BRIDES OF DRACULA (1960) was Hammer Films follow-up to their worldwide hit DRACULA (1958). The title, however, is a misnomer as the character of Dracula is nowhere to be found in the movie. He had been spectacularly destroyed at the end of the 1958 film but that never stopped a studio from trying to cash in on an unexpected success. The reason Dracula doesn’t appear is that the actor who played him, Christopher Lee, didn’t want to reprise the role as he was afraid of being typecast so the already finished script called DISCIPLE OF DRACULA had to be rewritten. Peter Cushing’s vampire hunter role of Van Helsing became the main focus of the movie along with a girl’s school teacher who sets the revamped story in motion with a completely different vampire.
This time around he is a young aristocrat named Baron Meinster who became a vampire, we are told, through a decadent lifestyle that his mother encouraged. She had been able to keep him contained in their chateau until the teacher, intended as a victim, sets him free not realizing what he is. It’s up to Van Helsing to save the day, which he does in a unique way, but not before a few deaths occur where more vampires are created, and Van Helsing nearly loses his soul. The vampire is played here by David Peel, who is of average height and has blond hair, not at all like Christopher Lee. French actress Yvonne Monlaur is the schoolteacher. Two great British stage actresses, Martita Hunt as the Baroness and Freda Jackson as the vampire’s protector, bring class to the proceedings.
Terrence Fisher, who directed DRACULA, said that BRIDES is not a horror film but rather a Gothic fairy tale. Keep that in mind as you watch the story unfold. The picture is carefully designed to not be realistic as many of the performances are 19th century in style. The theatrical looking sets are lit in red, purple, and gold, the traditional colors of royalty. This subliminally makes the film look more expensive than it is. Hammer kept this Gothic fairy tale approach for their horror movies, which were color remakes of the classic B&W 1930s Universal films, until 1962 when the failure of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and the changing cultural landscape made them appear old fashioned. They always were and that’s what many people loved about them then and still love about them today.
Since the movie is not meant to be realistic, it follows that it doesn’t have to be logical which, in some places, it certainly isn’t. What emerges is not a continuous narrative flow but a series of remarkable set pieces that include the Baroness meeting the schoolteacher at a village inn (where everyone speaks with British accents), a vampire victim rising from her grave, and the final confrontation between Baron Meinster and Van Helsing. Peter Cushing’s Van Helsing is cool, calm, and collected as always. David Peel is effectively charming and/or menacing when he needs to be and both Martita Hunt and Freda Jackson are a joy to watch. BRIDES OF DRACULA is a prime example of Hammer Gothic at its best and while it no longer frightens, it more than entertains in its very English way.
The Capsule Critic 