Director: Alan Gibson
Year: 1972
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Vampire
Plot:
Growing bored with the current party scene, a youth drags a group of friends to an abandoned church in central London, where they unwittingly resurrect Count Dracula through a supposed prank, forcing the descendants of those who destroyed him to do so again before his plan is enacted.
Review:
For the most part, this was an unnecessarily maligned and undervalued effort, though it does have some minor problems. One of the film's best parts here is the fact that it manages to really capture a fantastic trend of mixing together the different styles employed at the time by offering the Gothic landscapes here alongside the more modern Mod trappings that were in fashion here. The Gothic markings here come from the rather grand church for their party as the supposedly abandoned effort comes complete with the broken-away and decayed landscapes, the absolutely chilling ceremonial hall where they manage to conduct their party in the middle of broken stained-glass paintings and crumbling pews makes for a truly enjoyable setting along the way here even if the best atmosphere is saved for the end with the battle in the church leads into the adjoining cemetery which is all sorts of Gothic fun, while the film's main issue of dealing with the direct lineage being in peril and the reawakening curse concepts come from the grandest stories of the genre's past being replayed to its fullest here.
Even with all this good stuff here, the setting in concurrent-day London allows for the settings in the discotheques and dance stores that populated the scene, which is all quite nicely brought in here to give this a solid mixture of the two worlds. Beyond this mixture, the fact of generating some solid action here is quite enjoyable, with the opening carriage-top brawl between Dracula and Van Helsing in the past being so fast and frenetic that the surprising location of the scene is fun enough while allowing for a marvelous opening. Likewise, the resurrection is truly unnerving and chilling, with the entire thing pointed out to be a joke, but it steadily grows into something more sinister as he continues on, and the final appearance from the mist makes for yet another grand, stylistic entrance here for the Count as he makes his way through the church for his helpless victim.
As well, the investigation into the deaths and the slow discovery of Dracula being alive come off really nicely here at generating enough interest to be enjoyable, while the multitude of fights here at the finale with the minions before the great showcase in the church with Dracula is highly enjoyable and ends this on a positive note. There are a few minor flaws here, mainly from the dated look and feel as it's mostly set at that specific point, so there's a lot of goofiness here with the clothing, music, and lingo used at the time that's just lame. Even still, there's little point in Dracula being there, with him relegated solely to the church for his brief appearances, where his menace isn't as well-thought-out and doesn't feel as strong as some of his other outings. Still, there's a lot to like here otherwise.
Overview: ****/5
A decent entry if not overly spectacular, this is far better than its reputation allows and has some rather likable factors that are enough to hold off the few issues present that keep this down. Those with an appreciation for this era of the genre, who are curious about it, or who are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like here while most others out there might want to heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment