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 particularly now. I kinda enjoyed this one on first viewing, but looking at it again recently, I must say it’s not especially good. That said, it’s still a bit better than the subsequent “Satanic Rites of Dracula” and there are still some fun things here. Stephanie Beacham’s cleavage for instance, is the real star here. We also get a fun opener with Dracula impaled on a wagon wheel spoke. In fact, it’s so much fun you’re a bit let down when things cut to the 1970s and we spend far too much time with a ‘groovy’ party scene featuring American band Stoneground. Along with the very loud score by Michael Vickers (“At the Earth’s Core”) it all comes across as incredibly square and probably did in 1972 as well. Don’t get me wrong, ‘Alligator Man’ is a catchy song (Think a bluesy, swamp rock version of T-Rex), but I’m not here for that. I’m here for Hammer horror, thank you very much and after about 20 minutes not a damn thing had happened. All of that nonsense and the goofy ‘Johnny Alucard’ silliness really is a bit much to swallow. Ms. Beacham in particular struggles a bit with all the unconvincing ‘groovy’ dialogue and a party-pooper character (the blonde hair and big floppy hat aren’t a great look either), and a bloke named William Ellis is beyond annoying as the token jokester of the gang who isn’t remotely funny. Michael Coles makes the first of his two appearances in the series, with the subsequent “Satanic Rites of Dracula” as his second. He and his cop character are dreadfully uninteresting. Still, it’s the pacing that is the main flaw here. It’s agonisingly slow.

 

On the plus side, Christopher Neame really goes for broke here as the somewhat sinister Alucard. As stupid as the Johnny Alucard name is, evil-eyed Neame’s Malcolm McDowell-esque performance is so good you wonder why he never quite made the grade as an actor in large roles. Sure, this is only one performance and it’s a mediocre film, but still…he’s really got something here. He’s done plenty of TV especially in America, but you’ll probably best know him for his tiny role in “Licence to Kill”, which gave him nothing to do. If there’s anything that works here, it’s Neame’s performance. Caroline Munro is well-cast as the token hedonistic hot girl, though she, Janet Key, and Marsha Hunt end up a bit underused.

 

As for our two big name stars, Peter Cushing fares a lot better here than Christopher Lee. A class act as always, he’s the most authentic thing about the film. I think this was one of the films made around the time of the death of Cushing’s beloved wife. Apparently he spent a lot of time alone in his dressing room during the shoot. He doesn’t look visibly distressed, but there’s no doubt in my mind that grief aged him quite quickly and I’m not the only one to say so. Nonetheless he does a good, utterly professional job. Christopher Lee’s Dracula is badly underused here, and apparently the actor hated the script. 30 minutes is too long to wait for the title character, but I will say that at least he gets some dialogue in this one, whatever its quality. Like Cushing, Lee leaves whatever displeasure or unhappiness off-camera, or if he does show it, he uses it to portray a rather disdainful Count so it works to the advantage of the film anyway. His best moment in the film is the very first shot of him which is awesome. Hammer filmmakers and cinematographers knew how to shoot and frame their famous vampire, if not how to properly use the character otherwise. Lensed by the amusingly named Dick Bush (“Twins of Evil”, “Tommy”, “The Lair of the White Worm”), it’s a very well-shot film although the finale is a bit too Rube Goldberg-esque in how it plays out.

 

Goofy, slow, and uneventful attempt by Hammer to modernise Dracula for the then-current 1970s. It’s a mixed bag, though if it had more Lee and Cushing and less farting about with Stoneground it might’ve been considerably better.

 

Rating: C+