Review of The Brides of Dracula (1960) by Stuart K — 07 Feb 2013

From Hammer, in the early 1960's, Hollywood came calling to this small studio, and they answered to Universal Pictures, who wanted them to do a sequel to Hammer, with Christopher Lee not wanting to return to the role of Dracula (yet), Hammer decided to do one with Van Helsing.

It was still successful, and it's a very lavish film thanks to the talents of Hammer veteran director Terence Fisher. In Transylvania, Marianne Danielle (Yvonne Monlaur), has come from Paris to take a position at a girls school belonging to Herr Lang (Henry Oscar) and his wife Frau Lang (Mona Washbourne).

However, Marianne is invited to spend the night of the mansion of Baroness Meinster (Martita Hunt), who has a son, Baron Meinster (David Peel) is locked up in a room, but Marianne sets the Baron free and he goes around as a creature of the night.

By sheer luck, Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) has arrived in town, and he hears about what's going on, and he investigates what might be the cause, his worst fears are confirmed, as he's not long faced vampires.

It's a very rich looking film with good colour and some grand and well designed sets. Cushing is as good as ever, and the rest of the cast do good too, it's the missing link between Dracula (1958) and Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), and it's well worth a look.