Dracula AD 1972 ** (1972, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Stephanie Beacham, Marsha Hunt, Christopher Neame, Caroline Munro, Michael Coles) – Classic Movie Review 2,856

Hammer Films’ misguided and lame-brained effort to modernise the Dracula tale to the supposedly still swinging London of the early Seventies fails on nearly every count. The 1972 British horror film Dracula AD 1972 is written by Don Houghton and directed by Alan Gibson with some inspiration but without much flair. It is the seventh Hammer film featuring Dracula and the sixth to star Christopher Lee.

Meanwhile, Peter Cushing returns as Van Helsing for the first time since The Brides of Dracula (1960) And it is the first film to feature both Lee and Cushing in their roles since the 1958 Hammer original film Dracula (1958).

Christopher Lee has no role that he can get his teeth into as the Count, only appearing to do the vampire deed before flying off to the next scene, while Peter Cushing’s commendably deadpan Van Helsing descendant looks hopelessly out of place amid the teen-movie trappings. Well, at least Stephanie Beacham (as Jessica Van Helsing), Marsha Hunt (as Gaynor Keating) and Caroline Munro (as Laura Bellows) provide a trio of sexy necks to bite on.

Christopher Neame plays Johnny Alucard in London in 1972 who raises Count Dracula from the dead. The Count goes after the modern-day descendants of Van Helsing, vampire hunter Professor Lorrimer Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) and his great grand-daughter Jessica (Stephanie Beacham) to destroy them all.

Also in the cast are Michael Coles as the Scotland Yard police Inspector, William Ellis, Lally Bowers and Michael Kitchen.

The film’s opening sequence, set in 1872 as Count Dracula and his nemesis Lawrence Van Helsing battle on the top of a runaway coach in Hyde Park, London, is not in the previous film Scars of Dracula (1970). The chronology of the previous films in the series starts in 1885 as described in the 1958 original film Dracula.

The penultimate Hammer Dracula movie, it is followed in the new Hammer Horror Dracula chronology by the sequel The Satanic Rites of Dracula in 1973, also written by Don Houghton and directed by Alan Gibson. Lee, Cushing and Coles all return for this follow-up, but Joanna Lumley takes over as Jessica. Houghton also wrote The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires [Dracula and the Seven Golden Vampires] (1974). Houghton’s script is said to be inspired by the Highgate Vampire case of supposed supernatural activity at Highgate Cemetery in London, in the 1970s.

Warner Bros commissioned two Dracula films set in the present day for Hammer after the success of the modern-day vampire film Count Yorga, Vampire.

There are other alternative titles: Dracula Chelsea 72, Dracula Chases the Mini Girls, and Dracula Today (its title when it began production in September 1971).

It sounds like it was meant to be Hammer Films’ last Dracula film. The legend ‘Rest in Final Peace’ appears on screen before the end credits.

Filming took place in Chelsea, London, and at Aldenham Country Park, Hertfordshire, England.

The funky score is composed by former Manfred Mann member Mike Vickers.

The cast are Peter Cushing as Professor Lorrimer Van Helsing, Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, Stephanie Beacham as Jessica Van Helsing, Christopher Neame as Johnny Alucard, Marsha Hunt as Gaynor Keating, Caroline Munro as Laura Bellows, Janet Key as Anna Bryant, Michael Kitchen as Greg, Lally Bowers as Matron Party Hostess, Flanagan as Go Go Dancer, Stoneground as Themselves, Michael Coles as Inspector Murray, William Ellis as Joe Mitcham, Philip Miller as Bob, David Andrews as Detective Sergeant, Constance Luttrell as Mrs Donnelly, Michael Daly as Charles, Artro Morris as Police Surgeon, Jo Richardson as Crying Matron, Brian John Smith as Hippy Boy, and Penny Brahms as Hippy Girl.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2.856

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