I missed Fear Flashback last week due to a power/internet outage during a freak April snowstorm, so this week I’m doing a twofer of classic Hammer shenanigans to make up for it.
Sometimes I’m in the mood for a particular type of horror movie. Giant bugs, slasher flicks, found footage, Italian gialos, etc. Whatever it is, nothing else will do. I’ve tried to watch other types of horror films when I’m in that mood and it’s inevitably a bad time. I don’t enjoy myself and whatever film I’m watching gets short shrift as a result. I’ve gotten worse about this in the age of streaming, because generally I’m able to find what I’m looking for – at least ONE of the streaming services has to have it.
This week I didn’t have that choice. While power got restored fairly quickly, I didn’t get internet access again for several days. I found myself limited to my physical media. This is a haphazard collection that I’ve added to in a completely disorganized way. This is why I have multiple versions of The Evil Dead and only just picked up The Godfather Part 2 this year. I also buy random stuff when I see it at a cheap price, so I’ve got Another Wolf Cop, for instance, but not the first film.
The point is, I never know if I’m going to have what I’m in the mood to watch when I only have my collection to choose from. Happily, when the urge to watch some Hammer films hit me, I saw that I had a stack to choose from.
Hammer films weren’t as much a feature of my childhood as the classic Universal Monster films were, but I did see them from time to time. Quatermass and the Pit remains a favorite and The Mummy (with Lee in the title role) was a particular standout, in part because of my profound disappointment with the Universal title. I know I saw the Dracula and Frankenstein films, but I’m ashamed to say that as a kid they often got mixed up in my head with the Poe film cycle of Roger Corman. They had the same lush colors, set design, and period costuming.
Now that I’m an experienced horror film enthusiast I can totally tell when I’m when I’m watching a Corman film instead of a Hammer one. Especially if Vincent Price is in it…
The Medium(s)
In keeping with the random nature of my collection, I watched Horror of Dracula from a “4 Film Favorites: Draculas” DVD collection. I think I picked it up at a dollar store. The picture is surprisingly good for a DVD, and it contains the extended ending with more of Dracula’s destruction. There is a Blu-ray from Warner Brothers that I should probably pick up, but it’s bare bones. Brides of Dracula is in a ‘Hammer Horror 8 Film Collection” set. This is a Blu-ray, at least, but the aspect ratio for Brides is a little off and there isn’t much in the way of extras. (A Shout Factory release is the way to go if you want that stuff.) Still, it looks damn good.
Streaming options for both films only include renting and purchasing – they’re not included in any streaming service at the moment.
The Movies
Horror of Dracula
Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Peter Lee and Christopher Cushing… wait, no, strike that last pair. I love seeing either of those actors on screen and any movie in which they both appear is instantly a much better film for it. This is, of course, their classic pairing – with Christopher Lee playing the Count and Peter Cushing his constant foe, Abraham Van Helsing.
With the success of The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957, Hammer Film Productions quickly put an adaptation of Dracula (the novel) into production. Both Frankenstein and Dracula were in the public domain, but the studio had to take care to make their films different enough to avoid a lawsuit from Universal Pictures, whose adaptations of the same source material were already classics. None of the Hammer films are much like the Universal pictures, but success made them partners (with Universal doing some distribution) and the press reported that Universal gave Hammer the remake rights to their stable of classic monster films. Eventually we’d get seven Frankenstein movies, nine Dracula movies, four Mummy movies and a bunch of others, including one werewolf film and an adaptation of the Phantom of the Opera.
But first, we must contend with Jonathan Harker, played with smirking smarminess by John Van Eyssen. I know he’s supposed to be heroic, but I’ve always found this character to be totally deserving of his fate. I like the twist – instead of an unknowing victim, Harker is a hunter and has accepted an appointment as Count Dracula’s Librarian solely to get close enough to kill the vampire. Unfortunately, he’s not that bright and wastes precious time taking out one of Dracula’s brides (Valerie Gaunt). When his mentor Abraham Van Helsing (Cushing) arrives to help, he’s far too late.
The thing about Christopher Lee’s Dracula that made him so indelible, to me anyway, was how vicious and almost feral he could appear. He was gracious and erudite and cultured – until it was time to suck some blood. And then he was suddenly all fangs, wild hair and bloodshot eyes. I could totally buy him as a monster vindictive enough to head out and try to destroy Harker’s family. Still, there are also moments where you feel like there’s something deeper going on, that Dracula is also a tortured soul, sickened by his unlife.
The names are all familiar from the book – Jonathan, Lucy, Mina, Arthur – but the details are different, which can take a moment to get used to if you’re a fan of the novel. Harker’s fiancé in this film is actually Lucy Holmwood (Carol Marsh) and Lord Godalming’s sister in this imagining, Mina (Melissa Stribling) is married to Arthur Holmwood (Michael Gough). The changes quickly fade into the background as Van Helsing arrives, Lucy falls prey to Dracula, and the Holmwoods are forced to fight for their existence against the lord of the undead.
There’s just something about Peter Cushing that makes you like and trust him, and his Van Helsing is one of his most likeable and enduring characters. He’s so charming I found myself annoyed at Michael Gough’s Arthur, who has a (completely understandable) dislike of Van Helsing, being involved as he is in both Harker and – later – Lucy’s deaths.
So much good stuff here. This was Hammer in their heyday, with gorgeous production and excellent mood, music and, of course, some amazing stars. Directed by Hammer stalwart Terence Fisher and written by Jimmy Sangster, the filmmakers do great work with a miniscule budget. It would be decades before the bodices became optional and the blood more plentiful. I do wish there had been more of an opportunity for the two main stars to interact with each other – I’m not even sure Van Helsing and Dracula exchange a single word – but just seeing them on screen at the same time is a bit of a thrill. The final confrontation is still quite good, special effects wise, though it’s over too quickly.
The Bottom Line
Horror of Dracula is probably the most recognizable of the Hammer Classic Monster films. I think there were better installments in the series, and my heart will always belong to the more esoteric productions like Quatermass and even Vampire Circus, but sometimes only the classics will do. Do you have to be in a particular mood to enjoy them? I don’t think so – but it doesn’t hurt!
Brides of Dracula
I like Brides of Dracula a lot. In general I actually prefer this film to its progenitor, as I think it has a better story, pacing, cinematography, sets and… well, everything but the monster. Christopher Lee apparently had no interest in filming a sequel to Horror of Dracula and passed on appearing in the film. Cushing agreed, however, and with the return of almost all the original crew – Director, Writer, Producer etc. – the movie went forward with a slightly tweaked script.
Marianne (Yvonne Monlaur) is on her way to a girls school in Transylvania where she is to teach music and deportment. Abandoned in a small village by her coach, she accepts an invitation from the Baroness Meinster (a wonderfully arch Martita Hunt) to spend the night at her castle. There, Marianne sees the Baroness’ son on a balcony below her room. Finding the handsome noble is a prisoner in his own castle, she conspires with him to find the key to release him from his chains.
Bad idea.
I love the Baroness Meinster and kind of wish she had been the villain of the piece. (Well, MORE of a villain – she is luring young girls to the castle to feed to her son.) Martita Hunt plays her alternatingly arrogant, terrified and ashamed and she’s the only one of the cast that comes anywhere close to matching Cushing on screen. It’s too bad she’s given so little to do after the first few scenes.
Monlaur does fine with Marianne and, given the time in which the movie was made, she’s pretty self-motivated and indeed sets the main action in motion with her theft of the key that releases the vampire… oh, I’m sorry, didn’t I say? Yeah, the Baron Meinster (played with pomp and pompadour by David Peel) is one of the undead. That’s why the Baroness had him shackled to the wall in his private rooms and brings him women to feed on – she couldn’t bear to kill her only son, but he was – literally – a monster.
Into this Gothic fairly tale comes Abraham Van Helsing, nearly running over the unconscious Marianne in the woods outside the castle, where she’s fled in the aftermath of events. (She may also have taken off because of the really disturbing laughter of the maidservant, Greta, who’s probably gone a little mad.) Van Helsing, it seems, is still hunting down the remnants of ‘the Dracula cult’ around Europe. Though he’s aware of the Meinsters, Marianne doesn’t recognize words like “vampire” or “undead,” so he simply escorts her to the school where she was originally heading.
Despite all of the initial action by Marianne, this is now Van Helsing’s film. It’s too bad, because I like the idea of – somehow – Marianne being the main protagonist. Past this point, however, she becomes a standard secondary heroine, existing mostly to be menaced by various male figures (the headmaster, the Baron) while the male hero does all the actual heroics. Normally I can suspend my modern sensibilities for this, but it annoyed me this time around for some reason. I would dearly have loved to see a film in which Marianne and the Baroness had to team up to defeat the Baron and Greta. But ah well. Instead, we get the Baron showing up and mesmerizing her into agreeing to marry him. Look at that hair, Marianne! A man who spends that much time on his ‘do’ has no time for you!
At least the male hero is played by Cushing, projecting his usual quiet competence and kindness. He needs to get a watch or something though, because he’s constantly telling people that he’ll be back before dark, only to arrive well after. Having actually fought Dracula you’d think he’d be more punctual about that extremely important timeframe!
Interestingly, the abilities of vampires have changed since the first film. Van Helsing is very adamant in Horror of Dracula about how silly it is to think that vampires can change shape, but the vampire in Brides changes into a bat – even killing a man in that form. There are intimations that he can also change into a wolf and make locks fall off of coffins (without unlocking them). Looks like Van Helsing needs to do a bit more research.
Van Helsing returns to town, only to find there’s a funeral going on for a village girl who’s died from what is obviously a vampire attack. He waits too long to show up at the cemetery and she rises and escapes, aided by a vampire bat. From there, Van Helsing investigates Meinster castle, finding the Baroness turned into one of the undead by her own son. There’s a confrontation with the Baron, who flees with the help of the risen village girl, the first of his ‘brides.’ The vampire intends to make Marianne the second, but gets distracted and turns her roommate (Andrée Melly) instead.
I’m sorry, but at no time is David Peel’s vampire a threat on the same level as Lee’s Dracula. He’s got a certain smarmy charm, but it’s not put to good use, and as a monster he’s just too much of a dandy to really carry much weight. The lack of an actor with the same gravitas as Lee or Cushing in the role is the film’s greatest weakness, letting it become merely a really good entry in the Hammer vampire film library, rather than a great film.
There are some great moments in Brides, despite this. In particular the consequences of a battle between the Baron and Van Helsing in which Van Helsing loses! He’s bitten and infected, but manages to cure himself using a combination of holy water and a branding iron in a sequence so interesting that the two vampire brides just watch him do it, not interfering in any way. The final confrontation between Van Helsing, Marianne and the Baron ends up being a bit anticlimactic after that (even with a giant cross formed by a windmill shadow).
The Bottom Line
In a lot of ways, Brides of Dracula is a better film than the original – in production and story in particular – but it’s a cheat – there are no brides and no Dracula, and the result is a stew with a richer broth, but missing one of the main ingredients that made it delicious in the first place.
The Bottom Bottom Line
Horror of Dracula proved that The Curse of Frankenstein wasn’t a fluke and sent Hammer Films on the path to becoming “The House of Horror.” Brides of Dracula cemented the look and feel of the new Hammer – gorgeous sets and costumes, vibrant color (blood especially), beautiful actresses and – often, but not always, – Peter Cushing and/or Christopher Lee chewing up the scenery. If you like Hammer horror these two films are must-sees, and if you haven’t seen them, they’re still enjoyable, classic horror romps.
