One thing in life that I always enjoyed in my childhood was me and my mom watching the old Hammer Dracula films, they were always a blast to watch how Dracula would get himself back out of the coffin once again for the next sequel. I was able to find a DVD set with 4 Hammer Dracula movies which included one that I hadn’t seen: Dracula AD 1972. I didn’t even hesitate to buy the DVD and watch Dracula AD 1972 first thing when I got home. I know that these movies are technically bad and very silly, but still I enjoy watching them, Christopher Lee as Dracula in the 70’s, you can’t go wrong. Although I thought it would have been funnier if he went out into the city to see how people would react to him dressed in that same outfit, just watch the movie Love At First Bite, that’s a great example of Dracula existing in a modern world and is absolutely hilarious. I think this movie was mainly made though because of the small success that was Count Yorga, another 1970’s vampire movie that is pretty good, they wanted to ride the same roller coaster and see where they could take Dracula next.
In1872, Count Dracula and his enemy Lawrence Van Helsing battle on the top of a runaway coach. It crashes and Dracula is impaled by one of the wheels. Van Helsing dies from his wounds. One hundred years later, we are introduced to a group of young hippies that includes Jessica Van Helsing, granddaughter of Van Helsing, a descendant of Dracula’s old nemesis and an expert on the occult, and Johnny Alucard, who is a disciple of Dracula. Alucard persuades Jessica and the others to attend a black magic ceremony in the now abandoned, desecrated St Bartolph’s, where he performs a bloody ritual involving one of their group, Laura. Jessica and the others flee in horror, after which Dracula is resurrected and kills Laura. Laura’s body is discovered, drained of blood, and a police investigation begins, headed by an Inspector Murray. Van Helsing, who is shocked to learn the details of Laura’s death. Alucard is turned into a vampire. The vampire Alucard lures Jessica’s boyfriend, Bob, and he turns him into a vampire as well. While Lorrimer is out, Bob goes to the Van Helsing house and persuades Jessica to come to the café, where he and Alucard capture her and take her to Dracula, dun dun dun! Dracula in the 70’s man, how groovy.
Dracula AD 1972 isn’t a bad movie, it did make me laugh quite a few times, to think that this is what my parents were like in the 1970’s is just disturbing, lol. But the script was such a blast to be displayed on the screen. You got very pretty actors including the gorgeous Caroline Munro, who is very under rated and Christopher Neame who I swear is Malcolm McDoweell’s under appreciated brother because all those looks that Chris gave to the camera I think was inspired by A Clockwork Orange. Over all if you are into the old Hammer Dracula films, this is definitely worth the look. Even if you’re not, I think this is a fun little time capsule to see how scary the 1970’s were in the fashion world and how they spoke, what was so “groovy, man”. Sock it to me, Dracky, baby! I had a good time watching Dracula AD 1972.
