Originally just called Dracula in its native UK, because Hammer Films was big on remaking Warner Bros. classics from a generation earlier. Normally I don't watch horror movies outside of October or November unless they're about to stop streaming on Netflix, but people keep associating the late Christopher Lee with this role (as opposed to a different Count D.), so I thought it my best choice for paying respect.
Unsurprisingly, Lee is the best thing about it. Sure, he doesn't have a non-British accent, but maybe he didn't want anyone to accuse him of trying and failing to imitate Bela Lugosi. Too bad he gets only 13 lines and not a whole lot of screen time -- and while not seeing a monster can ratchet up the fright factor, it doesn't work so well when we've already seen him at his nastiest.
If there's one way that HoD comes closer to what I've gleaned about the Bram Stoker book than any other film adaptation I've sampled except Francis Ford Coppola's, it's the allusion to letters and a diary. But it didn't take long for me to sense some substantial liberties. For starters, John Harker knows up front that the count is a vampire; he only feigns ignorance so that he can get close enough for a staking. Alas, as in many low-budget horrors, some victims have poor self-preservation skills, and Harker demonstrates this in Act 1. From there, the main hero is Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing, who probably shouldn't have gotten top billing in retrospect).
Other discrepancies stand out to viewers with a passing familiarity with the story. This Dracula has no Renfield to serve him. Contrary to a cited popular belief, he cannot shape-shift. And in a tradition that began only with Nosferatu, sunlight does more than weaken him. I get the impression he'd be fair to middling at best in a vampire battle royale.
One aspect I like is the depiction of people who have been bitten but not drained enough to become vampires themselves. Van Helsing compares them to drug addicts, and it shows: They can't stand the remedies and eagerly await the next bite, with a look that suggests mingled terror and, well, lasciviousness (the director invoked as much in his instructions). Pretty racy for the '50s.
It'll take more than HoD to get me truly interested in vampires again. In the meantime, I can only hope that Hotel Transylvania 2 bests its predecessor.
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