Anoraks Assemble

Dracula A.D. 1972 was the seventh Hammer film featuring Dracula and marks Christopher Lee’s sixth outing as the Count. We also have Peter Cushing returning as Van Helsing for the first time since 1960’s The Brides of Dracula.

A prelude to the main story sees Dracula and Lawrence Van Helsing face off on top of a coach in London’s Hyde Park in 1872. Van Helsing successfully stakes the Count but is mortally wounded and dies shortly after. Fast-forward 100 years and we meet Lorrimer Van Helsing, expert in the occult, and his granddaughter, Jessica.

Jessica hangs out with some very dubious people, none more so than Dracula groupie Johnny Alucard (it’s not subtle) who bears a striking resemblance to one of Dracula’s followers in the 1872 prelude.

He decides to try and liven things up by performing a ritual to resurrect the long-dead Count and before anyone can say, ‘Dracula has risen from the grave’, Caroline Munro is sacrificed and all hell is literally let loose.

To say this is a silly film is quite the understatement because it is utterly bonkers, however it is an absolute hoot from beginning to end.

Acting wise, Peter Cushing is as believable as ever as the modern-day Van Helsing, whilst Christopher Lee, who has very little to do, looks utterly fed up.

Christopher Neame, a familiar face on UK TV in the 1970s, appears terrifying as Alucard, however this illusion is shattered as soon as he speaks. Michael Coles is very good as Inspector Murray, who makes a welcome return in 1973’s The Satanic Rites of Dracula. I think I am correct in saying that he was the only person, apart from Cushing and Lee, to play the same character more than once in one of Hammer’s Dracula films.

Incidentally, this film makes The Satanic Rites of Dracula look like a masterpiece.

Go in with low expectations, a very stiff drink, and you should love it.

And remember, “Dig the music, kids.”