Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)

Well Deserved Praise

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

DRACULA A.D. 1972 is the sixth and penultimate instalment of Hammer's long-running DRACULA saga. The writers had the clever idea to update the setting to the then-modern day to bring it in line with contemporary American vampire flicks including THE NIGHT STALKER, BLACULA, and COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE. As such, it's a film which goes all-out in depictions of early 1970s culture, with lots of hip, happening dialogue, extended party and music scenes, and couples making out. Although there's the requisite bloodshed and gruesomeness, the most outrageous thing you'll see here are the fashions. Things begin with an excellent pre-credits action scene in which Lee's Count is staked in a novel way, before that clever-clever segue to the plane overhead which is second only to the famous 'bone' scene in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. From this point on, Christopher Neame's sinister Johnny Alucard helps the Count get resurrected in a de-consecrated church and then feeds him a string of victims before Van Helsing's descendant steps in. The only real problem I have with this film is the way the plot seems over-simplified and dragged out. Other than the modern setting, it's the same old story told again. Christopher Lee has very little screen time and little to work with, although Peter Cushing is a master at depicting steely resolve and comes across well. Stephanie Beacham makes for an arresting damsel in distress, just as she did in ...AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS, and the likes of Caroline Munro, Michael Coles, and Michael Kitchen are all utilised well in their smaller parts. Due to the slow-moving scenes earlier on, the climax gets a little rushed, but overall this remains watchable, although not great. Hammer would end the series on a high with the superior, thriller-y SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA made the following year.

Good grief! Hammer Horror Films were very much in a flux come 1972, so in a bold (yet ultimately ill conceived) attempt to move with the times and grasp a new audience, they turned to old faithful to resurrect their hopes - Count Dracula. Pic starts with an exciting prologue in 1872, where we see Dracula (Christopher Lee) and Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) battling to the death. We witness Drac's ashes buried near to the grave of Helsing, and then it's fast forward to 1972...It must have seemed like a good idea at the time - letting loose one of the most iconic monsters in movie history in contemporary London - but it never works, lacking horror vibrancy and very much coming off as a pastiche of former glory. A rather excellent resurrection section of film aside, pic is just too quirky and kitsch for its own good, more laughable than anything remotely scary.Other major problems hurt the possibility of enjoying it on some sort of parodic level. Dracula never actually does much, confined to a small location (again!), so not really tearing up contemporary London as it happens, while the 1972 "youths" who form the core of the narrative are actually out of date themselves! Something further compounded by the quite dreadful musical score, which should have been confined in a locked safe a decade earlier. Some of the more notable Hammer touches try to battle there way through the murk, but it's a losing battle, the company's visual identity lost amongst a daft script and cartoonish direction.It has fans, and viewing it now some decades later one can at least embrace it with a modicum of endearment, but it's a poor pic and signals the start of a sad era for a great production company. 4/10

Without the opening half hour or so, this is almost an okay Hammer flick. But oh my, what's with Stoneground and their hip rendition of 'Alligator Man'? That party scene was just ludicrous, as described by one of the blonde party goers who stated "It's all rather a bore".But then things got moving with the black mass satanic rites that brought forth Count Dracula from his century old dirt nap. The blood and ashes bit was pretty interesting, as well as all the new vampire lore introduced in the story, like the silver blade business and running water as a vampire killing strategy. And let's face it, Stephanie Beacham was absolutely stunning as the target of Christopher Lee's vampire revenge spanning the past hundred years.So with Johnny Alucard (Christopher Neame) demanding the power of immortality from the resurrected Master, I'm surprised Dracula didn't turn the faucet on him himself. This 'Bacchanal with Beelzebub' ended on a high note though; after getting the holy water treatment from Van Helsing (Peter Cushing), the screen writers opted for a neat switcheroo - instead of a stake through the heart, Dracula had his heart put through a stake. I think Jessica van Helsing (Beacham) had it right when she mentioned early in the picture - "The operative word is 'yuck'."

This attempt by Hammer to keep their Dracula franchise going is amusing, to say the least: they bring him hissing and biting into the 20th century, as a modern day disciple of the count resurrects him. Dracula then becomes a man on a mission, determined to get his revenge on the current generation(s) of Van Helsings. Once again played by Sir Christopher Lee, Drac sets his sights on Jessica (Stephanie Beacham), the comely granddaughter of an occult expert, played with his usual sophistication and sincerity by Peter Cushing.The potential to see an old fashioned sort of character way out of his element in the swinging London of the early 1970s is wasted, as Dracula never leaves an abandoned church (not on screen, anyway). A little of Drac does go a long way, even though fans of Sir Christopher might wish he were given a little more to do. The focus of this sequel is on the other characters, and there's so much talk / exposition going on that it robs the film of some effectiveness; there's just not that much horror. (There is, of course, the requisite neck biting, and a rather bloody occult ceremony that is the highlight of the film.) The disco style music is priceless at times, giving the proceedings a very humorous quality.Cushing, not surprisingly, makes all the difference with his performance. He could say just about anything and you'd buy into it. Still, the supporting cast is good, especially Christopher Neame as the intense Johnny Alucard (*that's* a pretty clumsy clue), Michael Coles as the naturally skeptical police inspector, Marsha A. Hunt as Gaynor, and luscious Caroline Munro as Laura, a regrettably minor part.Director Alan Gibson is no Terence Fisher, but he does an acceptable job in what is mostly an average shocker for its time, mostly worth recommending to devotees of the cast and genre. It does manage to deliver a solidly entertaining finale.Six out of 10.