Dracula:Prince of Darkness is a 1966 gothic horror film directed by Terence Fisher. It is the third entry in Hammer’s Dracula series, and the second to feature Christopher Lee as the count.
The film starts with a brief recap of the finale of 1958’s Dracula, which sees Peter Cushing in full action hero mode as Van Helsing.
We then skip forward in time. 10 years have passed since the events of Dracula, but the local people still live in fear of vampirism. Father Sandor (the fab Andrew Keir) prevents a recently deceased young woman from being staked through the heart by a group of frightened locals. He calls them barbarians and insists that the girl be buried properly in a churchyard. This all has interesting parallels to the hysteria of witchcraft which peaked in Europe between the 15th and 18th centuries.
Into the mix come four English tourists who, of course, ignore warnings not to visit the nearby Karlsbad. They travel by horse and coach, but are quickly abandoned by their frightened coach driver in the shadow of a mysterious castle. The driver ominously warns them that if any of them are still there in the morning, he will return and take them to Karlsbad.
After being abandoned, another coach suddenly appears – pulled by horses but with no driver. And what do they do? Get into it of course. I mean, really, who thought that was a good idea? I don’t know about you, but I would be running as fast as possible in the opposite direction.
Only Barbara Shelley’s Helen voices any objection. She is clearly afraid but the others treat her almost as a figure of fun. If only they had listened to her warning.
“There’ll be no morning for us.”
The moral of this story is that Barbara Shelley should always be listened to.
Anyway, the intrepid visitors reach the castle and quickly discover that four places have been set for dinner (creepy). Also, they find their luggage has been laid out in their rooms (very creepy).
And then the fun really starts, with Helen’s husband Alan being literally stabbed in the back and, in one of the film’s most shocking scenes, strung up and having this throat cut, so that his blood might revive Dracula himself.
Suddenly, the count is back and his focus is firmly on the prim and proper Helen. Before our eyes, she changes from this frightened, quiet wife to someone who can only be described as sex on legs. This is entirely down to Barbara Shelley who is just so damn good.
There are a few very effective moments in the film, none more so than when Dracula is being revived and, through the smoke rising from the crypt, his hand suddenly emerges. Very nicely done!
Another memorable moment is when Charles (Francis Matthews in super suave mode) discovers Alan’s body. We do not see anything but the reaction on Charles’ face tells us everything we need to know.
Another moment to mention is when Dracula rips open his shirt, cuts his chest and pulls Suzan Farmer’s Diana towards him, for her to drink his blood. I mean let’s be honest, ladies, we’ve all had dates like that, haven’t we?
The acting here is all very good. Barbara Shelley is definitely MVP as Helen. The change in her demeanour is remarkable. And Andrew Keir, in what is basically the Van Helsing role, is terrific as Father Sandor.
Also, special mention to Phillip Latham as Klove, Dracula’s servant. Early on, Helen describes him as, “Terrifying,” and I am with her 100%.
Overall, I do think Dracula:Prince of Darkness is one of the better Dracula films. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, but still very entertaining nonetheless.
Leave a Reply