DRACULA A.D. 1972 is the sixth and penultimate instalment of Hammer's long-running DRACULA saga. The writers had the clever idea to update the setting to the then-modern day to bring it in line with contemporary American vampire flicks including THE NIGHT STALKER, BLACULA, and COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE. As such, it's a film which goes all-out in depictions of early 1970s culture, with lots of hip, happening dialogue, extended party and music scenes, and couples making out. Although there's the requisite bloodshed and gruesomeness, the most outrageous thing you'll see here are the fashions.
Things begin with an excellent pre-credits action scene in which Lee's Count is staked in a novel way, before that clever-clever segue to the plane overhead which is second only to the famous 'bone' scene in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. From this point on, Christopher Neame's sinister Johnny Alucard helps the Count get resurrected in a de-consecrated church and then feeds him a string of victims before Van Helsing's descendant steps in. The only real problem I have with this film is the way the plot seems over-simplified and dragged out. Other than the modern setting, it's the same old story told again. Christopher Lee has very little screen time and little to work with, although Peter Cushing is a master at depicting steely resolve and comes across well. Stephanie Beacham makes for an arresting damsel in distress, just as she did in ...AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS, and the likes of Caroline Munro, Michael Coles, and Michael Kitchen are all utilised well in their smaller parts. Due to the slow-moving scenes earlier on, the climax gets a little rushed, but overall this remains watchable, although not great. Hammer would end the series on a high with the superior, thriller-y SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA made the following year.
Things begin with an excellent pre-credits action scene in which Lee's Count is staked in a novel way, before that clever-clever segue to the plane overhead which is second only to the famous 'bone' scene in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. From this point on, Christopher Neame's sinister Johnny Alucard helps the Count get resurrected in a de-consecrated church and then feeds him a string of victims before Van Helsing's descendant steps in. The only real problem I have with this film is the way the plot seems over-simplified and dragged out. Other than the modern setting, it's the same old story told again. Christopher Lee has very little screen time and little to work with, although Peter Cushing is a master at depicting steely resolve and comes across well. Stephanie Beacham makes for an arresting damsel in distress, just as she did in ...AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS, and the likes of Caroline Munro, Michael Coles, and Michael Kitchen are all utilised well in their smaller parts. Due to the slow-moving scenes earlier on, the climax gets a little rushed, but overall this remains watchable, although not great. Hammer would end the series on a high with the superior, thriller-y SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA made the following year.