Director: Alan Gibson
Writer: Don Houghton
Stars: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Stephanie Beacham
Run Time: 1 Hour, 36 Minutes
Link: https://amzn.to/3l0TGGA
Synopsis
It’s 1872, and Dracula battles Van Helsing in Hyde Park, London. The carriage hits a tree; Van Helsing is thrown clear, but Dracula is impaled on a wagon wheel of all things and melts to dust. A young man rides up and steal’s Dracula’s ring and vial of his powdered remains. Van Helsing then dies. At Van Helsing’s funeral, the young man buries the powder just outside the cemetery.
One hundred years later, it’s now 1972. There’s a party going on with all the early 70s stereotypes in attendance. Johnny Alucard, the young man we saw in the past is here as well, and he doesn’t look any older. None of these people have been invited, so they take bets on how long until the police arrive. This excruciatingly-long scene includes a heavy focus on two musical numbers from a band that never went anywhere and whose name (Stoneground) doesn’t even ring any bells.
Johnny goes to a club and dares his friends to have a “Date with the devil” or “a bacchanal with Beelzebub,” and they think it sounds radical. They make their plans for midnight that night. We see that Johnny still has the ring and the powder.
Jess and Bob are planning to attend the black mass, but Jess is a little freaked out. Bob convinces her that “It’s just a giggle!” Bob mentions, Jess’s grandfather is an anthropologist who is an expert in such things. We see her grandfather Lorrimer Van Helsing, who looks exactly like the old Van Helsing; he’s a descendant.
Jessica Van Helsing and boyfriend Bob head over to the cemetery just before midnight. They look at her great-grandfather’s headstone. The black mass begins. Johnny seems to know what he’s doing as he calls on the demons and devils. Meanwhile, outside, Dracula rejuvenates in the grave outside where he planted the dust a hundred years ago.
Dracula is hungry after awakening, and he bites Laura, one of Jess’s friends and Johnny watches. They find her body the next morning and chalk it up to a cult murder. The next night, Johnny brings a girl to his house “for a bite,” only he’s not the one biting.
“She is not the one,” Dracula complains.
Inspector Murray of the police go to see old man Van Helsing and ask his opinion. They also question Jess, who didn’t know Laura was killed. That night, Van Helsing figures out that the name Alucard is Dracula spelled backwards.
Meanwhile, Johnny Alucard starts demanding immortality from Dracula, and Dracula actually gives in to his whining, biting him and giving him power. Johnny then goes out and feeds on a girl at the laundromat. Van Helsing and Murray discuss the murders, but Murray just won’t accept the idea of vampires. Van Helsing reminds Murray about killing a vampire with silver or clear running water.
Alucard and now-vampire-Bob kidnap Jess and take her to Dracula. Van Helsing finds another of Jess’s friends who knows where Alucard lives. Van Helsing confronts Alucard in his apartment and ends up dying in the shower– in clear, running water.
Van Helsing goes to the church where Dracula hangs out and waits for dark. He does set a few traps as he waits. Van Helsing stabs Dracula with a silver knife, but Jessica walks up and pulls the knife out; he’s already gotten to her. Instead, Van Helsing throws holy water in his face and drops him into a trap full of stakes. Dracula turns to dust once again, as the two Van Helsings walk home.
Commentary
This one usually gets slammed pretty hard by critics, but for the most part, it is actually pretty entertaining except for the party scene. The 70s soundtrack really stands out and does take away some of the seriousness of the story.
It’s a bit disconcerting seeing Peter Cushing in a modern office building wearing modern clothing. I haven’t seen him in very much that wasn’t some kind of historical period piece. Everyone’s performances are good; there’s not a lot new here. Christopher Lee still gets top billing, even though he only gets around five minutes of screen time, while Cushing features through most of the second half of the film.