It was only a matter of time before Hammer decided to shake things up with their Dracula series and bring the Count into modern day. That time came in the early seventies during a strange trend with sequels where they would just tack on the year the film was made to differentiate them. Still, there is a certain charm to Dracula A.D 1972, with Dracula working his way through a group of hippies in swinging London, with Peter Cushing making his triumphant return to the series as well.
The film begins in 1872 as Dracula (played by Christopher Lee) and Lawrence Van Helsing (played by Peter Cushing) are in a fight to the death on a runaway carriage. Soon, the carriage crashes and both Dracula and Van Helsing are thrown from the wreckage. Somehow, Dracula has managed to impale himself on the spoke of a broken wagon wheel and Van Helsing manages to stab it into the Count, staking him before expiring of his injuries. In hot pursuit of the two is an unnamed servant of Dracula (played by Christopher Neame), who collects some of the ashen remains of the count in a glass vial and Dracula's ring. Later, he buries some of the remains near the grave of Lawrence Van Helsing and marks the spot with the wheel spoke stake (and this miraculously remains undisturbed for 100 years!).
We then move ahead 100 years to 1972, where a young man, Johnny Alucard (played by Christopher Neame) suggests to his friends that they hold a Black Mass for giggles in a nearby desanctified church (because in 1972 you had to make your own fun, of course). Of course, Johnny is a descendant of the servant of Dracula looking to resurrect the Count for his own ends (basically he wants to be a vampire). Of course, one of the members of their group is Jessica Van Helsing (played by Stephanie Beacham) and is looked after by her grandfather, Lorrimer Van Helsing (played by Peter Cushing). Of course, the Black Mass goes off without a hitch and Dracula is resurrected in modern day London. Dracula only has one objective on his mind though, revenge against the Van Helsing family.
This film is probably one of the more maligned entries in the series for many reasons, but I must confess I thoroughly enjoyed it. It has a certain kitschy and campy sensibility to it. The acting is so over the top that I was more prone to laughter than fright but it was all so entertaining at the same time. After the previous seven entries all taking place in the 19th century, the series was ripe for some re-invention and bringing it into the modern day was an obvious choice and works wonders for the film.
Peter Cushing once again rocks it as Van Helsing, carrying the same sort of deadly serious swagger that made his first turn in the role in Horror of Dracula so memorable. Adding his Granddaughter into the mix and having her fall into the cross hairs of Dracula helps add an emotional weight to the film and up the stakes for Van Helsing as he has a much more personal investment in what is happening with Dracula. Unfortunately, Christopher Lee isn't given much to do for the bulk of the film, left to skulk around that moldy, desanctified church for much of the film until the climactic showdown between Dracula and Van Helsing, which was suitably epic. The whole point of bringing Dracula into modern day would be to see the character interact with it. Although Tim Burton's Dark Shadows showed the dangers of going too far down that route, so perhaps we are better off. This film is campy enough as it is. I also have to call out Christopher Neame as Johnny Alucard. Neame creates this perfect blend of sexy and menacing. It's easy to see why the girls in the group go for his bad boy charm, but yet they don't know just how bad he really is. What we're lacking in Dracula, Neame more than made up for, at least for me.
Deep down, I know I should hate Dracula A.D 1972 but I just can't. The groovy funky soundtrack, the over the top acting, the silly plot and the chance to see Lee and Cushing square off once again as Dracula and Van Helsing. Add in the sexy bad boy antics of Christopher Neame and the whole thing just works for me on some sort of crazy, campy level. Oh well, we all have our guilty pleasures, I suppose.
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