Many Hammer fans berate this film as a desperate attempt to bring the Dracula myth up to date, thereby competing with the more explicit foreign horror that was drawing in the crowds at the time. I, however, have a hard time disliking it: the incredibly dated dialogue, garish style and funky soundtrack only serve to make the movie an irresistible addition to the series.
A young and very sexy Stephanie Beacham plays King's Road cutie Jessica, descendant of fearless 19th century vampire killer Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing), who died 100 years earlier battling the evil Count Dracula (Christopher Lee). After 'the Count' is revived once again, this time by black-magic-obsessed hippy Johnny Alucard (Christopher Neame), he sets about wreaking revenge on the Van Helsing family by first killing Jessica's groovy pals, and then attempting to make the poor girl his bride. Only Jessica's grandfather, Professor Van Helsing (Cushing again) understands what is going on, and tries to prevent the legendary vampire from carrying out his dastardly plan.
Opening with a painfully 'hip' party scene featuring crazy rock band Stoneground, AD 72 starts as it means to go on, by appealing primarily to the youth of the day, for whom way out music and crazy times were paramount. In an effort to be as trendy as possible, the creators of this one give us oodles of hilarious 70s slang ('Cool it!'; 'Call the fuzz'; 'Dig the music, lads') and loads of hideous fashion faux-pas (Beacham's barnet and Neame's wardrobe are particularly embarrassing). They also ensure that there are plenty of tasty birds for us geezers to enjoy: as well as buxom Beacham, we also get busty Hammer beauty Caroline Munro and foxy babe with an afro Marsha Hunt.
As if all that wasn't enough, the film's DOP is called Dick Bush (phnarr, phnarr!), and there is a hilarious scene in which Cushing's Van Helsing carefully transposes the letters in Johnny's surname to reveal 'Dracula' (they didn't make him a professor for nothing!).
A young and very sexy Stephanie Beacham plays King's Road cutie Jessica, descendant of fearless 19th century vampire killer Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing), who died 100 years earlier battling the evil Count Dracula (Christopher Lee). After 'the Count' is revived once again, this time by black-magic-obsessed hippy Johnny Alucard (Christopher Neame), he sets about wreaking revenge on the Van Helsing family by first killing Jessica's groovy pals, and then attempting to make the poor girl his bride. Only Jessica's grandfather, Professor Van Helsing (Cushing again) understands what is going on, and tries to prevent the legendary vampire from carrying out his dastardly plan.
Opening with a painfully 'hip' party scene featuring crazy rock band Stoneground, AD 72 starts as it means to go on, by appealing primarily to the youth of the day, for whom way out music and crazy times were paramount. In an effort to be as trendy as possible, the creators of this one give us oodles of hilarious 70s slang ('Cool it!'; 'Call the fuzz'; 'Dig the music, lads') and loads of hideous fashion faux-pas (Beacham's barnet and Neame's wardrobe are particularly embarrassing). They also ensure that there are plenty of tasty birds for us geezers to enjoy: as well as buxom Beacham, we also get busty Hammer beauty Caroline Munro and foxy babe with an afro Marsha Hunt.
As if all that wasn't enough, the film's DOP is called Dick Bush (phnarr, phnarr!), and there is a hilarious scene in which Cushing's Van Helsing carefully transposes the letters in Johnny's surname to reveal 'Dracula' (they didn't make him a professor for nothing!).