Director: Terence Fisher
Year: 1966
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Vampire
Plot:
Arriving at a strange castle in the wilderness, a group of travelers finds that they're guests in the presence of Count Dracula, who has lured them there to regenerate himself, and must find a way of stopping the deadly being and his cronies before their plans can come to fruition.
Review:
While this one might not be as classic as the original, it is still quite a fun effort at times. One of the better elements at play is the very welcome return of Christopher Lee in the title role, and this is one of his better efforts. He has an extremely powerful presence here, making the Count incredibly threatening while also playing up his animal side. This is due mainly to that strong performance, being effectively mute but with complete physical actions alone, they make the character easily one of Lee's best performances. There's also quite a bit of fun here at the expense of the usual Gothic tropes, as the castle stay there is quite effective with its usual grand appearance and generally creepy lay-out and design work that are usual Hammer staples which causes this one to have that same effective atmosphere that usually captivates the viewer.
That also allows for scenes like the resurrection sequence to really have a great atmosphere about it much more-so than if it were to take place in another area entirely since the actions themselves, hanging a dead corpse up over a trench containing Dracula's ashes, gutting it and then pouring the draining blood onto them which soon takes the form of the humanized count makes for a deliciously wonderful and chilling sequence that works as well due to the dank basement set where it takes place. As well, the action in the latter half is truly inspiring as the conflagration at the end is exciting and features some great action bits thrown in with the assault on the church, and then the action back at the castle really settles matters.
There are parts here that cause this one to fall short. For one, this takes a very slow and leisurely pace to the proceedings, and that can take its toll on the viewer. Things play out for much longer than they really should, and this makes it a bit of a chore to sit through. Nowhere is this more evident than in the opening half, which sets up a series of background pieces that are played far longer than necessary, and that creates some serious pacing problems. Also, Dracula is introduced into the story far too late. It's over the forty-five-minute mark, and he really shouldn't be that late coming into the action. Otherwise, this one is quite a bit of fun.
Overview: ****/
Decent follow-up to the classic original, there's quite a lot to like here that makes this an immensely likable and enjoyable sequel, which helps to overcome the few minor drawbacks present here. Those who appreciate this era of the genre or who are fans of the creative crew will have the most to like here, while most others out there should give the original a chance before diving into this one.
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