Dracula Has Risen from the Grave

Dir. Freddie Francis

92 Minutes

UK

1968

Starring: Christopher Lee, Rupert Davies, Veronica Carlson, Barbara Ewing, Barry Andrews, Ewan Hooper

**1/2/*****

A weaker entry in the Hammer Dracula series that succumbs to a willingness to follow similar templates rather than having much to set them apart from one another (an ability that the Cushing Frankenstein series has which possibly contributes to its immense superiority). While Dracula (Christopher Lee) was frozen in ice during his last slaughter (in Dracula: Prince of Darkness), he is soon resurrected again by the Monsignor. The returned vampire sets his sights on the Monsignor's beautiful niece and her friends. 

The switch in direction from Hammer mainstay Terence Fisher to Freddie Francis possibly contributes to the downgrade in quality, and Francis has none of Fisher's sense of mood and space. As a result, the picture becomes a quite tiresome slasher model, with nothing particularly standing out either in character, conflict, or killings. There is a usual entertainment to be had, especially for Hammer loyalists, mostly attributed to their soft aesthetic and period details, and Christopher Lee (though he never feels as committed to the Dracula character in any type of longevity compared to Cushing's Dr. Frankenstein which is consistently energetic and magnetic). But as Dracula is impaled in the end, the audience (and perhaps even himself) knows that something will take place to allow for his return, and the Dracula franchise continues more with an exhausted inevitability than any type of pleasurably happiness at its continued existence.

October 23rd, 2019