Dracula has Risen from the Grave

Dracula has Risen from the Grave
I know that by the late 60s and 70s, the Hammer films were on a decline. While Dracula has Risen from the Grave was produced before the fall, the cracks are beginning to show. Trying to keep the franchise vibrant, the producers throw a whole lot of absurdity at the screen. Just listen to the set up of the movie:

Dracula has been dead for a year, trapped underneath the massive ice moat that surrounds his castle. But in a nearby town, the townspeople are still terrified. They even refuse to go to church because the castle's shadow touches the church in the afternoon. So Monsignor Mueller (Rupert Davies) and the town priest (Ewan Hooper) climb up to the castle to purge the site of its evil and seal the entrance with a giant cross. Continuity be damned - the road that led to the castle in the last movie no longer exists and the only way to get there is by climbing up a treacherous mountainside.

And that massive moat I mentioned? It's gone, and has been replaced by a tiny frozen stream at the bottom of the cliff. During the exorcism, there is a great storm and the priest trips and falls on the ice. He cuts his head, and a tiny bit of blood goes through the ice and just happens to fall in the mouth of Dracula's drowned corpse. The vile count of course wakes up and puts the priest under his spell. When he learns that a cross is barring the way to his home, does he ask the priest to just take it down? No! Instead, he concocts some sort of bizarre revenge scheme against the Monsignor.

At this point, I was really worried. I got even more worried when I met our young hero, Paul (Barry Andrews), an atheist graduate student who works part time and shirtless in a bakery. Yes, he likes to bake shirtless. Our hero is in love with the Monsignor's neice, Maria (Veronica Carlson). The stage is set. Dracula and the now-evil priest vs. the atheist Paul and the Monsignor. The movie is gonna stink. 

But then something happens - it doesn't stink. With all the pieces clumsily put into place, the movie suddenly gels together and becomes really entertaining. The acting is all quite good. I knew Christopher Lee and Rupert Davies would be good, but I assumed that the young couple would be a pair of wooden pretty faces. On the contrary, Andrews' Paul is nowhere near as annoying as his shirtless baking introduction hinted at. And Veronica Carlson is quite good as the Count's ultimate target. She is certainly one of the most beautiful Hammer starlets, but she's also one of the better actresses I've seen so far in these films. And Hooper is also quite good as the priest, a good but weak man trapped in the thrall of evil. Dracula has Risen from the Grave also ramps up the sex and gore factor. It is never over-the-top, and is very effective. If anyone had any doubts that Hammer was responsible for the sexual subtext of vampires, they should see this movie. As one virginal victim is "seduced" by Dracula, we got a shot of her hand pushing a teddy bear off the bed. If there was ever a visual metaphor for deflowering/the end of youthful innocence, there you go. It's so bad, it's good! And the violence? The attempted staking in this film is not just the highlight of the movie, but one of the more entertaining moments in the franchise.

 The movie was directed by Freddie Francis, who is better known as a superb cinematographer (he won the Oscar for Glory). He experiments with filters and colors, and really gives the film a unique look over the previous Dracula movies. Sometimes he pushes the experimentation too far, adding a burnt hue to the scenes by the castle which are really just distracting. But for the most part, the film looks superb. I have to be honest, I can see why this film was one of Hammer's biggest hits. Once the adventure starts, it doesn't let up. And the climactic battle is actually one of the more exciting of the series so far. As long as you can get past the silly set-up, Dracula has Risen from the Grave is actually very good - maybe not as good as the first two, but a definite step up from Dracula: Prince of Darkness But even in its fun, you can see the cracks forming. And even if Dracula has Risen from the Grave ends up working, you can see that this is the beginning of the end.

MVP: Back to Christopher Lee, who actually puts in his best performance as the famous Count. The ten years since Horror of Dracula have been good for the character. The extra wrinkles and the gray streaks in his hair all add to his imposing stature. Though his dialogue is hokey (lots of lines like "At last my revenge is complete"), Lee sells every line with menace and rage. He was good in the other films, but he knocks it out of the park here.

TRIVIA: The very first film to ever be rated by the newly formed MPAA.

BEST LINE: A drunk Paul, after drinking some water, "That's better. Ah, that's delicious!" It's more the performance than the line itself. It made me laugh.