Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Dracula A.D. 1972



(1972) ***1/2

Yeah, baby! It's swinging London, and what's a bored group of young people to do, other than crashing stuffy parties and hanging out at the local coffee shop? Well, if the ringleader is named Johnny Alucard and one of the girls is named Jessica Van Helsing, a black mass in an abandoned church seems like a pretty good idea.

So I need to fess up: Mr. AC was gonna watch this one on his own, because with the title and description I thought it was going to be really lame. But I got pulled into watching, and what do you know? Despite the early 70s trappings, this was an interesting installment of the Dracula legend. Peter Cushing plays the original Van Helsing's grandson with serious intensity, and his acting elevates the entire movie. Worth watching if you're into vampires.

8 comments:

Catfreeek said...

I love this film, AC I am so impressed with you this year. Way to go!

50PageMcGee said...

Alucard -- what an unusual name. here, let me think upon its ethnic origins while i sit over here by this mirror.

heyyyyy...

Johnny Sweatpants said...

This is my favorite Christopher Lee Dracula movie.

50PageMcGee said...

i saw this (but never reviewed) for thon two years ago. i'd seen a few Hammer Drac movies that year, and was getting impatient. they were seeming more slapped together with each passing picture.

ad 1972 was a nice recovery. totally solid flick.

JPX said...

This was definitely one of the better ones. If I recall correctly the film starts off with the last confrontation between Dracula and Helsing in the past and then jumps forward 100 years or so. Great stuff. I'm happy you checked this out although your instinct about most of these Hammer Dracula films is dead on accurate.

Whirlygirl said...

I've never seen it, but it sounds tempting.

DKC said...

Swinging 70's vampires sound good to me!

Octopunk said...

Me too!

Wow, I read this review but I don't think I read all of the follow-up comments. JSP's favorite Lee Drac movie? Holy crap. Can't think of a better endorsement than that.

Nice pick, AC!

Malevolent

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