Come Here...Let Me Kiss You!
I hadn’t realized until listening to details about Dracula:
Prince of Darkness (1966) was actually 8 years after Lee’s first turn as the
Transylvanian Count. Of course they replay Dracula’s defeat at the hands of
Cushing’s Van Helsing in Horror of Dracula (1958) before Prince of Darkness
gets started in order to emphasize his death before emerging anew in Lee’s
second outing. Poor Charles Tingwell gets knifed in the back by Klove (Philip
Latham), hung upside down, and bled like a stuck pig for Dracula’s ashes to regenerate
back into full form. Barbara Shelley then, the whole time in Carlsbad at
Dracula’s castle begging her husband, brother-in-law (Francis Matthews, of
Revenge of Frankenstein (1959)), and sister-in-law (Suzan Farmer) to just
leave, is urged by Klove to “see about her husband” and is Dracula’s first neck
victim. “Let me kiss you”. Andrew Keir (probably best remembered for Hammer’s
Quatermass & the Pit), with that assertive tone, gruff voice, fierce
bluntness, and uncaged honesty, is the atypical priest with a monastery that
serves as a brief protection against Dracula as Matthews and Farmer must try
and shield themselves from harm. Terence Fisher sure knows how to light Dracula.
The way his hand reaches from the tomb, fingers crawling like spider legs and
later his eyes opening when he hears Matthews near his crypt; Lee is directed
by a master within Hammer’s canon of B-movie filmmakers. I especially like how
Fisher lights Dracula’s castle as the sun begins to set. Like Shelley
approaching Farmer within the castle and Dracula asserting his strength. Lee
not speaking, just baring his fangs. Matthews trying to fight Dracula with a
sword, and failing. The tragedy of being a bride of Dracula is how dismissed
you are when he tires of you, sometimes real quickly…like seeing Lee just toss
Shelley aside like used trash no longer desired. And dimwitted Thorley Walters
at the monastery the perfect foil for Dracula to utilize at his advantage.
IMDb review from October 2010
Two English couples(two brothers and their wives)are beset upon by
Dracula and his fiendish manservant Klove(Philip Latham) while
traveling through Karlsbaad on vacation coming across the vampire
count's castle. Charles(Francis Matthews) and his wife Diana(Suzan
Farmer) narrowly escape Dracula while his brother, Alan(Charles
Tingwell) is murdered by Klove(it is Alan's blood which resurrects
Dracula from his ashes), Helena(Barbara Shelley, making for a striking
vampire bride) bitten and turned into a member of the undead. Fleeing
to Feinberg where a monastery is located, Charles joins forces with a
priest, Father Sendor(the great Andrew Keir) in the hopes of ending
Dracula's reign of terror once and for all. When Ludwig(Thorley
Walters), a fly-eating lunatic, once a slave to Dracula, staying at the
monastery, allows the count to enter invited, Diana will be kidnapped
with Sendor and Charles having to come to rescue.
Not one single line of dialog yet Christopher Lee leaves quite an
impression, just his mere presence dominates every scene he's in.
Director Fisher finds extremely stylish ways to shoot Lee, such as one
moment where Charles enters his casket room to find Alan stuffed in a
chest, and light is cast on his menacing eyes as Dracula awakens. I
just love Dracula's enormous cape, like this one sequence where Lee
leaves his castle and as it opens, we no longer see him as he crosses a
bridge(and we all know how tall the man is). Keir has such incredible
charisma and it's a shame he's not in the film no longer than he is. I
think a highlight has Keir's priest entering a town pub, irritated and
angered at the locals for continuing to fear Dracula despite the fact
that he'd been deceased for ten years, barking at them for their
superstitions(and his first time on screen is a definite hoot as he
interrupts the potential staking of a dead girl who wasn't a victim of
vampirism). Dracula--PRINCE OF DARKNESS is one of the least erotic of
the Hammer Dracula series, for the exception of one moment where Lee
cuts his chest, drawing(compelling) a hypnotized Diana to drink from
his blood.
Amazing enough, Lee doesn't even make his first appearance in the movie
until something like 45 minutes! Yet, Fisher is able to build to his
unveiling..we know that it's only a matter of time before these good
Londoners will face unparalleled danger. Fisher sets up a really cool
resurrection sequence where poor Alan is hung upside down to bleed out
upon Dracula's ashes and we see the count slowly materialize. Fisher
and his filmmaking team, though, take their time and the pace is
slow-moving..like I mentioned before, it isn't until the movie's
half-way point where Dracula is introduced. Klove is also quite a
conscienceless villain as he does his master's bidding without fail(I
love how Fisher shadows Klove when his silhouette appears frightening
Helena and Diana, with Latham lit as if he were a ghoul)or emotion,
obeying loyally..his stabbing Alan in the back, tricking Diana to
return to Dracula's castle, locking her inside, are examples of how
evil he really is. What a unique way to stop Dracula, too, using the
ice near the castle entrance as a means to disrupt his plans of gaining
refuge from the sunlight.
Dracula and his fiendish manservant Klove(Philip Latham) while
traveling through Karlsbaad on vacation coming across the vampire
count's castle. Charles(Francis Matthews) and his wife Diana(Suzan
Farmer) narrowly escape Dracula while his brother, Alan(Charles
Tingwell) is murdered by Klove(it is Alan's blood which resurrects
Dracula from his ashes), Helena(Barbara Shelley, making for a striking
vampire bride) bitten and turned into a member of the undead. Fleeing
to Feinberg where a monastery is located, Charles joins forces with a
priest, Father Sendor(the great Andrew Keir) in the hopes of ending
Dracula's reign of terror once and for all. When Ludwig(Thorley
Walters), a fly-eating lunatic, once a slave to Dracula, staying at the
monastery, allows the count to enter invited, Diana will be kidnapped
with Sendor and Charles having to come to rescue.
Not one single line of dialog yet Christopher Lee leaves quite an
impression, just his mere presence dominates every scene he's in.
Director Fisher finds extremely stylish ways to shoot Lee, such as one
moment where Charles enters his casket room to find Alan stuffed in a
chest, and light is cast on his menacing eyes as Dracula awakens. I
just love Dracula's enormous cape, like this one sequence where Lee
leaves his castle and as it opens, we no longer see him as he crosses a
bridge(and we all know how tall the man is). Keir has such incredible
charisma and it's a shame he's not in the film no longer than he is. I
think a highlight has Keir's priest entering a town pub, irritated and
angered at the locals for continuing to fear Dracula despite the fact
that he'd been deceased for ten years, barking at them for their
superstitions(and his first time on screen is a definite hoot as he
interrupts the potential staking of a dead girl who wasn't a victim of
vampirism). Dracula--PRINCE OF DARKNESS is one of the least erotic of
the Hammer Dracula series, for the exception of one moment where Lee
cuts his chest, drawing(compelling) a hypnotized Diana to drink from
his blood.
Amazing enough, Lee doesn't even make his first appearance in the movie
until something like 45 minutes! Yet, Fisher is able to build to his
unveiling..we know that it's only a matter of time before these good
Londoners will face unparalleled danger. Fisher sets up a really cool
resurrection sequence where poor Alan is hung upside down to bleed out
upon Dracula's ashes and we see the count slowly materialize. Fisher
and his filmmaking team, though, take their time and the pace is
slow-moving..like I mentioned before, it isn't until the movie's
half-way point where Dracula is introduced. Klove is also quite a
conscienceless villain as he does his master's bidding without fail(I
love how Fisher shadows Klove when his silhouette appears frightening
Helena and Diana, with Latham lit as if he were a ghoul)or emotion,
obeying loyally..his stabbing Alan in the back, tricking Diana to
return to Dracula's castle, locking her inside, are examples of how
evil he really is. What a unique way to stop Dracula, too, using the
ice near the castle entrance as a means to disrupt his plans of gaining
refuge from the sunlight.
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