for that matter. Perhaps the film would have seemed a bit more interesting to me if it wasn?t the 50th version of this same story that I?ve seen. The film is basically just another adaptation of the ...( read more)Bram Stoker novel, albeit a particularly condensed version that?s being done on a pretty low budget. As the film is being done in Technicolor, it?s missing a lot of that bleak atmosphere that really carries the Todd Browing Dracula and Nosferatu. All this version really adds is some bloodier violence, which is pretty tame by modern standards. I had heard an awful lot about Christopher Lee?s acting as Dracula and I expected a lot, I thought he was pretty good in the role? at least when he wasn?t talking, the absence of a weird Eastern European accent sort of takes away a lot from the role. The film really wasn?t working for me for a lot of its running time, but it really picked up during the third act, I loved the effects they used when Dracula is killed and turns to dust. All in all this is a decent B-movie, but it doesn?t live up to some of the classic versions of the story that are out there. I suppose I would have had more affection for it if I?d grown up on this.
  • johnattridge
    July 13, 2007
    johnattridge
    A hammer horror version of the vampire tale, which is simply, quite bad. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee manage to create characters well enough, but the rest of the cast are awful, the acting bland and dull. Otherwise everything is extremely melodramatic and elaborate, the set...( read more)s, costumes and score especially, and despite this being the film's purpose it doesn't create a good effect. Some particular shots or scenes seem to have promise, but only individually - the film's pacing doesn't really add up either. A rather silly mess.
  • CrimsonGhost
    December 17, 2009
    CrimsonGhost
    Really well done. Most of the story has to do with the family of one of Dracula's victims but it was never boring and kept me interested the whole way through. Peter Cushing was awesome as Van Helsing.
  • FilmFanatik
    December 2, 2009
    FilmFanatik
    Very well-shot and atmospheric. Peter Cushing steals the show here and Christopher Lee is very scary. My only complaint may be the pacing of the film, which seemed to drag on a bit here and there. Otherwise, fantastic!
  • ancestry80
    November 24, 2009
    ancestry80
    I'm a fan of the Hammer series. It's a lot faster moving than the Universal Dracula and Christopher Lee is even better than Lugosi. While tame by our standards today, this was quite a shocker when released.
  • jackgbowman
    November 13, 2009
    jackgbowman
    Chris as Dracula the first time
  • Blaxunshine
    November 1, 2009
    Blaxunshine
    For all the Dracula movies Ive seen Horror of Dracula is probably my favorite. Even though Christopher Lee & Peter Cushing have squared off many times before this one plays the best. Lee dominates every scene he's in just by his shear presence. One of Hammer's shining moments
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