Film Review
The third of Hammer's Dracula films picks up where
Dracula: Prince of Darkness
(1966) left off, although on this occasion Christopher Lee was
sufficiently unoffended by the dialogue to deign to speak his
lines. The mute Dracula of the previous film wasn't particularly
convincing and having the vampire articulate his anger adds greatly to
the power of Lee's performance.
Dracula
Has Risen from the Grave may not be the best of Hammer's Dracula
films, but it is arguably the one in which Christopher Lee is most
effective in the role.
Another thing that counts (no pun intended) in this film's favour
is its visual modernity. In contrast to
Dracula: Prince of Darkness, which
looks as if it were made a year after Hammer's first Dracula film (in
1958), this quaint Gothic horror is touched by sixties psychedelia
(note the inventive use of coloured filters to accentuate the film's
creepy atmosphere) and far more imaginative use of the camera.
These inspired visual touches are no doubt down to Freddie Francis's
experience as a cinematographer.
This film marked the Hammer debut of the stunningly beautiful Veronica
Carlson, one of the studio's more talented discoveries who bears a
striking resemblance the iconic French screen actress Catherine
Deneuve. Carlson's angelic presence both accentuates the film's
elegance and heightens the menace and viciousness of Lee's
Dracula. The actress would subsequently feature in
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)
and
The Horror of Frankenstein
(1970).
Although the plot of
Dracula Has
Risen from the Grave has many original elements (whilst
retaining the familiar motifs of Bram Stoker's original novel), it
does stretch credibility a little too far and is unevenly paced.
Too much time is spent on the tedious romantic love triangle involving
Paul, Maria and Zena, time that could have been better spent building
the tension and rewarding the audience with genuine horror
thrills. For a film made in 1968, it is almost ludicrously naive
in both its horror and sexual content, and Hammer's Gothic horror
seems to be trapped in a time warp. Aware that they were falling behind the times,
Hammer would inject far more violence and eroticism into
their next Dracula offerings,
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
and
Scars of Dracula (1970),
whilst sadly losing much of the camp fun which made the
earlier films so appealing.
© James Travers 2010
The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.
Next Freddie Francis film:
Tales from the Crypt (1972)
Film Synopsis
One year after Dracula was destroyed, Monsignor Ernst Müller
returns to the village of Klausenberg to see how the locals are faring
now that they have been freed from the vampire scourge. He
is incredulous to find the church empty on the Sabbath day. The
villagers tell him that they dare not set foot inside the church since
it is touched by the shadow of Dracula's castle. Aware that
the threat of the vampire has not yet been removed, the Monsignor sets
out to exorcise the fiend's mountaintop castle, accompanied by a
Catholic priest. Whilst Müller is busy nailing a crucifix to
the castle gates, his companion stumbles and unwittingly revives the
slumbering Dracula, who has lain frozen in a mountain
stream. The prince of darkness is outraged when he sees the
crucifix barring his entrance to his castle and, making the priest his
servant, swears vengeance. Happy that his work is done,
Monsignor Müller returns to his hometown of Keinenberg, and
arrives just in time to meet his neice Maria's new boyfriend, Paul, at
a dinner engagement. Paul, a student who works in the local
bakery, makes an immediate bad impression by revealing that he is an
atheist. The Monsignor will soon have more serious matters
to contend with when Dracula arrives in town, with the intention of
making his niece his next victim...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.