Starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Michael Coles, William Franklyn, Freddie Jones and Joanna Lumley
Written by Don Houghton and directed by Alan Gibson
Here we have the final Hammer DRACULA film to star Christopher Lee, and the third to reunite Lee with Cushing as Dracula and Van Helsing go at it once again, this time in 1974 -- contemporaneous with the movie's release. This was the sequel to DRACULA A.D. 1972, which was the first of the Hammer Dracula movies to move Dracula into then-modern times, but I didn't cover it this year because I touched on it in a previous Horrorfest.
This is one of the lesser entries in the series, but at least does have some good scenes between Lee and Cushing, so it's still worth checking out. This time around Dracula has started a Satanic cult and has a plan to develop a virulent strain of the bubonic plague and unleash it against humanity, thus bringing about the end of mankind. You might wonder what Dracula will eat if there aren't any people left, but maybe that's just it -- maybe he's so pissed off and sick of being Dracula that he's ready to just take the whole world out.
Seemingly unsure of simply selling the movie as horror, this production is all mixed up with spy stuff and action stuff and cop stuff. It's weird to see Dracula mixed up in all of it, but sort of amusing in its own way.
Spoiler warning: this time around Dracula is weakened when he's driven into a hawthorn bush, stopping him just long enough for Van Helsing to stake him. This is an interesting and unique stab at vampire lore -- the idea is that Jesus Christ's crown of thorns was made from a hawthorn bush, and therefore the bushes are deadly to vampires. This was a new one on me, so good job, Hammer.
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