You must get some garlic flowers!

by chuckofish

Last night I watched The Horror of Dracula, a wonderful 1958 product from Hammer House of Horror starring Peter Cushing as Dr. Van Helsing and Christopher Lee as Dracula. The movie hits all the right notes: Dracula is appropriately menacing; the ladies vulnerable, and Van Helsing determined. The people at Hammer knew they were making a B movie, and they embraced it. The actors all played their parts in earnest; this was not a camp send-up. The film begins in Transylvania as mild-mannered Jonathan Harker, masquerading as a librarian, arrives at Castle Dracula to do away with the evil Count. The gallant Harker immediately falls prey to a mysterious woman who begs him for help. Was that a kiss or….no, she bit him!

That is the end of Jonathan Harker but not the story… Count Dracula goes after Harker’s fiancé Lucy, as Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) pursues the Count. Hoping to save a now dangerously anemic Lucy, Van Helsing advises the family to place garlic flowers all around her room, particularly at the doors and windows. Alas, the well-meaning maid removes them, even going so far as to open the windows, thus allowing Dracula entry and dooming Lucy to become a vampire.

After Lucy transitions, her brother and Van Helsing team up to drive a stake through her heart. Poor Lucy.

Meanwhile, Count Dracula entrances Mina, Lucy’s sister-in-law. You can see where all of this is going. Christopher Lee makes an excellent Dracula but he has very little to do in the film and probably had a total of about one page of dialogue to learn. He does get a mighty fine death scene. In the final fight, Van Helsing uses two silver candlesticks to make a cross and force Dracula into the morning sunlight,

where he promptly burns to ash.

Honestly, I was surprised that in 1958 the special effects would be so graphic. This movie must have scared a lot of children!

What shall I watch next? I don’t go for modern horror which is way too scary and gory for me, but I could enjoy some more Hammer flicks. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee bring gravitas to what would otherwise be silly and over-the-top (okay, the movie came perilously close to that despite the gravitas). If they had had the budget to film on location, hire good screen-writers, and decent costume and scene designers, this could have been a good movie! Bottom line: I enjoyed watching it and will gladly watch more.