1960 – Terence Fisher
Viewed June 8, 2020
Without Christopher Lee, Dracula sequel loses its bite
You know what The Brides of Dracula is missing? Dracula!
The Brides of Dracula is a cheap rehash of the Horror of Dracula film from 1958, but with a cloying female character that the viewer doesn’t form much of an attachment to, unlike the former film’s depiction of the ill-fated Mina. I got the impression that the film was intended be a vehicle for the monarch of vampires, the prince of the undead, Dracula himself, but was changed to fit the villainous Baron Meinster. Later, this was confirmed when I read that Christopher Lee dropped out of the film as Dracula for fear of being typecast – Lee ended up playing him 10 times, so he must have gotten over that fear or the money was reeeeaaaalll good. The ironic aspect of all this is that Lee was only in the first film for seven minutes, and yet his performance towers over all else in one’s memory; meanwhile, the Baron Meinster features in too much of the movie and he doesn’t inspire a tenth of the same awe that Lee does.
If you enjoy hokey horror films, then by all means go watch The Brides of Dracula; if you’re a more casual movie watcher, however, you should find yourself a copy of Horror of Dracula.