Dracula, Prince of Darkness

  

 

Dracula, Prince of Darkness

1966

Director- Terence Fisher

Cast- Christopher Lee, Andrew Keir, Barbara Shelley, Suzan Farmer, Francis Matthews, Bud Tingwell, Thorley Walters, Philip Latham

            

      This is the third installment in the Hammer Dracula franchise , although only the second to feature Dracula, following as it did behind The Brides of Dracula. The Count is long since dead, thanks to the efforts of Van Helsing in Horror of Dracula. However, the villagers of Karlsbad (the town used instead of Transylvania) still remember and live in fear of him.

           

    A group of English tourists are staying at a local tavern where they meet a clergyman that is passing through, Father Sandor (Andrew Keir). The priest tells them to avoid the local castle, a castle that appears on no maps. Circumstances occur that put them within sight of the castle and since they were warned not to go, naturally that is exactly what they do, despite the misgivings of one of their party, the ever worrying Helen (Barbara Shelly).

            

     They are greeted by a super creepy butler, Klove (Phillip Latham) who feeds them a bologna story about his deceased master leaving instructions that the castle always be ready to receive guests. I’ll give you three guesses as to who his master was and the first two don’t count.

         

      In the night , Klove murders Helen’s husband (Bud Tingwell) and uses the blood in a ceremony to bring Dracula back to life. The first thing that the Count does is feed on Helen, turning her into a lustful vampire (pretty unfair since she was the only one that didn’t want to go to the castle in the first place). The two remaining tourists Diana (Suzan Farmer) and her husband Charles (Francis Mathews) flee the castle before Dracula can sink his fangs into them.

            

     They seek refuge at a local monastery where they run into Father Sandor again. The Father vows to stop Dracula with the help of Charles but they are betrayed before they have the chance. A very Renfieldesque madman (Thorley Walters) is staying at the monastery and lets vampire Helen and the Count in. While the Brothers are dealing with Helen, Dracula makes off with Diana.

           

     The Father follows them to Dracula’s castle where he deals with the Count by having him fall into the partially frozen moat surrounding the castle, getting trapped beneath the ice. Now, I know that some vampire lore says that vampires can’t abide running water. I’ve always had a problem with that given that the Count crossed the ocean on board the Demeter. But whatever. As deaths go, this was not the most humiliating that the Count would suffer in the franchise nor was it the silliest use of running water that we would see.

          

      Aquatic homicide aside, this is a really good movie. Many people consider it the superior installment of the entire franchise. Although Peter Cushing had been the star of the franchise in the first two films, this established Christopher Lee as the star. It also established, for better or worse, the trend of Dracula not talking in the films.

          

      There are several standout moments in the film. Though Father Sandor was no Van Helsing, he was the best of Dracula’s non-Cushing opponents in the series of films. Klove is a creepy henchman. The sacrifice that he makes, draining the blood out of a victim’s dangling body was pretty graphic for its day and set the trend for similar scenes in future Hammer films. Also, I’ve heard horror commentators before compare the scene of a vampiress being staked by hunters as an analogy for gang rape (as what happens to Lucy in the Dracula novel). The scene of Helen being held down, arms and legs pinned, while Sandor rams a stake into her shows why those comparisons are made.

            

     Overall, a very entertaining movie that helped further the franchise, and genre,  in a positive direction.

       The movie was made back to back with another Hammer film, Rasputin the Mad Monk, using many of the same sets and cast members including Lee, Shelly, Matthews and Farmer. Most of the cast were Hammer regulars. Besides Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelly also appeared in The Shadow of the Cat, The Gorgon, and Quartermass and the Pit, with Andrew Keir. Keir also appeared in the Hammer films, The Viking Queen, Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb and The Devil Ship Pirates (with Lee, Phillip Latham and Suzan Farmer). Suzan Farmer also starred in The Crimson Blade. Thorley Walters starred in the Hammer version of Phantom of the Opera as well as Frankenstein Created Woman, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed and Vampire Circus.

Fun fact- While shooting, Barbara Shelly accidentally swallowed one of her vampire fangs. She had to drink salt water to bring it back up as they were on a tight schedule and had no spare fangs!