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Hey there boys and girls, this is one of the last of the good (not great) Dracula movies that have come out in the last forty years or so. It is a treat to see the (next to the last) Lee/Cushing collaborations on the subject, and despite a cheesy sound track and some silly acting by the younger cast, this is an entertaining flick. Be warned, the film was made in the early 70's, and Hammer Studios used the period to sell it to the so-called "hip" generation. It may not work for some of us who were fans of the earlier Hammer Studio movies, but it is more than worth the time to watch. By the way, the last teaming of Lee/Cushing for the vampire genre was "Count Dracula and his Vampire Bride", also set in the modern era. Worth a look.
WOOO! Yeah, now THAT'S the stuff. "Dracula A.D. 1972" is the last Hammer Dracula film with the classic line-up of Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. And although Lee would cite this film as his reason for ditching the character of Dracula (he said that it modernized him too much and ruined the concept), it is one of the best installments in the series.
Yes, this film was made in the early 70s, and boy does it show it. The classic Hammer score has been replaced by a cheesy Jazz soundtrack, the writer went out of his way to include every 70s slang term imaginable, and there are nearly enough colorful lights to make this seem like an Argento film.
However, if you can get past all this silliness, this is a damn fine Dracula film, certainly better than a lot of the other trash that has come out since then. The girl being offered on the Satanic altar is absolutely textbook classic (total Hammer), and the scenes where Dracula claims his victims have certainly come a long way in terms of visuals. Also, the final confrontation between Van Helsing and Dracula has greatly improved this time around. The climaxes of "Taste the Blood of Dracula" and "Dracula has Risen" are inferior to the action found at the end of this one.
All in all, Dracula and Hammer fans cannot go wrong here. In my opinion, "Dracula A.D. 1972" is one of the best their is, only below "Horror of Dracula" and maybe "The Satanic Rites of Dracula."
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