Review of Dracula (1958) by Chris W — 24 Sep 2011

This was the first film in Hammer's series devoted to updating Dracula, making variations that, unlike Universal, were filled with a bit more mature content such as blood, cleavage, and being in color.

This film follows the basic story as created by Bram Stoker, but of course takes plenty of liberties. The result though, is a very entertaining and gothic take that I actually enjoy a tad more than the Bela Lugosi Dracula, mostly because this one, despite a couple of slow patches, doesn't really come off as boring like the Universal film did. Yell at me all you want, but that's how I feel.

Christopher Lee maybe speaks like 17 lines during the movie, all of them to John Van Eyssen's Jonathan Harker, and all within the first like 15 minutes or so. The rest of the time he's a silent (save for some grunts or snarls) suave badass with some killer red eyes and one of the coolest "don't mess with me" faces ever. He's a joy to watch. Another good performance comes from Peter Cushing as the classic nemesis Dr. Van Helsing. He's the guy who knows something's up, and is bound and determined to put things right.

The film has a great look, Terence FIsher provides competant direction and, though some of the effects look a little dated and cheesy, they're still pretty cool.

You might think that if you've seen on take on Dracula, then you've seen them all. Well, even though that's sorta true, you should give this one a watch, if only for the awesomeness that is Christopher Lee.