Horror of Dracula (1958)

dir. Terence Fisher cast Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling, Carol Marsh, John Van Eyssen

One of the most important horror films ever made, Horror of Dracula, along with The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), established Britain's Hammer Films as the preeminent horror studio of its era, much as Universal had been in the 1930's, and gave birth to a revival of gothic horror films that would last into the 1970s. Horror also made a horror film icon out of Christopher Lee, who would go on to play Dracula in six more Hammer films and would star in many other classic horror movies. As I write this, fifty-six years later, Lee is still acting, the last of the great horror icons. Lee had already appeared as the monster in The Curse of Frankenstein, but he was, of course, heavily made up and that film clearly focused on the scientist, not the monster. It was Horror of Dracula that made Lee a star.

Cushing, who earned his horror icon status in The Curse of Frankenstein, turns in an excellent performance as well in the role of Van Helsing. He makes Van Helsing believable as a man of science who also is an expert on the supernatural. His presence is so strong that the sequel, Brides of Dracula (1960), revolved around him, rather than the vampire (Lee refused to appear for fear of being typecast), and was nearly as good as Horror of Dracula.

Horror of Dracula introduced literal blood and new levels of sexuality into the vampire film. One of the first things we see in the film is bright red blood dripping onto Dracula's coffin. We never see whose blood this is, nor does this scene ever recur doing the movie; it is meant to show the viewer that this film will be different. Hammer would be taking a different path than the restrained Val Lewton movies of the 1940's and would be taking advantage of greater standards of explicitness that had developed since the US-made Dracula of 1931. This time we would see the vampire's blood-stained fangs and would witness his attacks in vivid close-ups. There had been a suggestion of a sexual component in Bela Lugosi's interpretation of Dracula, but Horror of Dracula made it much more overt. Lucy Holmwood (Marsh) waits for Dracula nervously but with clear anticipation, to come to her bedroom, the way a young virginal bride might wait for her husband on their wedding night. Dracula kisses Mina (Stribling) before biting her neck and she seems sexually satisfied the morning after their first encounter. The portrayal of the vampire as an overtly sexual figure, which seems the dominant image of vampires today, largely began here.

Aside from its historical importance, the movie is flat-out entertaining. It's very well directed. I especially like the fact that Dracula has not one, but several dramatic entrances during the course of the film. Lee is actually onscreen a very small percentage of the time, but his appearances always have maximum impact. The scenes where Dracula suddenly appears at the top of the staircase to a startled Harker (Van Eyssen), charges into the library with bloodstained fangs and bulging red eyes, looms in Lucy's doorway at night are all memorably dramatic (and are all common stills often seen in guidebooks to horror movies). Equally memorable is the scene where a vampirized Lucy, about to bite her mesmerized brother Arthur (Gough), is suddenly foiled by a cross thrust in front of her face from offscreen, held, it turns out, by Van Helsing. Van Helsing and Dracula's final struggle is also impressive and is one of the most famous scenes in horror, as the adversaries chase each other through the castle, leaping over and on furniture.

In the 1931 version of Dracula, Bela Lugosi gave the definitive performance as the famous vampire. But overall, that movie, hurt by the limitations of early sound films, is static and seems like a filmed stage play (it was based on a theatrical adaptation of the novel). Horror of Dracula is much more entertaining. In fact, I consider the Hammer movie to be the best vampire film ever made.