Horror of Dracula

Horror of Dracula
by Terence Fisher

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DVD Cover Information

• Jonathan Harker, a student of vampires, ventures to Dracula's castle and attacks him. The revengeful vampire leaves his dark abode to prey on the family of his attacker's fiancee. The only man able to protect Harker and his fiancee is Dr. Van Helsing, a friend of Harker's. As a fellow-student of vampires, he's determined to destroy Dracula.Running Time: 82 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: H

Movie Reviews of Horror of Dracula

Movie Review: The horror, the horror
Summary: 5 Stars

Lee, on the other hand, radiates sensual animal energy as Dracula. This is a creature that can be both charming and deadly all within a few moments of each other. While Lee would go on to play the character numerous times, the character was robbed of "life" with each successive feature. Sadly, there was no one that could come up with as compelling a script as screenwriter Jimmy Sangster did with this his second Hammer feature.

The team of Sangster and director Terence Fisher breath life into a character that had become a joke by the beginning of the 50's. While Fisher's film lack the cinematic scope of directors like David Lean, Alfred Hitchcock or Stanley Kubrick, he is of a similar stature within the horror genre. His films have color, movement where other horror films are static and a number of great performances. Horror of Dracula, despite the budget limitations apparent on the screen, is probably the most faithful in spirit to Stoker's novel. Rather than allow the material to be bogged down in atmosphere, Fisher chose to make Dracula an action film. This approach had a huge impact on the genre as a whole. Fisher and Hammer changed the rules of the horror genre with this film. The gore was evident on screen and in vibrant technicolor.

Sangster's adaption does make a number of interesting departures from Stoker's novel (for budget as well as cinematic reasons). Jonathan Harker has been hired by Dracula to catalog his enormous library on his estate. Upon his arrival, Harker is charmed by Dracula but puzzled when his mistress tells him privately that she is being held prisoner. Later Harker encounters her again and she attacks him biting him on the neck. Harker awakens in his bedroom and begins his true work; he's a vampire killer and disciple of Dr. Van Helsing. He plans on killing Dracula and his bride. He updates his journal for Van Helsing (knowing that he will come looking for him)and leaves it by the castle gates hidden in a crevice.

He drives a stake through the heart of Dracula's bride but fails to do so with Dracula himself; sundown has arrived and Dracula plans on feasting on the unfortunate Harker. Dracula then decides to take Harker's fiance as his next bride as part of his revenge.

Van Helsing shows up at the Inn where Harker dined prior to venturing to Castle Dracula. Clearly the residents are frightened of Dracula; they don't want to discuss Harker. Van Helsing makes his way to the caslte in hopes of finding his friend.

The DVD transfer is vivid and terrific (particularly when compared to a film only a few years older House of Wax produced by Warner Brothers). The film appears to be overmatted a bit (some of the heads are cropped a bit too closely). It could be that this is the matted version that Warner released to theaters in the US. I seem to recall that Horror was released in an aspect ratio fairly close to the stnadard 1.33:1 television aspect ratio. I could be mistaken.

The most glaring sin is the lack of extras. Lee has done full audio commentaries for the marvelous The Devil Rides Out and the minor classic Dracula Prince of Darkness so I'm surprised Warner didn't contact him for this. It probably came down to simple economics. The Mummy was released the same way two years ago. It's a pity as Lee's commentary would have been very interesting.

Although it's a flawed release, this movie certainly deserves all five stars given it. It's one of the seminal horror films from the 50's and one that changed the rules of the game. The image quality and sound make this edition worth seeking out despite some minor blemishes such as the overmatting of the image.

Summary of Horror of Dracula