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Our ongoing series reviewing the greatest Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror movies. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

Directed by: Terence Fisher
Produced by: Anthony Hinds
Written by: Bram Stoker (novel) Jimmy Sangster (screenplay)
Starring: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Michael Gough
Original Release: 1958

Reviewed by: Sam Christopher

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)

Horror of DraculaSynopsis: As told in his diary, Jonathan Harker arrives at Castle Dracula posing as a librarian, with the hidden purpose of destroying Count Dracula for good. After a bit of give-and-take with Count Dracula and Dracula’s “bride”, Harker destroys the woman and finds himself facing an angry Dracula. Dr. Van Helsing arrives at the village inn looking for Harker and is given the young man’s found diary. This leads him to the castle, where he finds the staked bride and Harker himself vampirised in the crypt. Van Helsing goes to tell Harker’s fiancée, Lucy, only to be told by her sister Mina and brother-in-law Arthur that she is too ill to receive visitors. We then find out that Lucy is under the spell of the Count. She eventually must be destroyed. Dracula then turns his attentions to Mina, while the good doctor and Arthur track the Count’s coffin, destroying it. This forces Dracula to run off with Mina back to his castle where Van Helsing catches up with him in time to destroy the vampire by forcing him into the sunlight.

Review/Comments: Believe me, the above synopsis does not do this film justice. I have a difficult time writing a synopsis for truly good films, as I want you to watch them. There’s nothing quite like discovering for oneself the poetry and beauty of a great tale. And this certainly qualifies. The second entry in Hammer’s renaissance of the Universal Monsters (called Horror of Dracula here in the US so as to distinguish it from Universal’s own 1931 film), this followed up on the phenomenal success of The Curse of Frankenstein (Must-Watch Review forthcoming) by keeping to the formula of having Peter Cushing handle the heavy lifting of most of the action while Christopher Lee played the “monster”. While this film could easily have been a star-maker, Lee would go seven years before returning to this character, going on to become most probably Europe’s greatest horror star in that time. In 1965, he would finally play the Count again in my favorite of his turns on the character, Dracula: Prince of Darkness (and this is all nostalgia for me, as D: PoD is the very first Dracula film I saw Lee in).

But there’s more to this film than the acting talent, although that alone is certainly enough to recommend it. Jimmy Sangster was a production assistant for Hammer when they approached him to write a script for their version of Frankenstein. At first he was reluctant but eventually penned what became The Curse of Frankenstein and history was made. He was asked to do two things: use the iconic characters and use them in such a way that Universal couldn’t sue for copyright infringement. Sangster did both to great effect. Then there’s the direction of Terence Fisher, who was the first director to bring the gothic to life in full color. His use of explicit violence and sexual undercurrents were revolutionary for his day, as proven by the disdain with which he was held by the “upright critics” of his time.

Vampires have always been the darker side of ourselves. In Hammer’s mythology they are demons strengthened in darkness and unable to withstand the purifying influence of sunlight, holy symbols, and running water. Hammer’s portrayal of the blood-feeding undead as horrific and evil and untrustworthy other-than-humans which must be defeated by men of strong faith and resolute spirit is a revelation in this day of sparkling supermen and “oh, he’s so cute” idolatry of our own bloodlust. Christopher Lee’s Count Dracula is urbane and refined to a point but also haughty and convinced of his own invincibility, a match for modern man in every way. He is who we are when turned from the light.

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