p e n g u i n d e v i l

It was quite the Vampire party this week. Trying to bring back my old and long forgotten movie-watching mojo, I watched: Dracula AD 1972, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Dracula has Risen From the Grave, and Horror of Dracula!

Firstup, Dracula AD 1972 (1972)
Probably my least favorite of the bunch. Sure it has lots of crazy 1960s-70’s swinging British style, but that wasn’t enough to leave me enthralled. Basically, one of the young hipsters is a bit troubled and decides on a black magic rite to bring Dracula back. Coincidentally, one of his friends “happens” to be a descendant of Van Helsing (yes, THE Van Helsing, who killed Dracula a century before)… In fact, not only is this woman descended from THE Van Helsing but the movie also features her grandfather who looks exactly like the Val Helsing who killed Dracula! So, when this rite works and Drac comes back, he is already ready for revenge!

The best part is that the bad youth’s name is Alucard, which reminded me that I needed to repurchase Alucarda, since I, foolishly, sold it years ago

Next up was Taste the Blood of Dracula.
This was a winner! A bunch of rich, bored with life, assholes in 19th century England, looking to just pretend that they are decent folks, badgering everyone into behaving appropriately, but spend their free time looking to debauch and otherwise experience life in whatever way strikes their fancy. When one of their debauchery moments gets interrupted by a snotty young fellow, who clearly has power, they are intrigued by him and head off after him… And get talked into bringing Drac back to life as a way to push the boundaries of their boring lives! Well, that certainly works! And, of course, disaster befalls! But, note, next time watch Dracula has Risen From The Grave first

Next was Horror of Dracula (in England, just plain Dracula).
Basically a retelling of the general Dracula plotline, but in this version, Harker was coming to Dracula’s castle under a ruse. He is really already a vampire hunter! This one has a lot of other trimming of the story… Many of the characters are gone or melded together and, rather than coursing from London to Transylvania and back again, this one just hops the relatively short 150ish miles from Karlstadt to Ingolstadt. Not super exciting.

Fourthly, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave!
I liked this one! Drac has much more a of a role in this, not just standing in the shadows, biting people, and then dying like in the others, he even does some coach driving in this! This is a fun one in which a Monsignor ventures out of his city to a little town and, in trying to free the town from their fear of Dracula, accidentally ends up resurrecting Dracula himself! Featuring Veronica Carlson as the Monsignor’s niece (whowould go on to play many similar roles for Hammer) who likes to traipse across the rooftops and otherwise endanger herself.

After this, we watched Bram Stoker’s Dracula (or Dracula, as far as I am concerned). Oddly, Keanu’s accent and stilted acting did not discourage me as much as it has the previous times I have watched this.