| After Hammer Studios' tremendous success
with The Curse of Frankenstein, they struck a deal to adapt Universal's catalog
of classics and set their sights first on Dracula. Christopher Lee removes the
monstrous makeup from the earlier film and makes his entrance as an elegant,
confident, altogether seductive Dracula, a frightening figure of flashing eyes
and erotic allure. Peter Cushing, with his hawklike profile and piercing eyes,
turns his rationalist intensity to Van Helsing: man of science as crusading
vampire hunter. Director Terence Fisher and screenwriter Jimmy Sangster make
a few changes to Bram Stoker's tale; gone are Renfield, Transylvania, howling
wolves, and transformations into bats. The Count is an old-world aristocrat
firmly ensconced in a castle in England and Van Helsing a crusading vampire
hunter who plots his demise with an elaborate plan.
This is the first film to really mine
the erotic appeal of vampires: Dracula seduces Mina and Lucy like a devil tempting
good to the dark side through sex--more suggestive than explicit, but daring
for 1958. Lee is electric as the ferocious Count, despite his limited screen
time, and Cushing turns Van Helsing into a virtual swashbuckler of a hero, leaping
and diving through the climax like an aging action hero. Cushing reprises his
role in The Brides of Dracula, while Lee absented himself from the series until
1966's Dracula: Prince of Darkness.
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