HAMMER: Dracula Films (1958-74)

Dracula (1958)

aka Horror of Dracula (in the US)

Dir. Terence Fisher

It took huge liberties with Bram Stoker's original story, but otherwise Hammer's first flirtation with the Dracula figure is the best vampire film they ever made.

The elaborate sets are beautifully lit. The creeping strings and timely crashing cymbals of James Bernard's score lift everything from routinely dramatic to legendary heights.

What gets the most attention, deservedly so, is the addition of Christopher Lee in the lead role and Peter Cushing as his nemesis, the pursuant Dr. Abraham Van Helsing. Pitting those two against each other is like having mountains collide amid a thunderstorm.

The ending is the most memorable of any vampire film I've ever seen.

Brides of Dracula (1960)

Dir. Terence Fisher

The follow-up to Dracula (1958) didn't have Christopher Lee as the main antagonist, but it did have gutsy Peter Cushing as Dr Van Helsing. It's not technically a 'Dracula' film, the Arch vampire isn't actually in it, but it deserves inclusion, nevertheless, because it has one of his disciples.

The sets and costumes are magnificent, but the ‘brides’ are flimsy, useless additions to a script filled with illogical turns and modified vampire lore that outright contradicts its predecessor.

At times the gothic tones are closer to Tennessee Williams than Bram Stoker. It shows that Hammer were either still experimenting with form or willing to take risks, but the script needed more work.

The Kiss of the Vampire (1963)

Dir. Don Sharp

Undeterred that both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing had (temporarily) left the franchise, Hammer made a third vampire flick. Again, it's not an actual 'Dracula' film, but I've already crossed that bridge so I'm going to keep on going.

A pair of naïve newlywed Brits abroad get stranded in an area that has a shady doctor and a weird guy who patrols the local graveyard at night. It’s not hard to guess which is the villain and which the saviour.

As always, it looks beautiful; the blood red gowns and candlesticks do their job. Also of note is the excellent use of music that doesn't hide in the background. It’s enough to make me forgive the rubber bats on strings.

Wiki mentions a bloodless US version (retitled Kiss of Evil) once again disrespects the Studio by making cuts and adding nonsense. I've not seen it, nor do I care to.

Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)

Dir. Terence Fisher

The fourth of Hammer’s vampire films begins by showing the ending of their first, so if you haven’t seen it consider doing so because the ending is the best part. Prince of Darkness is set a decade later.

Christopher Lee returns to the Dracula role, so expectation is understandably high. He doesn't have much to say, though, and by ‘much’ I mean anything at all! He hisses but no words come out.

It’s not the handicap it may sound, because Lee’s screen presence is so strong that all he needs to do is look the part and the illusion is sustained.

In some areas it sacrifices logic for drama, but its Hammer drama! I loved how when he walks across a room he goes into and out of shadow.

Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)

Dir. Freddie Francis

It’s been a year since the Prince of Darkness was put to rest, but the townsfolk are still shaky and the old superstitions are alive and well.

A meddling monsignor, who seems to think that gold crosses grow on trees, self-appoints himself to do something about the situation and unsurprisingly cocks-up everything for everyone.

The application of colour-edged filters was a bold idea, but it seems almost arbitrary and more often than not they just look amateurish and silly.

By contrast, the rooftop scenes look fantastic and the inventive way that Dracula is dispatched is highly entertaining and leaves an indelible impression.

Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)

Dir. Peter Sasdy

Not for the first time, if you skipped the previous film in the series you’ll have the ending of it utterly spoiled by the beginning of the one that followed.

A trio of bordello regulars take their fascination for all things lecherous and ungodly to the next level, simultaneously giving Hammer the opportunity to add black magic and Satanism to their Vampire franchise. You have to give them credit for not resting on their bloodstained laurels each time.

There’s an aggressive attitude to events, not just in mannerisms of characters but in the way it’s shot and in how the Count returns from his semi-death. Speaking of which, Lee's role is smaller than before, but it's certainly memorable.

Scars of Dracula (1970)

Dir. Roy Ward Baker

Scars does things a little differently. It has a priest that isn't a dick and it places at the beginning of the film what’s traditionally nearer the ending.

The bulk of the rest is taken up by the more familiar hunt for a missing person; yes, the one that went to the castle despite being told not to.

One of the highlights is the semi-tragic character in the vampire’s employ, played by a hairy Patrick Troughton. I suspect the Count’s recurrent need to have a weathered manservant at his beck and call and a busty lady in his parlour points to some deep-rooted psychological problems.

To be fair, the villagers are equally troubled. Burn the STONE castle! Good idea, lads, that always worked in the past.

Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)

Dir. Alan Gibson

It's the first in the series not to use the previous film's ending as a starting point. Instead, it places the Count and the Van Helsing characters together in a new, invented scenario and as bizarre as it sounds the majority of what follows really is set in 1972. The juxtaposition of the established formula and the swinging, urban London with its hip 70s lingo is a hurdle, but the addition of Cushing and Lee help ease the viewer over it. The contemporary music, however, is more of a problem.

The script aims for clever and ironic, but often ends up silly and comedic.

It was good to see an efficient police service for a change, reflective of the role they played during the era, keeping the degradation of moral values away from the classes that found it unsavoury.

The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)

Dir. Alan Gibson

Satanic Rites is a direct sequel to Dracula A.D. 1972, set two years later.

Cushing returns as scholar and hunter Lorrimer Van Helsing, with his granddaughter Jessica having morphed from Stephanie Beacham into a red-haired Joanna Lumley. Lee is back, too, playing the Studio's version of the Count for the final time.

I’m glad the hipsters were excised from the plot this time, but adding elements of a second-rate spy novel into the mix instead was even less desirable.

There are some life lessons to be learned from it, though, such as: always put more than one bullet in your tiny gun; for a quiet afterlife keep your undead bitches chained in a basement; and previously ignored apotropaics can be used in a pinch.

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)

Dir. Roy Ward Baker + Chang Cheh (Uncredited)

Golden Vampires was Hammer’s final Dracula film. They'd been struggling with the franchise through much of the 70s but they went out in style.

It’s unusual territory for the British company, being a joint production between them and Shaw Bros, set in Chung King and filmed in China, a country rich with its own night-time lore.
It's a surprisingly well-implemented pairing. The Dracula mythos is adapted to fit its new home. The coloured lights of his tomb acting as a kind of precursor to the exotic nature of what follows.

You won’t see his name in the credits, but Cheh Chang, perhaps best known for One-Armed Swordsman (1967), shared the director’s chair. It’s likely because of Chang that the martial arts scenes are as good as they are and that certain Chinese religious practices are respected throughout.