Retro Ramblings

I can scarcely believe that it has taken me thirty three years to get around to watching Dracula 1972 A.D. It’s a film which is often referred to and frequently mocked, even within Hammer circles. It’s taken to be the epitome of how low Hammer stooped, scraping the bottom of the barrel as they attempted to reach audiences yearning for something edgier and contemporary. After all, Straw Dogs and Clockwork Orange had very recently presented a new type of English horror, a million miles from the Gothic fantasy of Hammer’s cobweb-strewn ruins and heaving décolletage.

This was the last of the Hammer/ Chris Lee Dracula’s on my list, and in a way I’m glad I inadvertently saved it until last. Whilst I can see the reasons for the ridicule, there is also much to be enjoyed.

The film opens during a climactic struggle atop a speeding coach, with Dracula and Van Helsing, played with panache by Peter Cushing, fighting to the death. The reasons behind this monumental Battle Royale are not made clear, but having seen various versions of this fight in previous films, it is not hard to work out. Before long Van Helsing is thrown clear when a wheel is broken. By a great stroke of luck (or convenient writing) a snapped spoke has pierced Dracula through his chest. Van Helsing sees his chance, and a spoke being a handy substitute for a wooden stake, throws himself into the task, driving it home. Dracula screams and quickly reduces to dust. Van Helsing, triumphant, sinks to the ground and expires.

As opening sequences go, this one is hard to beat. It’s like a distillation of all the best bits of the previous Drac films into five minutes. Can the rest of the film live up to this? Hmmmm…

The title of the film obviously points out the direction Hammer were hoping to take with this film. It’s here and now! One unfortunate side effect of this is that the film was dated within twelve months. However, I’m fairly sure it looked dated even to audiences on the opening night. Did teenagers really hang around in coffee bars and say “Cool it man” and “Far out” in 1972? In the middle of London? Or anywhere for that matter? I have my doubts. In fact I seriously doubt anyone actually said that at any time, outside of the movies. The young stars of this film, including Stephanie Beacham and Caroline Munro, are led by a mysterious, charismatic stranger with the oddly appropriate name Johnny Alucard. It seems to take them all a long time to figure out what his surname spells out backwards.Thankfully Beacham is playing Jessica Van Helsing, whose grandfather is none other than the direct descendent of the Van Helsing we saw expire at the beginning. And he bears more than a strong likeness to Peter Cushing too.

I actually really enjoyed seeing Cushing play Van Helsing in modern London. Whereas Dracula is confined to roam the Gothic ruins of a bombed out church, Cushing is free to check out swanky batchelor pads and dimmly-lit bars. He spends a number of scenes trying to persuade an understandably incredulous poice officer investigating the unusual “cult” murders going on in his patch. There is a lot of tension and atmosphere in these, and it made me wish that Cushing had been given more chances to perform in gritty contemporary stuff. I could just see him as an ass-kicking Sweeney-type who takes down wrong-uns just as swiftly as he takes down the undead. Christopher Lee was fed up of playing Dracula long before this script was ever mooted, but he was persuaded to do it by Hammer, appealing to his sense of guilt in how many people would lose jobs if he didn’t. It would seem that this argument persuaded him not to hang up the cape for at least the last three or four Hammer Dracs, so he’s in the films, but only for about five minutes of screen time and he looks frankly fed up. There is a really funny shot where he is trying to pull a crucifix away from Beacham’s neck, before he can turn her into a vampire and thus get his ultimate revenge on the Van Helsing bloodline. The camera is framed so you can only see her breasts and the look of horror on his face. It is almost as if he is thinking “One day I’m going to be knighted. Please don’t let anyone remember this film.”

One thing in this film’s favour is is groovy soundtrack. There’s a whole lot of seventies funk going on and whilst it adds to the slightly laughable air of the whole film, it is genuinely enjoyable, and as the soundtrack was recently released on CD, this is one I’m looking forward to listening to again and again.

So, watch this film if, like me, you can forgive Hammer virtually anything (apart from the crimes against humanity in the form of the On the Buses films). It is dated, cheesy and unintentionally comedic, but I find all those qualities add to its charm and entertainment value. Cushing puts in yet another brilliant performance, which in the hands of a lesser actor could have turned into spoof, with a wink to the audience, but he plays it with complete seriousness and sincerity as though his life really did depend on it. He is probably one of the greatest unsung heroes of British cinema, overlooked because of his genre work, but he never gave a bad or unconvincing portrayal in a film (and yes, I have seen Dr Who and the Daleks).

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 14th, 2009 at 8:56 pm and is filed under Horror, Film Reviews, Hammer, British Horror. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.