Rating: 4/5
Hooptober 8.0 | 24/34 | Hammer films 2/2
Transylvania — land of dark forests, dread mountains, and black unfathomed lakes. Still the home of magic and devilry as the 19th century draws to its close. Count Dracula, monarch of all vampires, is dead. But his disciples live on to spread the cult and corrupt the world.
A carriage rides through the fog. Inside, its passages, Marianne Danielle, bounces about. She begs the driver to slow down, but he knows where he is and what lay out there. She is en route to a teaching position at a girls’ school in Transylvania.
Marianne stops at a pub for a bite. The owner, Johann, urges her to keep going on her trip. But when she goes outside, the carriage has already left her. Before they can find another ride for Marianne, another carriage arrives.
In walks the Baroness Meinster. The owner and his wife fearfully serve the baroness wine. The baroness invites Marianne over to drink with her. Marianne tells the baroness her predicament, and the baroness offers her room at her castle. The owners attempt to dissuade Marianne, but she does not know the danger she is courting.
— You're very kind, madam — I am nothing of the sort. I'm a very lonely old woman who often longs for the company of someone with a little breeding — a rare thing in these parts.
At the castle, Marianne meets Baron Meister, the Baroness’s son. The baroness has chained him by the ankle to his rooms in the castle. The baroness claims he is mad, but Marianne wants to be helpful. She helps to release him.
— He's gone! God help us — he's free!
Marianne runs out of the castle and into the dark forests. There, she meets Dr. Van Helsing. They attend the funeral of a woman who died the night prior. On her neck are bite marks.
This movie has that gothic dread that I love. Every moment feels like the worst could happen, if only… The music does a fantastic job of accenting innocent words with curiosity.
The sets are gorgeous. The baroness’s castle is what I love — full of labyrinthine halls and decadence.
Yvonne Monlaur is the ideal Hammer woman — beautiful, and foreign, and her hair is as large as it could be.
Marita Hunt has the vampiric energy of loneliness and madness, exhaustion at the edge of every phrase.
David Peel is silly and annoying.