Dracula Has Risen from the Grave.

Review #860: Dracula Has Risen from the Grave.

Cast:
Christopher Lee (Count Dracula), Rupert Davies (Monsignor Ernest Muller), Veronica Carlson (Maria Muller), Barry Andrews (Paul), Ewan Hooper (Priest), Barbara Ewing (Zena), and Marion Mathie (Anna Muller) Directed by Freddie Francis (#856 - The Evil of Frankenstein)

Review:
For Halloween Eve (as I would call it), here's one more Hammer film. With a title like that, what can you expect? This was third Dracula film with Christopher Lee in the title role, and he actually does speak this time. It starts out with a girl found in a bell tower, an apparent victim of Dracula (who is she? Who knows?), which is somewhat amusing. Dracula (still frozen in ice) is brought back in a particularly amusing scene, as a priest falls on a rock, and the blood from his head reaches a crack in the ice and bleeds onto Dracula's mouth, with Dracula arising not long after, with reddish eyes to boot. Andrews is interesting, and he has some decent enough scenes with Carlson (another person familiar with Hammer films). Davies is pretty good as well. I liked the previous film a bit more than this in terms of the characters, but it works just enough on its own merits. There certainly is a good deal of style with the camera shots (especially when Dracula is around), and the effects are fine as usual. This time around, Dracula can only be killed with a stake if you have faith, which either is a bit clever or just a way to make the film last a bit longer. I guess it's better than being killed by water. At 92 minutes, this is a decent enough film that has enough flair and Hammer cliches to work.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.