Another two-for-one double-feature review, for your reading pleasure! The last of the Hammer Studios Dracula movies, DVR'd from TCM on Monday. Without further ado, let's get to the reviews.
Scars of Dracula (1970), as every other movie in the Dracula films by Hammer studios, begins with Dracula rising once again from the grave. This time, Dracula is dust and a cape in his castle (how his remains got back to Castle Dracula, who knows, maybe a servant?), when a bat flies in and vomits blood onto his ashes. Dracula rises again, and begins hunting vixens anew. A local mob of villagers decides to put an end to his reign of terror by burning down his castle, but while they're doing that, Dracula sends his bats to kill all their womenfolk. Meanwhile, a charming rogue is chased out of town after an ill-advised fling with the Burgomeister's daughter, and ends up fleeing to castle Dracula in the dead of night. Dracula, who has survived the fire, welcomes him with open arms, playing the concerned host. Meanwhile, the man's brother and female friend are trying to track him down, and are hot on his trail to the castle...
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Hey, there's nudity in this movie! I'm not sure if I've seen this movie before, but it looked kind of familiar. Not sure what a Burgomeister is (some sort of town mayor?), but his daughter was hot. This movie returns to the old formula, Dracula waiting at his castle for wandering travelers, terrorizing the countryside, and so on. There's a conspicuous absence of knowledgeable foes for Dracula to fight in this one. The local priest is a bit of a twit, and Peter Cushing's Van Helsing hasn't shown up since the 1958 movie. The overall quality of the movies seem to be dropping a bit, sadly, but the movie was at least mildly enjoyable. I saw the ending coming a mile away, though.
Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) opens up with one final climactic battle between Dracula and Van Helsing. Dracula and Van Helsing are fighting atop a carriage, and Dracula throws Van Helsing off, only to crash into a tree. Dracula is impaled through the heart by one of the wooden spokes of the wagon wheel, and Van Helsing lives just long enough to drive the spoke deep into the Count's heart. Count Dracula is dead again, but a servant arrives in time to scoop up his ashes, and buries them near Van Helsing's own grave. One hundred years later, in 1972 London, a satan-worshipper named Johnny Alucard (heh, Alucard, that's Dracula backwards, geddit?) manages to summon up Dracula's remains...
The Good, the Bad, The Ugly: I wish there had been more to that climactic battle between Dracula and Van Helsing at the beginning of this movie. If it was the end of some other movie, I don't recall ever seeing that movie, and if it wasn't, it should have been. Peter Cushing returns as Van Helsing, and then again as Lawrence van Helsing, a professor of Archaeology in 1972, one of Van Helsing's descendants. This movie seems closer to the plot of Taste the Blood of Dracula, where a bunch of (now-younger, 1972-style) thrill-seekers get ahold of Dracula's remains, and succeed in bringing him back to life. Or Undeath, whatever. Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and as far as I know, the last great Hammer-Studios epic battle between Dracula and Van Helsing... What's not to like? There's even supposed to be some nudity in there somewhere, but I think I missed it. Fun to watch, anyway, and good to see Peter Cushing getting back into the Vampire-killing business.
This movie departs from the normal sequence of events for Hammer Dracula films. Usually, Dracula is dead when the movie opens, having been slain at the end of the last movie, though they usually show the last few scenes of the previous movie, just to make sure you know how Dracula died. This time, he was alive, then died at the hands of Van Helsing, then was brought back to life again, and then finally dies by the hand of Van Helsing's descendant. Yea, minor spoiler, but come on. Dracula dies at the end of EVERY hammer horror film, so it's not like you didn't see that one coming, huh? As if to denote that it was the very last time, it even says REST IN FINAL PEACE at the end of the film, although Christopher Lee did return to the role one final time in 1973.
I wonder if Roddy McDowell was supposed to be playing a Peter Cushing-like character, in Fright Night (1985)? Seems like Roddy Mcdowell had to get the inspiration for his character from somewhere. Hmmmm. I guess we'll never know.
That's it for the Hammer Dracula films for this week. Hopefully I'll be able to find something a bit different for tomorrow night, and we'll see what the weekend brings. Did I mention I friggin' love horror movies? Monsters, monsters everywhere this weekend, and costumed candy-seekers due to arrive monday night by the dozens! I am sure AMC (or one of the other channels) will be playing Halloween (1978) and the entire Halloween series all weekend, or at least on Monday night, and I can't think of a better way to cap off the month than watching Michael Myers slash his way through Haddonfield, deep into the wee hours of Halloween evening, while riding a chocolate-induced sugar high! Wheeeeeee! Have fun at the Halloween parties this weekend, but don't forget to DVR the horror flicks! You'll need something to watch while recovering from the hangovers. :-)
Til tomorrow evening, horror movie fans.
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