It had to happen sooner or later. A surprisingly anemic Hammer knew that it had to shake some of the dust off the period-piece horror that was their specialty, and "get with the groove" of the times if they expected to get the kids' dollars at the box office and their butts in the seats. So, lepers and ghouls, I give you their initial effort to do just that: "DRACULA - A.D. 1972". And man, it's a gas, gas, gas!
I mean like, DIG that prologue! I am so rusty on my Hammer filmography, that I don't remember if the opening sequence is from a previous pic or if it was staged especially for this movie. It doesn't matter, because it's definitely one of the best choreographed fights that titans of terror Lee and Cushing have had before.
Their struggle atop a moving coach ends with a spectacular crash and our favorite Count being spiked with a broken wheel. The mortally wounded Van Helsing lives just long enough to send Ol' Famous Fangs back to Hell, but unfortunately a mysterious acolyte of the King of Capes is right there to collect Drac's ring and his remains, and deposit them in a nice desanctified corner of the same church where Van Helsing's funeral takes place.
Fast-forward about a hundred years later, to a "happening" at somebody's posh digs. Okay, so it looks like outtakes from Russ Meyer's BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS without the boobalicious babes in that all-girl band, but it's kinda fun anyway...in a very retro-'70's kind of way. The gang's all here being all mod and irreverent and defiant of snotty rich society, while a band called "Stoneground" plays some really bad pseudo-Grateful Dead tunes.
The leader of these groovalicious "Merry Prankster"-wannabes is a creepy-looking cat named Johnny (an impossibly young Christopher Neame) who sort of hangs back and surveys the scene coolly, like the young gay son of Riff Raff from THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. (Wait! Is that redundant? No, that's right, Riff was actually into incest! Never mind!) He just so happens to be the descendant of the "servant" who reburied the Count way back when.
Anyway, to skip over the plodding details, Johnny (whose last name is "Alucard", BTW - Stop rolling your eyes! You keep doing that and they'll stay that way! Didn't your mother tell you that???) persuades his fine, "Frouging" friends to split this tired scene and trade it up for something a little more "wild" - like a Black Mass, to be exact.
Now is probably the best time to mention that two of the "birds" in this group just happen to be Jessica Van Helsing, (an even more impossibly young Stephanie Beacham from the Hammer and Amicus Repertory Companies) the granddaughter of present-day vamp-staker Laurence, and the comely Laura (Horror-Queen-In-Training Caroline Munro) who is "up for anything," (unfortunately for her.)
As corny and clichéd as everything is leading up to it, the staging of the ritual does manage to raise a few goosebumps, and of course there's the Grand Entrance of the Bard of Bloodsucking himself, (even though it doesn't happen until about a third of the way through the movie.)
I've read in other reviews about how embarrassed Lee and Cushing looked or must've felt doing this picture, and I have to beg to differ. I thought they played their usual parts rather well, and both of them showed why they were much better actors than they were ever given credit for. Cushing could always deliver lines with a straight face that would make other actors want to giggle hysterically, vomit prodigiously, or have an ocean of drinks just to get through filming. But it's pretty evident here why John Carpenter wouldn't have minded having either of them in HALLOWEEN, in the role that eventually went to their colleague Donald Pleasence.
Well, from here it's mostly paint-by-numbers stuff. The descendant of Dracula's servant has revived "The Master", who plans on taking revenge on the Van Helsing clan by converting one of their own (Jessica) into his latest blushing, biting Bride. Oh, and here's a couple of new twists in the mix, though: Drac does become an equal-opportunity neck-nibbler in this one, since he does chow down on the nape of the lovely token black member of the hipster hangers-on, and even lunches near the larynx of Johnny A. himself! (And before you even say it, NO, I don't think the Count went "queer!" If you're gonna "buy him lunch," I don't think he was really particular about where the Type-O treats came from!)
If you know your Hammer, you know where this is going. Many characters you could give a crap about will die...and rise undead...and die again, until Van Helsing pops a cap...well, actually a stake...in Drac's ass and turns him back into the kind of stuff you find in an overstuffed vacuum cleaner bag, until the next sequel.
Only this time it's all done to a rockin' beat as provided by Michael Vickers, (sorry, I guess James Bernard was busy that week), who scores 1972 appropriately, like a cross between THE MOD SQUAD and THE AVENGERS.
So, Dracula A.D. 1972 is not quite vampire porn and not completely bloodsucker corn. But speaking of corn, it will go down easy with a tub of Pop Secret and a 2-liter Coke.
Just don't forget your tie-dyed tee shirt, Lava Lamp and a big ol' doobie.
I mean like, DIG that prologue! I am so rusty on my Hammer filmography, that I don't remember if the opening sequence is from a previous pic or if it was staged especially for this movie. It doesn't matter, because it's definitely one of the best choreographed fights that titans of terror Lee and Cushing have had before.
Their struggle atop a moving coach ends with a spectacular crash and our favorite Count being spiked with a broken wheel. The mortally wounded Van Helsing lives just long enough to send Ol' Famous Fangs back to Hell, but unfortunately a mysterious acolyte of the King of Capes is right there to collect Drac's ring and his remains, and deposit them in a nice desanctified corner of the same church where Van Helsing's funeral takes place.
Fast-forward about a hundred years later, to a "happening" at somebody's posh digs. Okay, so it looks like outtakes from Russ Meyer's BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS without the boobalicious babes in that all-girl band, but it's kinda fun anyway...in a very retro-'70's kind of way. The gang's all here being all mod and irreverent and defiant of snotty rich society, while a band called "Stoneground" plays some really bad pseudo-Grateful Dead tunes.
The leader of these groovalicious "Merry Prankster"-wannabes is a creepy-looking cat named Johnny (an impossibly young Christopher Neame) who sort of hangs back and surveys the scene coolly, like the young gay son of Riff Raff from THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. (Wait! Is that redundant? No, that's right, Riff was actually into incest! Never mind!) He just so happens to be the descendant of the "servant" who reburied the Count way back when.
Anyway, to skip over the plodding details, Johnny (whose last name is "Alucard", BTW - Stop rolling your eyes! You keep doing that and they'll stay that way! Didn't your mother tell you that???) persuades his fine, "Frouging" friends to split this tired scene and trade it up for something a little more "wild" - like a Black Mass, to be exact.
Now is probably the best time to mention that two of the "birds" in this group just happen to be Jessica Van Helsing, (an even more impossibly young Stephanie Beacham from the Hammer and Amicus Repertory Companies) the granddaughter of present-day vamp-staker Laurence, and the comely Laura (Horror-Queen-In-Training Caroline Munro) who is "up for anything," (unfortunately for her.)
As corny and clichéd as everything is leading up to it, the staging of the ritual does manage to raise a few goosebumps, and of course there's the Grand Entrance of the Bard of Bloodsucking himself, (even though it doesn't happen until about a third of the way through the movie.)
I've read in other reviews about how embarrassed Lee and Cushing looked or must've felt doing this picture, and I have to beg to differ. I thought they played their usual parts rather well, and both of them showed why they were much better actors than they were ever given credit for. Cushing could always deliver lines with a straight face that would make other actors want to giggle hysterically, vomit prodigiously, or have an ocean of drinks just to get through filming. But it's pretty evident here why John Carpenter wouldn't have minded having either of them in HALLOWEEN, in the role that eventually went to their colleague Donald Pleasence.
Well, from here it's mostly paint-by-numbers stuff. The descendant of Dracula's servant has revived "The Master", who plans on taking revenge on the Van Helsing clan by converting one of their own (Jessica) into his latest blushing, biting Bride. Oh, and here's a couple of new twists in the mix, though: Drac does become an equal-opportunity neck-nibbler in this one, since he does chow down on the nape of the lovely token black member of the hipster hangers-on, and even lunches near the larynx of Johnny A. himself! (And before you even say it, NO, I don't think the Count went "queer!" If you're gonna "buy him lunch," I don't think he was really particular about where the Type-O treats came from!)
If you know your Hammer, you know where this is going. Many characters you could give a crap about will die...and rise undead...and die again, until Van Helsing pops a cap...well, actually a stake...in Drac's ass and turns him back into the kind of stuff you find in an overstuffed vacuum cleaner bag, until the next sequel.
Only this time it's all done to a rockin' beat as provided by Michael Vickers, (sorry, I guess James Bernard was busy that week), who scores 1972 appropriately, like a cross between THE MOD SQUAD and THE AVENGERS.
So, Dracula A.D. 1972 is not quite vampire porn and not completely bloodsucker corn. But speaking of corn, it will go down easy with a tub of Pop Secret and a 2-liter Coke.
Just don't forget your tie-dyed tee shirt, Lava Lamp and a big ol' doobie.