Review of The Brides of Dracula (1960) by Daniel B — 07 Oct 2012

Much like Universal's Dracula's Daughter, Hammer's Brides of Dracula sidesteps the titular vampire and turns its focus on Van Helsing. In sharp contrast to Edward Van Sloan's elderly vampire hunter, Peter Cushing is all energy and cool throwing himself into the role once again with his trademark physicality.

Watch for Cushing taking a leap near the end of the picture at the windmill and you'll see an example of the rough and tumble approach he brought to the best of his parts. When Cushing is not throwing around his aristocratic charm around, he's pulling on ropes and dashing tables thrown at him.

As always its tremendous fun to watch the actor in his prime dueling it out with the forces of evil. Sadly the vampire here is sorely lacking in presence when compared to Christopher Lee from the original film.

Although he starts off quite eerie in how he tricks Marianne into letting him out of his prison, he never really convinces as someone who will outwit Van Helsing. More formidable is Freda Jackson as the dementedly loyal Greta.

Jackson cackles, howls and hisses her way through one of the most memorable parts in the movie. Yvonne Monlaur brings a good mix of looks and innocence to the part, and she manages to hold interest during the first half of the movie.

The early half with Marianne falling into the trappings of this Gothic story and trying to figure out what is going on is a nice change of pace from the standard damsel in distress these Dracula movies usually cast the women in.

However once Van Helsing makes the scene, Marianne becomes vampire bait and her character loses interest fast. The finale staged at the windmill is unique for the mix of fire and holy water to combat vampire bites and the later the use of the windmill itself to form a giant cross.

For fans of Cushing this is a good movie to look out for. Its a shame Hammer didn't really bring Van Helsing back again while Cushing was still at his peak.