Hammer’s Classic Dracula - Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee & Director Terence Fisher

This Hammer Dracula movie (and their earlier Frankenstein) secured Hammers place in Horror movie history. Actors Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and one of Hammers best directors Terence Fisher create a gothic master piece. It was this film that had me forever hooked on Hammer films, I have seen nearly all of the Dracula films that were put out by Hammer, this is the best.

Horror Guy Says:
If your into classic horror movies it is a must!

Horror of Dracula [Region 2]
After Hammer Studios’ tremendous success with The Curse of Frankenstein, they struck a deal to adapt Universal’s catalog of classics and set their sights first on Dracula. Christopher Lee removes the monstrous makeup from the earlier film and makes his entrance as an elegant, confident, altogether seductive Dracula, a frightening figure of flashing eyes and erotic allure. Peter Cushing, with his hawklike profile and piercing eyes, turns his rationalist intensity to Van Helsing: man of science as crusading vampire hunter. Director Terence Fisher and screenwriter Jimmy Sangster make a few changes to Bram Stoker’s tale; gone are Renfield, Transylvania, howling wolves, and transformations into bats. The Count is an old-world aristocrat firmly ensconced in a castle in England and Van Helsing a crusading vampire hunter who plots his demise with an elaborate plan. This is the first film to really mine the erotic appeal of vampires: Dracula seduces Mina and Lucy like a devil tempting good to the dark side through sex–more suggestive than explicit, but daring for 1958. Lee is electric as the ferocious Count, despite his limited screen time, and Cushing turns Van Helsing into a virtual swashbuckler of a hero, leaping and diving through the climax like an aging action hero. Cushing reprises his role in The Brides of Dracula, while Lee absented himself from the series until 1966’s Dracula: Prince of Darkness. –Sean Axmaker

Customer Review: Hammer’s Horror of Dracula…a film we can all savor!
This film represented the very best of the British based Hammer Studio’s many horror productions and led to the coining of the term “Hammer Horrors” which generations of moviegoers came to know as providing unique gothic and stylish renditions of classic horror in deep and vigorous colors. It reintroduced the character of Count Dracula to the baby boomers and subsequent generations. As opposed to Bela Lugosi’s stagy, static, and fangless Dracula, we now see the Count as a dynamic and muscular force with a remarkable display of canine fangs as never before seen on the screen (with the sole exception of the classic German silent movie titled Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, which showed Orlok/Dracula with rat-like teeth). Christopher Lee was a forceful presence as the vampire noble man. Peter Cushing was truly great in his performance as the Count’s nemesis, Dr. Van Helsing. This represented the second pairing of Cushing and Lee, the first being in Hammer’s Curse of Frankenstein. The teaming of these two actors was a truly fortuitous one for Hammer, the actors, and for the fans of classic horror genre films. No other pairing was comparable with the possible exception of Lugosi and Boris Karloff. The opening scene showing the spilling of blood on Dracula’s tomb nameplate was a true shocker at the time it was first seen in the movie theater. The subsequent scene with Dracula angrily rushing through a door with furious red veined eyes and blood dripping from his open fanged mouth, after the vampire woman bit Jonathan Harker, was absolutely frightening. Finally, we have that breathtaking ending with Van Helsing leaping on the table and ripping down the curtains to let in sunlight to turn Dracula into dust. Those scenes, tied into the story, presents a cinematic experience which remains with us to this day. Horror of Dracula certainly set the tenor for all subsequent vampire films by having their glorious and gory cinematic moments shown in beautifully rendered Technicolor, thanks to the mastery of technician Jack Asher, rather than in traditional black and white. The story, developed by scriptwriter Jimmy Sangster, was presented in a tightly woven manner which helped to assure that the dialogue and scenes would move along smoothly. This film was as much a masterpiece of Director Terence Fisher as it was for Cushing and Lee. Director Fisher clearly had the skills to make all the elements in the film click together to create a thrilling spectacle which continues to amaze us. However, we must acknowledge that without the compelling acting skills provided by Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, we would never see the Horror of Dracula which we are so fortunate to have with us now. Both Cushing and Lee have complemented each other to a very high degree. It might be said that they represented their separate roles as the yin and yang of a paired being. In other words, we could easily look at the roles of Van Helsing and Dracula as being two sides of the same coin. One side representing a being of great power and evil and the other side showing a person of high intelligence, true integrity and fearlessness fighting on the side of the good. For this reason, it was natural to find Van Helsing and Dracula going against each other as they did. It is very difficult to imagine any other actors taking on the roles of those two protagonists as did Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. It is my hope that Warner Brothers will do a special edition of this film and give it the extras needed, including commentaries from horror film historians, background information about Hammer and its making of Horror of Dracula, plus interviews with those involved with the making of the film including Christopher Lee. In the meantime, one cannot do wrong with obtaining this DVD at such a reasonable price and view the finest film ever about Count Dracula and his reign of terror.
Customer Review: Hammer’s best
This is the greatest Hammer film ever made. Starring the two mainstays of British Horror Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Terence Fisher (the best Hammer director) directs with style and James Bernard produced a score that would be used in variations by many Hammer films over the years. For any musicians out there the chord Bernard uses to signal Dracula’s presence is an augmented chord… Christopher Lee is magnificent as Count Dracula. Bela Lugosi may have starred in the role first but Lee is vastly superior in every respect: He has more screen presence (helped by being 6′ 5″), is better looking and most crucially unlike Lugosi he can act. As Van Helsing Peter Cushing is mesmerising. Whether he is carrying out a blood transfusion or dictating into an early phonograph recorder, the script is delivered with absolute conviction. I always end up believing vampires exist after watching this film! The ending to this film is perhaps the single greatest moment in the entire history of Hammer films. While the special effects look dated now the realisation of the ending is just a great piece of film making.

x

Posted in Movie Info