HORROR OF DRACULA (1958)
Article #599 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 11-4-2002
Posting date: 3-30-2003

Dr. Van Helsing tries to track down and destroy Dracula.

This was the first movie in the Hammer Dracula series, and it’s a fairly succinct and entertaining take on the story. It makes a lovely use of color, as do most Hammer movies, and it features good performances from Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and Michael Gough. It’s a little plodding at times, but not as much as some other Hammers I’ve seen, and the comic relief sequences are annoying and a bit unnecessary, but these are minor quibbles. For me, the most interesting thing is noting the way that it more or less hones to the original story while making some very interesting changes to that story; though I do kind of miss not having a Renfield character (they would throw in a similar character in DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS), I found it quite surprising that Jonathan Harker’s purpose in going to Dracula’s castle had nothing to do with real estate.