What do you get when you combine Sir Christopher Lee, legendary horror/exploitation filmmaker Jess Franco, the madman that was Klaus Kinski, and an absolute fang-banger of Gothic literature? Why you get a surprisingly more faithful than most, though by no means complete, retelling of Bram Stoker’s 1897 literary masterpiece Dracula of course!
After encountering a number of locals that look at him like a dead man walking, lawyer Jonathan Harker (Fred Williams) continues to the Borgo Pass where he is met by a mysterious coachman that takes him to his destination; the castle of Count Dracula (Lee), an aging aristocrat who wishes to secure property in England with Harker’s assistance.
Right from the get-go things are off with ol’ Drac, as he casts no reflection in mirrors, has fangs like a wolf, gets excited around blood, and sleeps in a stone coffin… oh, he also has a trio of brides that sleep in coffins and eat the babies of the locals… you know, the usual…
It takes our hero less than a tick before he’s like “Fuck this shit dude” and peaces out by jumping right the fuck out of a window… after which he awakens in England under the care of Dr. Seward (Paul Muller), an associate of vampire lore expert/sanitarium owner Dr. Van Helsing (Herbert Lom, The Dead Zone)… though things here are far from normal what with the bug munchin’ madman Renfield (Klaus Kinski) interred there as well… but that’s not even the half of it, as Drac-Attack has taken up residence in the abandoned abbey die-rectly next door!
Soon Van Helsing, Seward, Harker, and Quincey Morris (Jack Taylor), the fiancé of Lucy Westenra (Soledad Miranda), the best friend of Harker’s fiancé Mina (Maria Rohm)… which along with that confusing mess of a sentence has become a vampire herself… Lucy, not Mina… anyway, those folks attempt to keep their veins un-ventilated and put an end to the evil in their midst… but how successful will they be with Dracula growing evermore powerful… and horny for those English babes?
Would we have Jess Franco’s Count Dracula without the popularity of Hammer Films take on the character? Probably not, but his film is vastly different from what Hammer brought to vamp flick aficionados in their heyday… and that isn’t a bad thing by any means!
Where Hammer films had a sumptuous, lavish look with gobs of lurid color, breasts, and blood… and bats, Franco’s adaptation was given a considerably lower bag of dough from long-time producer/associate Harry Alan Towers… which actually helps the film by resulting in large, yet at times nearly empty sets that create a fantastic feeling of isolation and dread (kind of a Liminal Space-type feeling) perfect for the terror tale at hand… and the lack of color present on those sets (that come courtesy of Art Director Karl Schneider and Set Decorator Emilio Zago) makes any splash of red all the more vivid and effective!
Hewing closer to the Hammer flicks is the casting of their Dracula actor, Sir Christopher Lee in this production, though the performance he gives is very different from what he did over at H.F. In the previous company’s pics, ol’ Drac is a hissing, teeth-bearing, comic book super villain, but here he’s more reserved, noble… both takes are incredible in my beastly book, but if you’re looking for the character as he appears in Stoker’s novel this film’s take will be your cup of tea for damn sure… plus he does the old to young bit like in the book… and Francis Ford Coppola’s take on the material, 1992’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
As far as trademark Franco-isms it’s a decidedly mixed bag. We get none of the copious female nudity present in many of Franco’s films, but the at-times frantic cinematography (here provided by Cinematographers Manuel Merino and Luciano Trasatti) is balls deep into zooms and hand-held jitters, which helps give life and energy to the proceedings and provides a vibrant contrast to the Spartan sets. Additionally the cast has several faces familiar to Franco fans with the most notorious being Kinski who manages to do plenty of excellent character work without uttering any dialog (as he did similarly as the Marquis De Sade in Franco’s 1968 adaptation of De Sade’s Justine) as the (rumored to be actual) bug eating inmate Renfield… and as per usual, the Director himself appears in the film as Van Helsing’s man-servant.
Adding to the overall ambiance is the eerie score provided by Composer Bruno Nicolai that perfectly sets the mood for the Gothic horror at hand.
As for the vicious visual biz, the newly scanned in 4K transfer utilized here provided rich blacks, occasional explosions of vibrant color, and plenty of detail… for example, check out the wrinkles on the “earthen” floor of the crypt of the English abbey Dracula comes to inhabit…
Another big plus in this 4K Ultra HD are the coffin’s worth of bonus materials present, which kick off with an audio commentary provided by Horror Historian David Del Valle and Actress Rohm that takes us through a lively info and anecdote filled journey through the film’s production, and the film’s trailer.
I know what you are thinking, and “yes” that is hardly a coffin’s worth of anything. I would agree except for the following phrase: “And that brings us to Disc Two… “
Disc Two features a Blu-ray edition of the film which contains the aforementioned special features as well as archival interviews with Lee (an audio affair conducted by filmmaker Donald Glut), Franco, and actors Williams and Taylor, and an appreciation of Count Dracula by filmmaker Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf, Silent Hill).
Moving on to Disc Three we have the 2017 documentary Drácula Barcelona that covers the creation of the (mostly) silent (an audio track of Lee speaking plays promotional film Cuadecuc, Vampir, shot simultaneously with Count Dracula and how it intersects with said fright flick. It’s a fascinating watch on a bizarre topic, and it’s inclusion added another layer of appreciation for Count Dracula itself.
Also on this disc are an interview with Film Historian/Author/Musician Stephen Thrower (covering information on Count Dracula‘s production in his usual classy and knowledgeable manner), an additional scene from the In the Land of Franco series (featuring Thrower and special guest Alan Petit, who details his meeting of Lee and Franco’s habit of stretching the truth), and a collection of alternate title sequences from Spain, Germany, France, and Italy respectively.
Finally we come to Disc Four, which contains the aforementioned Nicolai score on an Audio CD.
If you love Franco and Dracula this thing will rock your sinister socks for damn sure, and the performances of Lee and Kinski make it irresistible (as do the included extras)!
