Dracula AD 1972 (1972)

Director: Alan Gibson
Starring: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Stephanie Beacham

Synopsis:
Dracula is revived in the modern day and hunts the descendants of the Van Helsing family.

Impressions:
Lawrence Van Helsing? Lawrence Van Helsing? Sorry. It's a bit of a pet peeve of mine when people rename the character. Anyway, while this is a Hammer Dracula film with Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, it's not in continuity with the earlier films. Setting the film in the present must have saved money on production and there's the obvious angle of appealing to contemporary audiences. In this case, contemporary audiences include bloody hippies. Fortunately, that aspect gets toned down after the opening scene. Despite the film's rather poor reputation, it's about on par with the other Dracula sequels but benefits greatly by having Peter Cushing played against Christopher Lee (who actually has a halfway decent speaking role this time around). I also want to make note of Christopher Neame, who's pretty good as Johnny Alucard. For those who are motivated by that sort of thing, there's a fair bit of cheesecake shots, including future Bond Girl Caroline Munro. If the idea of a Hammer Dracula movie set in 1970s England appeals to you, it's worth seeing. On the other hand, if these sequels haven't been doing much for you, you may want to skip it.

Rating:
50/50