Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966)

Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966) is the first direct sequel to Horror of Dracula (1958), and it's an excellent one at that. Four innocent travelers get stranded by their coachman and are "invited" to stay in Castle Dracula (despite being warned not to) resulting in the resurrection of Dracula. Christopher Lee reprises his role as the Count, but this time he doesn't say a word which ratchets up the tension. Andrew Keir stars as Father Sandor, a badass vampire-killer monk with a Scottish accent. While the film has one egregiously bad moment of "holding two sticks together and calling it a crucifix," Dracula, Prince of Darkness is probably the most faithful to typical vampire rules. Garlic, crosses, sunlight, coffins with dirt in them, and running water are all present in the film. With a strong cast and good production values, Dracula, Prince of Darkness is a highly entertaining and solid thriller that should be counted among the best of the Hammer Horror films.

7/10

Dracula Has Risen From The Grave (1968)

Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1968) is an enjoyable entry into the Hammer Dracula series, but it is not without its eccentricities. The story is a pretty typical vampire story. The twist is that it has greater focus on the involvement of the Church. The pace is brisk, with decent acting throughout. There were some really strange decisions made in terms of cinematography, tinting the edges of the frame different colors during different "horror" scenes and sets of the film. My biggest complaint were the idiosyncrasies in the vampire legend. The most offending parts: you see Dracula's reflection in the water, his coffin has no dirt in it, and somehow Dracula is killed by a "stake" made of metal! Weird.

7/10

Brides of Dracula, The (1960)

The first sequel in the Hammer Horror Dracula series is a mediocre one. While running only 85 minutes, I felt the film had a significant amount of filler. Dracula is dead, but one of his previous victims begins to prey upon pretty girls and creates several brides. This vampire Baron looks ridiculous with his golden blonde hair and his pretty boy looks... not at all intimidating. The brides have ghoulish white makeup done on their faces that looks incredibly fake. The lead actress has a pretty thick French accent that gets pretty annoying. The cinematography, sets, art direction, and color are all great, and there is also a very effective staking sequence, but what saves this film from being a complete mess is the presence of Peter Cushing, who salvages about as much of the film as he can.

6/10

Dracula AD 1972 (1972)

Campy horror flick, but highly entertaining. Groovy teens looking for kicks get suckered by their friend Johnny Alucard (hello?!) into resurrecting Dracula. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee reprise their roles as [the ancestor of] Van Helsing and Dracula respectively. Good-looking young actors (look especially for Caroline Munro who went on to be a Bond girl in The Spy Who Loved Me), Cushing and Lee, a great jazzy disco-style score (with lots of gothic score elements still there), and an enormous helping of cheese make this a fun vampire flick. Ultimately, this is a hip installment of the Hammer Horror series that is an example of how silly teens and gothic horror should mix.

7/10