A Couple Of Hammer 'Dracula' Movies Revisited...

Last night (for want of something better to do) I watched ‘Brides Of Dracula’ and ‘Dracula Prince Of Darkness’ back to back. I honestly don’t think I have watched either of those in the last 30 odd years and I have no idea why I was suddenly struck with the desire for a ‘Hammer Double Bill’ but there you go.

Although ‘Brides’ has no Dracula, and therefore no Christopher Lee, I think it is by far the better of the two. Baron Meinster (David Peel) at least has some dialogue and a bit of character development (as opposed to Lee hissing a few times and having a dreadful girly fight with the hero of ‘Prince’) and of course Cushing is excellent as Van Helsing. There are some terrific characters in ‘Brides’ too, the super camp Baroness, the hypochondriac, money obsessed doctor and the completely barking Freda too, as well as the overtones of incest and homo eroticism (Meinster is not fussy about sinking his fangs into his own Mum, or indeed Cushing) lacking in other movies of the franchise. That’s not to say he isn’t averse to also infiltrating the gothic equivalent of a ‘Carry On Camping’ style all girls school to spread his wickedness and even proposing marriage to the sauce pot French heroine who was silly enough to release him in the first place. Even the ridiculous plot padding in ‘Brides’ is amusing and enjoyable (the Innkeepers speech about how ‘my horse brasses remind me of the different seasons of the year’ – excellent stuff) and it has a superb ending too, so the crap rubber bats earlier in the film can be excused on this occasion.

Prince of Darkness is OK I suppose, but takes bloody ages to get going. The non speaking, hissing, girly fighting Lee is probably on screen for a total of about 15 minutes and the Victorian Yuppy types who visit the castle invite no sympathy whatsoever. Most annoying of all is the old ‘quick it’s getting dark now’ routine when it is clearly still broad daylight (I know this was because of budget constraints, but is really is dreadful) Lee (so menacing, not to mention quick on his feet in the original Hammer ‘Dracula’) fannies around waving his arms about on the ice (in the bloody broad daylight!) and that’s about it.

It’s not all bad though, Father Sandor makes for an entertaining Van Helsing replacement (and gives an excellent speech about the pleasure of warming one’s arse in front of the fire) and there is a fine cameo by the ever reliable*** Thorley Walters.

Anyhow, I enjoyed both movies enough to want more, so it looks like I’m going to have a plod through the whole Hammer ‘Dracula’ franchise. Prepare therefore for more razor sharp critique in the near future……………………………….if you read Empire magazine, otherwise look out for more of my Drac related babbling.

*** Except perhaps for his (apparently half cut and not having troubled to learn his lines) Police Inspector in ‘Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed’ of course.