The Real "Horror Of Dracula" Was What Was Done To The Lugosi Film, And The Bram Stoker Novel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    I will grant you Svengoolie's showing last Saturday of "Horror Of Dracula," surpassed that of "The Curse Of Frankenstein."  It had some good moments, but some of the bad stuff I was not prepared for.

                                     For starters, look at this shot. This is Castle Dracula, in the 1958 Hammer film.  Not only does it not look terrifying or nearly vampiric, but it is also a day shot!!!!!!!!!!!!  It looks more like a cheap backdrop from a community theater production of "The Sound Of Music!!!!!!!!!!"

                                      Characters are tampered with all over the place.  Jonathan Harker goes to Dracula's castle, and keeps a diary, as in the novel, but he does not survive, and become a vampire.  As I said previously, Valerie Gaunt is on hand as the Vampire Woman, and she is superb--and those bosoms! --but not as effective as the choreographed trio in the 1931 Universal version, with Lugosi.

                                         As a result of this, there is no Renfield in this movie!  NO RENFIELD???????????????????   How can the Dracula story work, without him????????????

                                           And there is no Carfax Abbey, or Dr. Seward.

                                          But it does find some ways.  Carol Marsh, next to Valerie Gaunt gives an outstanding performance as Lucy, whose role as "The Bloofer Lady" is really played up!  However, here she is not Lucy Westenra, as played by flapper Frances Dade in 1931, but Lucy Holmwood, sister of Mina Holmwood (no longer Jonathan Harker's fiancé) who is married to Arthur Holmwood, played by British veteran Michael Gough.  Girls, the minute I saw housekeeper Gerda's daughter, Tonya, appear on screen, I knew the Bloofer Lady angle would be played up.  And it was, to a perfect fare-thee-well, resulting in Lucy screaming with agony as she gets a crucifix emblazed upon her forehead, and then screams again as Peter Cushing, as Van Helsing, drives a stake through her heart.

                                              The ending, with the sun blazing in through the windows, after Van Helsing tears away the curtains (reminding me of "Great Expectations") so that Dracula can be reduced to dust before the viewer's eye (suggestive of 1944's "The Return Of The Vampire") was horrifically breathtaking and shows where much of this film's budget went.  So that the cheap castle, and only one Vampire Woman could almost be excused.

                                                  Color, gore, blood, bosoms, and a Bloofer Lady.  "Horror Of Dracula" may never surpass the Universal 1931 original, but it has its fun and surprises!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                    And all those teeth.  These vampires certainly had good dental insurance!!!!!!!!!!!