Review: Dracula A.D. 1972
In 1972, devious Johnny Alucard (Christopher Neame) is the descendant of a disciple of Dracula, and gathers his groovy pals to an abandoned church so he can resurrect the Count for a bit of a giggle. It’s no laughing matter when the Count (Christopher Lee) indeed rises from the grave to make Alucard and the others (Caroline Munro, Janet Key, and Marsha Hunt among them) into his followers to do his bidding. However, among Alucard’s friends is the virginal Jessica Van Helsing (Stephanie Beacham), granddaughter of Lorrimer Van Helsing (Peter Cushing), the descendant of Dracula’s arch enemy. Michael Coles turns up as a police inspector. The first two Hammer movies in the Dracula cycle that I saw were 1968’s “Dracula Has Risen From the Grave” , and this 1972 effort from director Alan Gibson ( “Crescendo” , “The Satanic Rites of Dracula” ) and writer Don Houghton ( “The Satanic Rites of Dracula” , “The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires” ). I much preferred the earlier film both then and