When Christopher Lee passed away last year, I realized to my surprise that I had not actually seen any of his Dracula films all the way through from beginning to end. I had seen bits and pieces over the years, but never the whole thing. Then, more recently, I found a great deal on a four pack of four of the nine total Dracula films made by Hammer Studios and thought that would be a great way to kick off the Halloween season this year, starting with his first, Horror of Dracula.
In 1885 Klausenburg, Romania, Jonathan Harker (played by John Van Eyssen) travels to the castle of Count Dracula (played by Christopher Lee) to take his post as the Count's librarian. He finds the house deserted and comes across a note asking him to make himself at home. Later, he comes across a woman begging him to help her escape. He ignores her pleas when a short time later, his host, Dracula, appears. At first, Dracula appears to be a charming host and shows Harker to his room. Dracula is quite taken with a photo Harker has of his fiance, Lucy (played by Carol Marsh) That night, as he writes in his journal, the truth is revealed. Dracula is a vampire and Harker has traveled there under the guise of being a scholar to destroy the fiend. The woman who begged Harker to help her earlier turns out to be a vampire and he manages to stake her before Dracula gets the drop on him. Some time later, Dr. Van Helsing (played by Peter Cushing), travels to Dracula's castle in search of Harker. As he approaches the castle, a hearse carriage speeds by with a coffin in the back. He finds the castle deserted and Harker in the crypt, now a vampire himself. Realizing that Lucy's picture is missing and after reading Harker's journal, Van Helsing realizes what has happened and races back to Lucy's family's estate in an attempt to protect her and her family from Dracula.
Horror of Dracula was very loosely based on the novel by Bram Stoker and directed by Terence Fisher from a script by Jimmy Sangster. The film was produced by Hammer studios as a follow-up to their previous hit film, The Curse of Frankenstein, which also starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Their roles in this one as Van Helsing and Dracula were arguably their most iconic as both reprised their roles several times more throughout the series of Dracula films. Both actors are fantastic in their roles. I've only seen one of these thus far but already Christopher Lee is my favorite Dracula and I can say double for Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. There is just something electric between the two, especially during their final confrontation at the end. After all these years, it still held up for me as these two squared off.
At a brisk 81 minutes in length, Horror of Dracula moves along at a steady pace. One could argue this could be titled Dracula: Only the Good Parts as the film hits each of the main story points without dragging things out too much. Any sort of deep characterization is lost in the process but the gothic atmosphere of the film makes up for it with some genuinely interesting set design as well, especially with Dracula's castle.
Overall, Horror of Dracula is an entertaining variation of Bram Stoker's classic tale with some rather glaring differences. Anchored by two fantastic and iconic performances by Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, I found the film really stands the test of time, remaining just as thrilling and entertaining. It will be interesting to see if the same can be said for the sequels.
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