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Bookmark this pageDracula (1958)
Director: Terence Fisher
Movie review
From Time Out London
Digitally restored by the BFI to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Hammer Horror, this creepy period yarn has retained much of its bite. A tripartite narrative focuses on the death of amateur vampire hunter Jonathan Harker (John Van Eyssen) and the subsequent ripples of terror that engulf the family of his girlfriend and one Doctor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing). Fun anachronisms abound, from the optimistic belief that the Berkshire countryside plus an overzealous smoke-machine equal rural Transylvania, to Van Helsing’s worrying assurance that the best way to recover from a blood transfusion is to consume plenty of ‘tea, coffee or even better…wine’. One shouldn’t be brutal about a film of such noble intent, but as ‘horror’ it doesn’t have the honest-to-goodness scares that modern audiences expect. Still, Christopher Lee’s Dracula is a menacing and complex presence who never lets his fangs and cape dominate. There’s also the canny use of vampirism as an allegory for drug abuse and sexually transmitted disease: is this the camp forerunner to Abel Ferrara’s ‘The Addiction’?Author: David Jenkins
Time Out London Issue 1941: October 31-November 6
User reviews of this film
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- hermann zermitz said...
- Posted on Dec 15 2007 18:27 Not "anachronistic" - but ludicrous, certainly
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- Koreczek said...
- Posted on Nov 06 2007 09:47 it's good film
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- Candice said...
- Posted on Oct 31 2007 17:59 Excellent film, the old ones are the best!
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Cast & crew
Director: Terence Fisher
Producer: Anthony Hinds
Cast: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling, Carol Marsh, Valerie Gaunt full cast
Genre(s): Horror
Rated: 12A
Duration: 82 mins
UK Release: Nov 2 2007
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