Horror of Dracula

In the first and best of Hammer's Dracula series, Lee is superb as the seductive count, swooping low over the repressed Victorian ladies who become his all-too-willing victims. Cushing is equally fine as the tireless Dr. Van Helsing, who tracks the vampire king until their final, classic struggle in the rays of the morning sun. Sharply directed by Fisher, with a trim Sangster script and dynamic James Bernard score, this is, simply put, one of the very best.

A little choppy but pretty well paced. Christopher Lee gives a solid spin on the role and one considerably different to Lugosi. It's campy fun with some surprisingly grim imagery for the time. I was much amused by how little this version cared to stick with the book, immediately swapping naive lawyer Harker out for undercover librarian/vampire slayer Harker. Maybe I've been too harsh on other incarnations in that regard...

Frequent Hammer helmer Fisher crafts one of the studio's classiest scare productions, with Lee perfectly cast as the caped count and Cushing shaping up as an equally ideal Van Helsing. This was widely condemned in its day for its high violence quotient, including the count's still-impressive climactic meltdown. Great fun all around.

Lee is amazing as the Count, managing to portray both a suave gentleman and an energetic monster. Cushing is equally excellent as Van Helsing bringing a cool detective-like quality to his character. The movie offers genuine excitement through it's honest and enthusiastic approach, taking only the most important plot points from the novel - focusing on entertainment value rather than being a "true" adaptation. Extremely enjoyable film, yet pleasantly simple

This was a gory, sexy rendering of the Stoker novel for its time