Hammer Films
In 1958, audiences were horrified, thrilled and entertained when Hammer Films released their first movie starring everyone’s favorite vampire with Horror of Dracula (or just Dracula in the US). The film received much acclaim and success for its Gothic style, the performances of Christopher Lee as the County and Peter Cushing as his nemesis Van Helsing, and the blood — the bright red blood, something audiences were not accustomed to seeing at that time. With the film’s success came the inevitable sequels, some good, some bad (one was so bad Lee refused to even speak the dialog written for him), but after 14 years of Gothic horror Hammer wanted to take the Count in a new direction by transporting the vampire to a modern day setting.
Hence the title Dracula A.D. 1972, the seventh of eight films in the Dracula series with Lee in the title role (there is one more with Cushing, but not Lee). The movie begins in 1872 with one final confrontation between Dracula and Van Helsing that ends with both of them dead, the Count the worst for the wear as he is impaled on a broken wagon wheel and disintegrates into a pile of dust. But, one of the Count’s acolytes is there to retrieve his ring and a little pile of dust, which he then buries near Van Helsing’s grave, complete with the wooden stake to keep everything in place.
Somehow a hundred years later, the stake is still in place and the acolyte’s ancestor Johnny Alucard (both played by Christopher Neame) has a plan to resurrect the Count. Johnny has made himself the leader of a group of friends he’s just become a part of, one of them being Jessica Van Helsing (Stephanie Beacham), and suggests they try something new and exciting, a sort of Black Mass, just for a few giggles to see what, if anything, they might summon. During the ceremony, Johnny wants Jessica to lie on the altar but she’s too strung out by the whole thing to even move, but her friend Laura (Caroline Munro) practically throws herself at Johnny to perform the ceremony. Things get a little too intense when it appears Johnny has slit his wrist, pouring several cups of blood into a chalice that also contains the Count’s ashes. It’s a real freak out for the group who run away and leave poor Laura behind with Johnny … and the resurrected Dracula. It doesn’t end well for Laura, but the Count is not happy because she is not ‘the one’ he wants — the Count has returned to put an end to the line of Van Helsing’s forever.
Hammer Films
I wasn’t sure how a Dracula movie set in the not-so-swinging 70s was going to work, but it kind of does mainly because of the performances from Lee, Cushing, Neame and Beacham. Lee’s Dracula is really on screen for maybe ten minutes of the film’s 96 minute run time, but Neame is the real star, sinking his teeth into any scenery in sight. He really is great to watch. Beacham gives a fine performance too, working well with Cushing as her grandfather. The 1972 setting also affords the film to showcase some tragic 1970s fashions (and the movie’s tagline mentions the Count’s interest in hot pants, but there are never a pair to be seen) and hilarious 70s drug lingo. By today’s standards, it’s all pretty tame (quaint even) but it’s still entertaining if not quite the horror show it could have been.
The history of home video releases in the US of Hammer horrors is dodgy. Anchor Bay had licensed the movies several years ago and managed to release some decent DVD packages with extra features but those are out of print and never made the transition to Blu-ray. Warner Bros., which released the Hammer films in the US, appears to have the home video rights but their attention to these films has been lacking. Now the Warner Archive has released Dracula A.D. 1972 on Blu-ray (with The Satanic Rites of Dracula to follow in November) on Blu-ray and the transfer looks gorgeous. No film damage is visible, the image as a very fine grain pattern as film should, with thousands of instances of dust and scratches repaired frame by frame, and the colors pop, especially the very, very bright red blood. The mono soundtrack is also very well balanced, even with an early scene featuring the group of swingers invading a swanky dinner party where a loud rock band, Stoneground, is playing, and the Black Mass accompanied by all sorts of sound effects. The film’s delightful score by Michael Vickers also comes through loud and clear.
Sadly, the disc comes only with a trailer as an extra, but it too has been remastered for high definition.
Dracula A.D. 1972 isn’t the best of the Hammer Dracula movies, but it’s far from the worst. The movie really has divided fans as to its merits, and even in this household we’re split, myself being on the side of liking it much more than I should have. I would have liked to see a bit more Dracula roaming the streets of 1970s London rather than confined to the one set (at least Cushing is finally allowed out of his house to confront the Count for the film’s climax) but it feels like Lee wanted to limit his involvement as much as possible, which did not allow for extensive shooting — aside from the film’s prologue — outside of the church set. It’s odd that Warner Archive has chosen to start their Hammer Dracula releases with the last two films in the series (not counting the non-Lee Dracula film), but if the restoration here is any indication, one can only hope they will be working their way backwards to the classic original … and perhaps throw in a few more extras.
Warner Archive generously provided Hotchka with a Blu-ray version of the film for reviewing purposes.
Hammer Films
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