I spent yesterday between household chores and whatnot watching four Hammer movies starring Christopher Lee as the immortal Dracula. It was fun and enlightening.
I've never seen any of Lee's Dracula movies save for his first turn in the role in Horror of Dracula which I've had on VHS for many years. I've long regarded this movie as a favorite Dracula flick, a lean efficient and compelling movie. But my respect for it has increased a great deal having seen some of the sequels. Peter Cushing is single minded and his cold analysis of what needs to be done is frightening all by itself. And the way Christopher Lee switches from a composed nobleman to a savage beast on a dime always makes my skin crawl a bit. When he tosses Mina into the makeshift grave at the finale is so perfect, it shows his absolute disdain and disregard for people so completely. He's not human, it shows in the little things. As many times as I've seen this one, I'm always a bit surprised that Van Helsing actually defeats the Count.
Compared to the truly scary Hammer original, the sequels are too long in general and don't focus nearly enough on Dracula himself. They are diverting and some are stronger than others. But all fall short when it comes time to deliver the coup de grace to the master vampire himself.
Dracula Has Risen From The Grave is the mopiest of the lot, wasting a very intense beginning to spend far too much time climbing mountains and rooftops and showing a romance that not one person in the movie buys for ten seconds. The lead actress, the focus of Dracula's revenge is not very good unfortunately and gives the whole film a flat dimension that keeps even a few choice scenes like Dracula leaping off a balcony for instance from working as they ought. The ending is lurid but not very scary, not in the least. Despite a bravura performance from Rupert Davies as the Monsignor dedicated to God, this movie still never gets out of the blocks. It seems to want to say something about faith as an Athiest is the hero, but thematically I can't tell what's going on.
Taste The Blood Of Dracula is a tad better focusing on some depraved small town business types who get hooked into resurrecting Dracula in a particularly unconvincing way. Once he gets up and running (or standing since that's about all he does here) it gets better, and I will say the plot is unpredictable in its small details if not its larger arc. The end has Dracula trapped in a church throwing a tantrum and anything he can get his hands on, but his aim is peculiarly poor. Dracula seems to be attacked by religion itself in this one, though the ending is vague and confusing.
Dracula A.D. 1972 gets the Count into the 20th century after a good deal of hocus pocus. The attempt here to evoke the counter-culture scene of the early 70's is pretty interesting as a backdrop for a vampire, but little is actually done with this after the first few minutes. It's a generational battle as Dracula plots revenge against the descendants of Van Helsing. There's some pretty nifty scenes in this one, but again the denoument is disappointing as a silver knife takes out Dracula rather easily actually. More interesting is the death of his henchman in a shower. The presence of both Chris Lee and Peter Cushing in this one really help elevate the proceedings.
All in all a diverting day. I really learned I adore the original Hammer movie. It's a story told with a spare but effective care. Details are just what is needed and we as the audience are required to fill in as it unfolds. Nonetheless it works remarkably well. I wouldn't mind catching some of the other Lee sequels, as he's always visually interesting as the Count, but I know enough now not to expect much from them.
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