HALLOWEEN 2013 COUNTDOWN: MOVIES: BRIDES OF DRACULA FREE MOVIE INCLUDED

Brides of Dracula is the sequel to the Horror of Dracula which I reviewed the other day (click here to read). I had never seen this film before and I have no idea why. The only thing I can think of is the fact that it doesn't have Christopher Lee involved, so I may have cast it off as being a part of another franchise. I have only discovered this week also, that I have been watching the Dracula Hammer horror films in the wrong order for over 20 years!

So count Dracula was defeated at the end of the last movie (sorry for the spoiler) but the strange goings on in Transylvania are far from over.

A beautiful young French woman (played by Yvonne Monlaur) is left stranded in the town bordering castle Dracula on route to a ladies finishing school or something. While there, she is befriended by an old woman who lives at the castle and invites her to stay for the evening. While there she discovers the old woman's son who is chained to a wall. The French girl sets him free not knowing that he is infact a vampire and one of Dracula's disciples.

Luckily for the locals our good old friend (and fearless vampire killer) Dr Van Helsing is in town. Turns out he is a bit paranoid about the vampire thing so he thought he would stick around. He's a wise old boy is Dr Van Helsing.

The now released vampire Baron Meinster (played very well by Martita Hunt) is now on the loose killing local girls and then making them become his undead vampire slaves. During this time he makes the French girl fall in love with him and they are engaged to be married. The rest of the movie is just like all the other Dracula movies in the sense that its all a big race from there to stop the vampire at all costs.

This is a really enjoyable film to watch and a great twist to the franchise. Having never seen this film before I have become quite enchanted by it. The movie is directed by Terence Fisher who brought us the first movie. Christopher Lee turned down this movie and there are only a few mentions of Count Dracula throughout the whole movie, but this is the legit sequel to the Horror of Dracula.

The film has a great element of excitement and a few unintended giggles along the way. The cast is great with the mix beautiful female vampires ,old shrews and Hunt is very good as the vampire antagonist filling some very big shoes indeed. Cushing is legendary but that's just standard really.

  
Decent story, decent effects, decent stunts, good atmospheric music and this is also a well written and acted film. It's not essential to see the Horror of Dracula before viewing this but it is the done thing so I do suggest doing that first. Big thumbs up from Lost Entertainment. As a special Halloween treat we include the full movie at the bottom of this article for you to stream and enjoy free of charge.

HALLOWEEN 2013 COUNTDOWN: THE HORROR OF DRACULA

ILLUSTRATION BY KRISTIAN RODRIGUEZ

ARTICLE BY KRISTIAN RODRIGUEZ

I first saw this film when I was about 10 years old when the BBC were doing late night showings of all the classic Hammer Horror movies.

I have always been big into horror movies for my whole life, so when I was introduced to the world of Hammer it was a great part of my childhood. I would set the VCR to record these films shown way past my bed time and I would watch them the next day. I would watch them over and over again for many years to come.

This is the first outing for Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as Dr Van Helsing. This on screen rivalry/partnership would go on for decades to come and even crossed over into other films time went on.

The movie is based on the Bram Stoker book and tries to keep on that path. However due to there already being a Dracula movie from 1931 starring Bella Lugosi from Universal pictures they had to re-title this one to the Horror of Dracula instead of just Dracula in the US. This film also swaps around some of the characters and situations from the book as well.

No one can get mad about this one playing around with the details from the book, as not ONE Dracula movie EVER made has stayed true to the actual book by Bram Stoker.

If you know the story of Dracula then you know the story of this movie.. well in a way. The movie is about a young English man who goes to work as librarian for Count Dracula in his castle in Transylvania. While there, the man is bitten by a lady vampire who has been kept a prisoner for god knows how many years. The man (Johnathan Harker) knows that they are vampires and decides he is going to put a stop to this and drives a stake through the lady vampires chest. He has no such luck with Count Dracula and dies for his efforts.

The count then packs his coffin for London and this is where the real fun starts. He starts feeding on Johnathan Harker's fiancee (Lucy) and then starts terrorizing everyone apart from one man.. our fearless vampire hunter Dr Van Helsing played by Peter Cushing. The rest of the movie is about stopping count Dracula and lifting his evil vampire curse he is spreading.

This movie is a timeless classic and my favorite Dracula movie of all time. This movie takes us where the 1931 masterpiece simply wasn't allowed to. This movie gave us color and plenty of, it as well as lots of blood which was very evidently missing in Universal picture. The casting of Lee as count Dracula is maybe one of the greatest casting decisions ever in movie history.

Lee had the best on screen presence as Count Dracula. Standing in at 6"5 Christopher dwarfed other cast members which made him being able to carry away women with ease much more believable. Not just the size but the fact he is a great actor and the fact he has the perfect look makes him the measuring stick (in my opinion) when it comes to playing count Dracula on the big screen. Sorry Bella Lugosi! You were great as Dracula but Christopher Lee perfected the role.

Peter Cushing is the best (and only real person to nail the role) actor to ever play Dr Van Helsing the arch nemesis of Count Dracula. The partnership and chemistry between Cushing and Lee is something magic and something we may never see again in horror or cinema in general. Cushing had a great warmth to him, the kind of person who makes you feel safe and someone you can believe in. Many leading men have tried to slay the monsters and baddies of the years but most of the time the monster is more remembered than the leading guy who slayed him. With Peter Cushing you knew some how some way this bloke was going to get shit done and in glorious fashion. Cushing would later play villains here and there but he will be best remembered for being the guy who can put the boots to Count Dracula.

The Horror of Dracula really is a fun film to watch and considering today's standards the blood and guts are very tame. At the time however it was deemed too much and a lot was cut out of this movie. I recently heard a film institute in Japan found a few reels with over 36 minutes of cut footage of this movie. This has been added on blu ray as well I have been told. Dracula is the most portrayed character in cinema history and there are literally thousands of Dracula movies to choose from. If you are going to choose one then please choose this one. You won't regret it.

MOVIES: SHOCKWAVES

Shockwaves is a horror movie from 1977 starring Peter Cushing about mutant Nazis. I have been after this movie for a few years now and finally managed to grab a copy this week.

So a boat full of tourists gets shipwrecked on a remote island in the Florida region. The survivors go to a massive abandoned hotel for help where they find Peter Cushing's character who tells them where to find a boat and to fuck off.

Like most horror movies they do not take his advice and thats where all the trouble starts. Cushing then tells his uninvited guests how he is an ex SS commander who created a race of mutant nazi's which cannot be controlled or reasoned with. They were created to man submarine ships and tear apart any opponents with their bare hands.

The mutants however could not be controlled and the mutants along with their commander fled from the allies and are now taking refuge on this deserted island.

This movie is one of the coolest films I have seen recently and there has been a lot of films watched at the Lost Entertainment HQ in the past few weeks. Shockwaves is cool because it is the most serious nazi related horror film I have seen, whereas others like Dead Snow (click here for the review) have always gone in the slapstick tongue in cheek approach when dealing with this very sensitive subject.

Shockwaves is a very chilling film for its time and it has aged very well. The movies simple yet very effective synth soundtrack just slots in perfect also.

The makeup and special effects in this movie are pretty cool. The mutant nazis look awesome and the underwater sequences look really good and build a great atmosphere. If you are looking for buckets of gore this will disappoint you somewhat, as the deaths in this movie all come from drowning. Remember a scary movie doesn't have to be about buckets of blood. The Ringu and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre are testament  to this.

So the final verdict in this one is a thumbs up from me. Great story, decent performances, good soundtrack, great monsters and a thrill from start to finish.

MOVIES: DRACULA 1972 A.D

OK so I am a massive Hammer Horror fan. When I was ten years old BBC ran a Hammer Horror season and I was hooked on them from that day. There is not just one thing about Hammer Horror which really gets me going its lots of things. Its the casting, the amazing sets, the posters, the gorgeous women, the costumes and the all around chilling atmosphere these movies contain. 

Hammer Horror kinda remind me of the Carry On series in the way they use the same key cast members for each film, they are British made and the fact they used the same studios as well which was Pinewood. 

There are soo many Hammer Horror films I love and hopefully I will get around to reviewing more as Lost Entertainment goes on but today its Dracula 1972  AD which celebrates its 40th Birthday this year.

So the movie begins with an awesome battle between Van Helsing and Count Dracula on a moving horse carriage where it ends up in a crash and poor old count Drac gets impaled by a broken wheel. They both die and a shifty looking bloke removes Draculas ring and collects the ashes of his corpse into a test tube thing. Next at Van Helsings funeral the dodgy bloke looks on with a cheeky look on his face... the rascal! Then the camera pans up and this happens.

We then get the opening titles which apart from blaring out some funky seventies music straight out of a bad porn film we get shown planes, buses, fly overs and cranes as if to say "look how advanced we really are  its 1972 woo hoo". 

From there we are taken to a posh party full of hippies who are annoying the posh hosts by being too wild. In all fairness they are not doing anything wild and the hosts should be thankful it was this boring lot that showed up instead of some Hells Angels or something. The shifty bloke who grabbed the counts ashes is at the party? Its a hundred years later? He still looks the same? Its not explained how or why this has happened and it doesent through the course of the movie. He knocks a little expensive figurine over and leaves. I would alos like to note that band in this scene are so crap it makes them hilarious.  

After they get cleared off by the plod they are all gathered in a hip Chelsea coffee shop named the Cavern. Its here where "Johnny" (the bloke who can survive a hundred years without looking a day older than Peter Pan) suggests they should all do a satanic ritual or as he describes it "a date with the devil". After not much persuasion they all agree. I would also like to note that Caroline Munro from the Spy who loved me and Sinbad is one of the chicks at the table. She is so fucking hot!

So the group all end up going to a church to do the literal Hell raising but this isn't any church oh no but the church where Lawrence Van Helsing is buried. It turns out that one of the girls in the group is Jessica Van Helsing the great Granddaughter of the vampire slayer and what a coincidence today marks the 100th year anniversary of his death and Count Draculas demise. When Jessicas boyfriend Bob spots the tomb stone in the church yard he is furious and wants to hive Johnny right a old cockney slap. Johnny denies all knowledge and the ritual begins.

They all sit in a circle with a chalk pentagram on the floor as a recording of some dodgy drum beats is played on a tape in the background. Johnny is at the church altar demanding power from all the usual suspects from the world of devils, goblins, vampires and demons. He demands that Jessica join him as she has been chosen but Jessica doesent want to so Caroline Munro takes her place and lays on a table as Johnny cuts his wrists with a flick knife and mixes the blood in a goblet along with Draculas ashes. 

He then pours the whole lot over Munros tits and with that everyone (including the men) do a runner from the church leaving poor Munro alone with the gothic nut nut... great fucking mates them lot are!

Dracula rises from the ground outside and comes into the church and necks Munro to death (I would have banged her first but then I have to remind my self that this is Dracula 1972ad not Confessions of a Satanist). Johnny tells Dracula he saved him but Dracula puts his hand out with his ring still on it and says "it was my will" cool as fuck. I believe the smoke Dracula rose from may have been  skunk weed because he looks baked as fuck.

"I was gunna suck your blood but then I got high"

So the next day the group are back down the coffee shop calling Johnny all sorts of dreadful things when he shows up and tells them how it was all one big joke and goes far enough to show them how a blood capsule works but no ones convinced especially not the black girl who is played by the really shit actress Marsha Hunt (who has kids with Mick Jagger so I hear) who cant say Watford properly.  

Its around this point I believe that Peter Cushing return to the franchise this time as Jessicas grand father the ever so serious Dr Van Helsing Jr. I would also like to point out he has the coolest painting of Christopher Lees incarnation of Dracula in his study.

I want one of these paintings to go in my art gallery which will also feature Vigo from Ghostbusters 2 so you can stick your PIcasso paintings up your arse!

Mean while a kid with a West Ham Utd jumper on finds Munros corpse in the church yard and even though she is dead and covered with loads of rubble she still looks hot. I think I need mental help but then again so did Tony Soprano and he was GQ man of the year once!

The police show up and talk to Dr Van Helsing for ages about vampires then at end of the conversation are like oh yeah your grand daughter is involved can we have a word. After she has been shaken down by the fuzz Van Helsing asks her what Johnnys surname is and she reveals its Alucard.

Back at Johnnys flat he is smoking weed and getting it on with the black chick and then he ends up feeding her to Dracula but Dracula isnt pleased one bit. He wants Jessica Van Helsing not this bitch. Johnny demands Dracula give him the power and he will serve his wish.

Dracula gives him the power but what I dont understand the Johnny Alucard character. Is he the same guy from a hundred years ago? Its not explained. Anyway with his new found power Johnny decides to kill some woman who has nothing to do with anything doing her dry cleaning. You can tell its the 70s as this woman is smoking a fag in the dry cleaners. Back then you could smoke everywhere pubs, offices, Mcdonalds and baby wards probably.

Back at Van Helsings the old doctor is doing some brainy detective work which kinda looks like this

I couldn't get a screen grab so I improvised using paint.

I guess all those years of playing Sherlock Holmes and now Peter Cushing is now known as Brains! well done you solved a puzzle that really didn't need to be solved in a dimly lit study with a pen and paper. Mind you audiences where stupid back then so who cares.

Mean while Jessica goes back to the cavern with trusty old boyfriend Joe much to the really old lady in the hallway of her residence dismay.

But trusty old Joe is now with Johnny backwards Dracula and it was all a ploy so that they could take her to Dracula. Joe tries to eat her but Johnny stops him as she is not for them. While I am on the subject the cleavage shots in this movie so far have been fucking top notch!

With Jessica missing doctor Van Helsing runs around London aimlessly just so we can get shots of Peter Cushing running around busy streets to convey to us that he is actually looking for her just incase we don't believe him. Well his daft marathon hits a jack pot when one of the girls in the group stops him to give him Johnny backwards Dracula's address. She went there for kicks once and said it got weird what ever that means. Maybe he tried inserting some snooker balls up her anus while pouring blood all over her or something. He does have a snooker table you know! This character is just pure mystery isn't he! We don't know if he is a hundred years old but we do know one thing.. he likes vampires and snooker. 

When Johnny returns home he is greeted by Van Helsing who wants to know where his granddaughter is being held. Van Helsing then picks up what looks like a black dildo and asks Johnny what is it for? Johnny replies "a wedding you fool!". I have been to a few weddings in my time but all I can say is if even if this one wasn't a free bar I would still go just to see what significance a big black didlo has to do with anything at a wedding.

Johnny and Van Helsing have a cool battle in the flat as the daylight starts coming through and by reflecting a mirror in Johnny's face Van Helsing makes him retreat into the bathroom which conveniently has a glass ceiling and Johnny dies in the bath refusing to tell Van Helsing where Jessica is.

It doesn't matter that Johnny backwards Dracula never told him because he ends up finding her anyway in that same church from earlier. When Van Helsing gets there Jessica is under Draculas spell and cant wake up. 

Dracula and Van Helsing have one final showdown where the Count gets stabbed in the heart with Johnny's flick knife but Jessica who is still under the spell pulls it out to her grandfathers dismay. The pair carry on the battle in the church yard and Dracula trips and lands in an open grave full of strategically placed stakes which impale him. Van Helsing jams a spade in Dracula's back pushing him further down on the stakes finally killing him. Van Helsing and Jessica then leave the cemetery as the funky porn music rolls and so do the credits.

Dracula 1972 is no way the best of these movies but it is one of the most unique. They took the 19th century villain and brought him to a then modern London and did their best to tell a decent story of how it happened. There are a few plot holes but fuck it this movie is just for kicks really. If you want to watch a decent Dracula movie try the Horror of Dracula or Brides of Dracula in this series. The reason I am fond of this movie is because I saw it as a kid and I just think its jokes to be honest.

Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing are the two of the greatest on screen rivals not just in horror film history but film history it self. With Christopher Lee with his sheer size and satanically dark screen presence  and Peter Cushing the badass gentleman it was a match made in heaven (or in horrors case hell). The chemistry between the two goes unparalleled and even to this day which is 40 years later no one has been able to replace the duo and I don't think anyone ever will.