Dracula, Prince of Darkness

While not one of my favorite Hammer Dracula films, Dracula, Prince of Darkness does have rather suspenseful goings-on, with a particularly strong cast of characters involved (and they have to be considering Lee is so scarcely in the film and never speaks!). Dracula’s use is sparingly so we have no option but to either enjoy the other characters (and the actors that portray them) or this won’t work at all. Thankfully, the awesomeness that is Andrew Keir is cast as the forceful, bluntly honest monk who doesn’t mince words or restrain himself from offering his opinion. He isn’t exactly reserved or sophisticated as Van Helsing, but I found him refreshing and a nice against-type hero to match wits with Count Dracula.

Barbara Shelley, as Helen, the wife of the very first victim in the film (killed by Dracula’s servant, Klove (Philip Latham, photographed menacingly), is reticent about entering (or staying in, for that matter) Castle Dracula, remaining aware of something terrifying about the place, while her husband, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law scoff at her insistence that their lives are in danger. Interestingly, she is the one who receives Dracula’s kiss and becomes his undead bride. She will be used later as a device to goad Diana (Suzan Farmer; the sister-in-law married to her husband’s brother, Charles (played by Frances Matthews; he was Frankenstein’s assistant in Revenge of Frankenstein) into Dracula’s company. Keir will obviously serve as a storehouse of knowledge for Charles and Diana in regards to Dracula and his history.

An attempt by Keir’s monk, Father Sandor to the Kents in a pub a little distance from Castle Dracula nearby Carlsbad in the Carpathians (they are from London) not to travel to their desired destination is obvious foreshadowing (we know that Castle Dracula will be the location they find themselves, so it is only a matter of how this comes to pass), and the results offer nothing particularly original. It is left up to Fisher and company to wow us with style and composition, the re-arranged/redressed Hammer sets that offer elegance and decadence, and enough macabre elements to satiate our blood thirst (Helen’s husband is stabbed in the back, hung by a rope upside down like a pig, and sliced open so his blood will pour over the ashes of Dracula so the vampire can be reborn!) Of course the film couldn’t quite work without a really sinister shot of Lee with rabid eyes and clinched teeth ready to sink into a throat, not to mention his black cape outstretched like large batwings.

 

 

The route the filmmakers/screenplay takes regarding Dracula is that he’s like an animal. All primal and savage. There’s no trace of the aristocrat. No human being is present in this version of Lee’s Dracula. Not one line of dialogue, though? He couldn’t have at least pronounced with authority, “Come here! You are to be mine!” Something? Surely, a screenplay could provide Lee with something he could sink his teeth into (pun intended) and just a little dialogue can go a long way. He is pure ferocity. This could be the most unique of Dracula’s appearances in Hammer Studios. Just because Dracula hasn’t a single line (not even a freakin’ word) of dialogue.

Dare I say it? Yeah, why not. I think Barbara Shelley might just have taken the film from Lee with her vamp. She even has that awesome line when she starts to bite her brother-in-law, “Let me kiss you.” She’s the one quite aggressively going after Diana and determined because of her bloodlust. She wants to feed and is willing to go at a meal regardless of the consequences. All that civility and reservation…gone. Only a monster remains of that sweet, cultured London socialite. Her demise is treated as something no one wants to do. Keir certainly shows the disgust and unease in his monk at having to be stuck with such a task. But it is necessary.

Thorley Walters has an interesting character. He doesn’t have those Dwight Frye fiendish mannerisms; he’s more of a nimble-minded simpleton, neutered of any form of a quality of life. He polished books in the monk’s abbey, eats the occasional fly, and orders the monks from his room “once he’s done with them”. Keir’s monk finds him amusing, but ultimately Walters is a device that puts Diana once again in harm’s way of Dracula. Be damned the potential of his next death, Dracula wants Diana and will use whatever resources available to him (Klove and Ludwig) to secure her from the heroes. This unbridled need to acquire her is his downfall. There has to be some way to temporarily conquer Dracula; his desire for the next vampire bride does the trick. Ludwig does seem clueless unless Dracula guides him.

The ending is a bit of a surprise. Running water is one of the less “impressive” ways to harm (kill is maybe a word that can’t quite be used) Dracula, but ice at the entrance of Castle Dracula encasing water underneath is ultimately the vampire count’s undoing. Klove rode those horses hard but Father Sandor and Charles were undaunted in rescuing Diana. Lucky for our heroes, the ice is Dracula’s worst enemy and thanks to a powerful gun in Sandor’s possession (and making sure Dracula was unable to intervene in their efforts to trap him) and a solid set of shots, the vampire count “drowns”, underpinned and left dormant until released once again.