Dracula - Prince of Darkness
1965, UK, Directed by Terence Fisher
Colour, Running Time: 86 minutes
DVD, Region 2, Optimum, Video: Anamorphic 2.35:1, Audio: Mono
A group of travellers are heading towards Carlsbad (a fantastic village better known as Karlovy Vary, in Czech) when they come across a priest while staying at a tavern. He warns them against heading in that direction, knowing that Dracula’s castle is in the vicinity; despite the fact that Dracula has been dead for ten years he still innately fears the place and the vampire that once inhabited it. Ignoring his instruction the travellers head off anyway but are confused when their coach driver gets so far before refusing to continue. Forced to proceed on foot they realise they’re not going to make it before dark and agree to stop in an old woodcutter’s hut. At that point an unmanned horse and carriage arrives and, thinking they can utilise this to continue their trip, they board it. But instead of taking them to Carlsbad it heads straight to the castle where they strangely appear to be expected. Reluctantly, in some cases, they stay for the night as beckoned by the solitary butler, but the next morning two of the four have already disappeared - one to provide blood for the resurrection of Dracula, one for a vampirically consumed quenching of thirst.
The third chapter in Hammer’s series, this was more so marketed as a sequel to the first film (Christopher Lee wasn’t in the second, Brides of Dracula), beginning with a sequence that encapsulates the events of Dracula. Lee doesn’t utter a word throughout (according to Lee, the dialogue was too bad: so why accept the script in the first place then?), and Barbara Shelley does a nice job being smartly turned from a frigid, unadventurous woman into a sexy, volatile vixen thanks to the vampire curse. The first 45 minutes are brilliant - pure classic gothic horror set-up. Despite us knowing that this is a Dracula film, the voyage of the travellers is filled with a sense of spooky mystery, and the atmosphere is dense with the supernatural - a slow paced build up to the eventual resurrection. The latter 40 minutes follow a relatively conventional route of the protagonists trying to despatch the undead and prevent their loved ones being taken, and is less captivating. But for the first half alone, being among Hammer’s best material, this film is worth the money in my book.
Anamorphically enhanced (as opposed to the letterboxing of the original UK DVD presentation), the film looks good in its intended ratio. It’s not massively detailed and blacks could be deeper, but it’s generally an acceptable transfer. The also disc comes with the fairly long Many Faces of Christopher Lee documentary, which was included on the Scars of Dracula 2-discer in the US (Anchor Bay). Overall a good disc from Optimum (part of their Ultimate Hammer Collection), improving on the previous UK release.