31 DAYS OF HORROR 2022 - Day 16: DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE (1968)

                                                              For whom the bell tolls.  

Dracula (Christopher Lee) is once more resurrected and with this revival the formula for a Hammer Dracula film is truly carved in stone, despite Peter Cushing's Van Helsing not being present. Elements that had been previously deployed are distilled down to a concise essence, and Dracula uses his limited moments of dialogue to chilling effect.

                                                     The Count goes in for a midnight snack.

At the dawn of the 1900's, Monsignor Ernst (Rupert Davies) arrives in the village that lies in the shadow of Castle Dracula, apparently to whip the local clergy into shape for being lax in their duties. He drags the fearful local head priest to the castle door, where he proceeds to perform an exorcism of the premises, but in the process the reluctant priest suffers a minor head wound that bleeds into the ice of the nearby frozen river, a body of water in which Dracula perished at the end of the previous movie. Once up and about again, the Count tracks down the priest and drags him back to the castle where, to his considerable indignation, he finds his entry barred by a large golden crucifix. After pressing the terrified priest for info on the Monsignor, Dracula sets off on a very personal campaign of vengeance. Meanwhile, the Monsignor lives with his buxom blonde niece, Maria (Veronica Carlson), a serving maid at the town inn, and the girl is in love with a student named Paul (Barry Andrews). That's a problem because Paul is an atheist, a state of which the Monsignor absolutely does not approve. With an irate vampire about to enter the fray, it is Paul's lack of belief that renders him pretty useless in the face of the coming onslaught, and that  conflict forms the true crux of the narrative. It's a case of the mundane being faced with the darkest of the fantastical, and the way it plays out may not be flawless, but it's certainly entertaining.

I won't outline any more of the particulars, as it will be more fun for you to see it all unfold for yourself, and the overall package works swimmingly as a textbook example of an engaging vampire flick. The performances are solid, the visuals are replete with atmosphere, and extra points for Barbara Ewing as bawdy tavern wench Zena. 

                                                 Zena (Barbara Ewing) making friends. 

In short, and opinions definitely vary on this, next to the first in the run, this just may be the quintessential Hammer Dracula movie.

                                                            Poster for the original U.K. release.

                                                          Poster for the American release.