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UK SciFi / Horror and Fantasy |  |
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Dracula Has Risen From The Grave [1968]
ReviewsDracula Has Risen From the Grave Review date: 2007-10-07 Rating: 8 out of 10 Dracula Has Risen From the Grave. Still continuing their gothic setting, this film is characteristicly big on atmosphere, & is beautifully shot, containing some of my favourite cinematography of the entire franchise. Sadly, there's still no sign of Cushing's return as Van Helsing, & instead we have another strong religious figure in the form of Rupert Davies, who gives a fairly strong portrayal of Monsignor Mueller. Ironically, Dracula's 'servant' in this film is a cowardly priest played by Ewan Hooper. Set approximately a year after the events of the previous film, the movie starts very strongly with the corpse of girl found hanging inside the church bell, dead from a large, ugly vampire bite to the neck. One weak point of the film is the fact it never establishes who was responsible for the girl's death, since Dracula has not yet been ressurected at this point. However, the locals are in fear, & they still feel the evil in the air despite the assurances of the Monsignor that Dracula is destoyed & the evil curse has gone. So, in attempt to ease the collective unrest of the parish, he & the priest set off up the mountain to 'exorcise' the castle, in the same way as a priest exorcises a building to free it of evil spirits, after which he seals the gates of the castle with a large cross. These scenes look really good, as the mist is billowing around whilst they make their way up the mountain, & then the thunderstorm starts as the Monsignor begins the exorcism. However, almost as if darker forces are working against them, the feeble priest falls behind on the climb & injurs himself, landing on the frozen ice where Dracula is entombed, & his blood trickles through the cracked ice, & brings Dracula back to life, & the Count immediately exerts a powerful mesmeric control over the fearful, weak minded priest. With the priest in tow, Dracula makes his way back up to the castle only to find his entrance barred by the large cross. Finally, Lee gets to speak when Dracula demands of the priest: 'Who has done this thing!?', played to demonic perfection by Lee has he hisses out the lines, with a look of fury upon his face! The film then goes on to focus on Dracula taking his revenge on the Monsignor. We meet the Mosignor's family, including his daughter Maria, played by Veronica Carlson, & her young suitor Paul, played by Barry Andrews, who rubs the Monsignor up the wrong way when he admits that he's an athiest. Yet it would be this young athiest who works with the Monsignor to defeat Dracula. The village scenes are of particular splendour in the this film. It's so beautifully shot. I love the rooftop scenes, where you look down on the village & can see the smoke swirling from the chimney's etc... Lovely cinematography the gives the film a lot of english gothic atmosphere. This is further augmented by the scenes at the local Inn, which again come across as an allegory for 19th century England, although the setting is clearly north eastern Europe. Dracula's first victim is the barmaid Zena, & again there is a look of anticipation in her eyes that mirrors the Count's mesmeric influence over Lucy from the first film. By now, more evidence of sexuality is creeping into things. Zena is wandering around in stockings & suspenders, & there's overt sexual jealousy on display when the Dracula demands that she bring the Monsignor's daughter to him. Once again Lee is totally commanding in these scenes, the Count harshly slapping Zena to the floor for her impertinance. After Zena delivers Maria to her master, the Count's expression is very hard as he begins to exert his mesmeric influence over her, but the beginnings of a knowing smile plays upon his lips as he advances towards her, before he is interupted by Paul, after which Dracula does the same thing in reverse to Zena when he places the blame upon her. This scene is particularly effective for using close up shot of the Count's bloodshot eyes which furrow together as Dracula is about the exact his harsh punishment upon Zena, who's body is callously burnt by Dracula's servant priest in the ovens of the bakery. When Dracula does find Maria in her bedroom shortly after, Dracula's sexual/sensual frisson is repeated with even more vigour. Once again his lips brush about her face before going for the neck bite, but whereas there was the subtle hint of anticipation in the 1958 film, 10yrs later, Maria's reaction to Dracula is more akin to that of a woman exhibiting a distinct sexual passion. No wonder Christopher Lee was such a hit with the ladies. The other theme which this movie uses is that of the strength of belief. In many other 'good vs evil' horror films, including demonic possession movies which would later appear in the 1970's with 'The Exorcist', it is the strength of the faith of the priests which is tested by Satan or his demons. Although it does make something of a mockery of Bram Stoker's original 'rules', this idea is brought into play here in this film. We first see Dracula rip the cross from Zena's neck, with no detrimental effect on the Count. Later, after the Monsignor is injured & can't complete his function in the role of Dracula's nemesis, it's left to the athiest Paul to complete the destuction of the vampire, & he does indeed manage to stake the Count in his coffin. However, in a particularly bloody struggle, Dracula manages to remove the stake. The idea being that it wasn't delivered with the proper religious conviction. This idea is reinforced, by the fact that the priest is imploring Paul to pray, saying: 'He isn't going to die! You must pray!'. But Paul is an unbeliever, & can't bring himself to do this, & so Dracula escapes with Maria still under his spell, who's seen to be kissing the Count's coffin as they travels back to the castle during the daylight hours. Darkness has fallen again by the time they reach the castle, & Dracula has Maria remove the cross from the door, which she throws over the mountainside where it sticks in the ground. Meanwhile, Paul who given chase with the priest, arrives at the castle & engages the Count in a struggle in which they both fall over the ledge. Dracula is impaled through the heart on the cross, & the priest completes his redemption by praying to assure the destruction of Dracula, of whom only his cloak remains as the end credits begin to roll. I have mixed feelings about the ending. Dramatically, i do think it works well, although it does seem a bit contrived. And although the idea of needing strong religious faith & convinction fits with many established elements like the power of the crucifix etc.., Christopher Lee himself is on record saying how much he protested against some of the elements that go against what Stoker established in the original novel. He was particularly against the filming of the scene where Dracula removes the stake. Judging the film in relation to Stoker's work, perhaps he's right, But judging the film in it's own right, i personally don't really have a problem with it. IMO, 'Dracula Has Risen From the Grave' is another great movie overall from the Hammer franchise. For me, it's not quite as strong as the first sequel, but it's still a strong film with many plus points, not least the fact that Chris gets some lines! Overall, i enjoy this one very much, so i give it 8/10. One of the Best Review date: 2006-10-03 Rating: 8 out of 10 "Dracula Has Risen From The Grave", has to be one of the best Dracula movies of all time. The film has a rich gothic feeling to it, and Christopher Lee makes the most of his role. He doesn't have much to say, but his presence as the bloodthirsty count are among the finest on the silver screen. Tall, dark and menacing. You don't have to rely on expensive special effects when you have an actor like Chris Lee around. A rock solid production. Dracula is back!!! Review date: 2005-10-26 Rating: 8 out of 10 This is the third in the hammer dracula series, and although not quite as atmospheric as the first dracula is still a pretty decent effort. Although Christopher Lee doesn't have much script, his presence still makes the film very watchable. Picture quality is good. Well worth a purchase. Dracula is back and being a vampire was never so sexy Review date: 2003-01-13 Rating: 6 out of 10 "Dracula Has Risen From the Grave" might have Christopher Lee as the Count, but this is really director Freddie Francis's film. Francis replaced Terrence Fisher at the helm and all of the differences between this 1968 effort and other Dracula films can be traced to the director. A year has passed since Dracula died in "Dracula--Prince of Darkness," and a Monsignor (Rupert Davis) finds the locals still living in fear so he drags the local priest (Ewan Hopper) up to Castle Dracula to perform an exorcism. What they succeed in doing is accidentally bringing the vampire back (the title gives it away again, huh?). Finding a cross on his front door, Dracula goes after the Monsignor, although he finds plenty of time to put the bite on a couple of lusty wenches: Zena (Barbara Ewing), the bar maid and Maria (Veronica Carlson), the Monsignor's beautiful niece. In the end it is left to Paul (Barry Andrews), Maria's insipid lover to save what is left of the day. When Dracula sinks his teeth into the women in "Dracula Has Risen From the Grave," the sexual elements are extremely blatant. But as fascinating as such scenes are to the average adolescent male, what sticks out for those of us who love vampire movies is not so much the wooden acting but the gross violations of the vampire mythos. We get to see Dracula's reflection and apparently driving a stake into a vampire is no longer enough to make the undead dead. This film misses both the vision of Terrence Fisher as a director and Peter Cushing's strong presence as the heroic Van Helsing. Product Details/SpecificationsActor(s): Veronica Carlson Rupert Davies Barry Andrews Barbara Ewing Christopher Lee Creators: Christopher Lee (Primary Contributor) Rupert Davies (Primary Contributor) Arthur Grant (Cinematographer) Spencer Reeve (Editor) Aida Young (Producer) Anthony Hinds (Writer) Director(s): Recording label: Warner Home Video Manufacturer: Warner Home Video EAN: 7321900381390 Binding: DVD Number of items: 1 Format: PAL, Release date: 2004-06-21 Number of discs: 1 Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over Region code: 2 Running time: 88 minutes Theatrical release date: 1969-02-06 Language: English (Original Language)
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