☆ ☆ ☆
Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) – T. Fisher
A
direct sequel to Hammer’s first Dracula film (1958’s Horror of Dracula) that
begins with actual footage from the earlier film (as seen in the mind’s eye) to
bring viewers back up to speed. Although
we see Christopher Lee (the inimitable Hammer vampire) in this flashback, it is
quite some time before he appears in the actual film and then he never utters a
word but only glares and hisses. This
time, I watched the film with the audio commentary and so I got plenty of
chatty (and clearly unscripted) commentary from Lee and his co-actors – so I
was a bit distracted from the plot.
Suffice it to say that two couples are travelling (near Carlsbad) when
their coachman refuses to go any further, even though a local monk has earlier
said that Dracula’s castle is empty as the dark lord has been destroyed. Nevertheless, after they are dumped from the
coach, another empty coach turns up and the horses bring them straight to the
castle where a butler awaits them. They
eventually decide to stay the night – and of course one of them (Australian Charles
“Bud” Tingwell) becomes a blood sacrifice to bring Dracula back to life (or
back to un-life, I guess). And then
things proceed as expected, particularly with regard to Dracula’s approach to
the ladies. The unique thing about this
outing is how Dracula is eventually vanquished – it isn’t by sunlight or stake
(but I won’t spoil it). Solid Hammer
fare – and you already know if you like it.
No comments:
Post a Comment