Hey everyone. This is sadly another brief entry today - there is simply too much to do at work. Also, I am not in the mood to write anyway (sucks that that is exactly my job), as my wife is not feeling well and her health is first and foremost on my mind, not horror movies.
Let's hope that she improves soon and that I find some inspiration tomorrow.
In the meantime, here's today's movie - one of my favorite Vampire flicks. The skinny below.
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1974): Directed by. Starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Joanna Lumley.
The Skinny: One of seven in a series of Dracula by UK movie house Hammers, starring Christopher Lee as the Count and Peter Cushing as his nemesis, usually a descendant of Van Helsing. .”Satanic Rites” follows a group of secret agents battling an underground cult that worships the Count and help him exact his revenge on the human race via a new virulent strain of the Bubonic Plague.
What’s Good: Any of the Hammer Dracula films are great, if you ask me. Lee is a great Count Dracula, finding both the sensuality and the menace of the character that so far only Bela Lugosi seemed able to balance. The things I like about this and the other Hammer films, however, is the seriousness with which the material is treated. Everyone acts – or overacts – their heart out, the music is pure drama/camp and the cinematography … don’t get me started. The Hammer films have a habit of filming night scenes in the day to avoid the pricing lighting required for a night shoot. Instead, they slap a filter on the camera that makes the intruding sunlight curiously gray but still clearly sunlight. That takes balls.
What’s Bad: See above; this is one of those “so good it’s bad” movies, to be sure. But don’t knock it until you’ve seen it. Like three or four times.
Why We Like It: Christopher Lee, baby. Even when they barely use him in the film, you can’t wait until he comes around and when he does, you scream, and shout and point and go “THERE HE IS!” He’s just that awesome. Plus there’s a 70s disco soundtrack, mod costumes, secret agents, vampires, plagues, Joanna Lumley! This one is gravy on biscuits, people.
Memorable Stuff: Secret agents battling it out with the vampires is pretty hot. But the best is when Cushing leads Lee into a snaggle of Hawthorne bushes and once he is sufficiently snared, Cushing unleashes the stake on Drac’s ass for like the one millionth time. It’s still gold, every time.
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