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Dracula swears revenge on a Monsignor (high ranking priest) after he is resurrected and finds he cannot enter his castle because the Monsignor has sealed it with a huge cross. After writing that down, I can’t help but think that this plot is sort of thin…
Christopher Lee as Dracula is perhaps the best thing about this movie. Lee’s version of Dracula is fantastic. Again, like in Horror of Dracula, Lee doesn’t have a lot of dialogue, but I think that just makes his portrayal of Dracula seem cool. Lee’s Dracula comes off as a creature of action and not of cheap talk. He even bitchslaps a bar wench! How many movie villains can say that? The movie takes it time and sets up the characters well. As Dracula travels and then watches from the shadows via his man servant (AKA Bald Evil Alcoholic Priest or BEAP for short), we’re shown a group of characters and their relationships with one another. Most movies today wouldn’t have taken the time to develop so many characters, and instead would have just had people being killed without even trying to make us care about them. I can’t stress how big of a fan I am of the type of character development we see in this movie.
There is much more blood in this movie than in Horror of Dracula. The gore isn’t even close to what we see in horror movies today, but I think for the time this was pretty gory. The end scene with the cross covered in Dracula’s blood had to upset some viewers back in 1968.
Dracula’s opponents in this movie are no where near the caliber of Peter Cushing as Van Helsing in Horror of Dracula. Rupert Davies as Monsignor Ernest Mueller is adequate, and it’s even interesting to compare his faith based approach to Dracula to Van Helsing’s more scientific approach. However, Mueller doesn’t even deliver the death blow to Dracula. Max, an atheist student in love with Mueller’s niece, finishes off the Count. The thing that bugs me about Max is that he’s an atheist, who we’re supposed to believe rediscovers his lost faith because of his encounter with Dracula. I just don’t see how fighting a blood sucking fiend is going to make someone start believing in God. If anything, I think discovering Dracula’s existence would make people question God’s grand plan. A compliant I’m sure people will have about this move is that there’s too much talking. Remember that character development that I mentioned? Well a lot it comes from scenes where there’s a lot of talking. I’m sure that there are some horror movie viewers who will find this movie boring. Personally, I enjoyed this movie, but could understand other people not sharing my point of view.
One thing I totally didn’t get was how Dracula came back. I know that there’s movie between this one and Horror of Dracula, but I’m still confused. It seems like Dracula was frozen in some ice, so everyone just assumed he was dead. Of course a priest falls on top of the ice, bleeding from his head and the next thing we know Dracula is back. Makes perfect sense, right?
Any movie featuring Christopher Lee as Dracula is considered a classic, and that is exactly what this is. They don’t normally make movies like this anymore. If you’re the type of horror movie fan that has a taste for the classics, then this is for you. If you’re not that type of fan, then I suggest you to avoid this movie. Regardless what kind of horror fan you are, I liked it.
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