Dracula A.D. 1972

"The Count is back, with an eye for London's hotpants . . . and a taste for everything"

1972 1h 36m EN

😐

6.0

MID

★6.0TMDB · 202

Horror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Set in London in the early 1970's, supposedly for teen thrills, Johnny organises a black magic ceremony in a desolate churchyard. The culmination of the ritual, however, is the rejuvenation of Dracula from shrivelled remains. Johnny, Dracula' s disciple, lures victims to the deserted graveyard for his master's pleasure and one of the victims delivered is Jessica Van Helsing. Descended from the Van Helsing line of vampire hunters her grandfather, equipped with all the devices to snare and destroy the Count, confronts his arch enemy in the age-old battle between good and evil.

“The Count is back, with an eye for London's hotpants . . . and a taste for everything”

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Cast

Christopher Lee
Count Dracula
Peter Cushing
Professor Van Helsing
Stephanie Beacham
Jessica Van Helsing
Christopher Neame
Johnny Alucard
Michael Coles
Inspector
Marsha Hunt
Gaynor
Caroline Munro
Laura Bellows
Janet Key
Anna

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Alan Gibson
Writers: Don Houghton
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

54 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Dracula (Hammer) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Alan Gibson, shot by Dick Bush. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Michael Vickers. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor James Needs shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and Stephanie Beacham carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The Count is back, with an eye for London's hotpants . . . and a taste for everything".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0068505 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Alan Gibson directs. Dick Bush behind the camera. Michael Vickers scores. James Needs cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

154 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Part of the "Dracula (Hammer) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
3Directed by Alan Gibson, shot by Dick Bush. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Michael Vickers. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor James Needs shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and Stephanie Beacham carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The Count is back, with an eye for London's hotpants . . . and a taste for everything".
8IMDB entry: tt0068505 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 10 themes, including "london, england", "police", "vampire", "exploitation".

The technical file

Cinematography: Dick Bush
Original score: Michael Vickers
Editing: James Needs
Production design: Don Mingaye
Makeup / hair: Jill Carpenter
Runtime: 96 min · 1h 36m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)

Part of

Dracula (Hammer) Collection

A Hammer Films Productions horror film series inspired by Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.

Also by

Alan Gibson

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

talisencrw2016-09-28
★ 8/10
Yes, I know I'm giving this WAY TOO MANY marks, but, hey, I love all of the clashes between Sir Christopher Lee's 'Count Dracula' and Sir Peter Cushing's 'Van Helsing' (perhaps the greatest characterizations of those two characters, over a series of films, in cinema), and the then-contemporary (now almost 45 years ago!) update certainly is intriguing. So sue me.
John Chard2017-09-03
★ 4/10
A misjudged mess. Good grief! Hammer Horror Films were very much in a flux come 1972, so in a bold (yet ultimately ill conceived) attempt to move with the times and grasp a new audience, they turned to old faithful to resurrect their hopes - Count Dracula. Pic starts with an exciting prologue in 1872, where we see Dracula (Christopher Lee) and Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) battling to the death. We witness Drac's ashes buried near to the grave of Helsing, and then it's fast forward to 1972... It must have seemed like a good idea at the time - letting loose one of the most iconic monsters in movie history in contemporary London - but it never works, lacking horror vibrancy and very much coming off as a pastiche of former glory. A rather excellent resurrection section of film aside, pic is just too quirky and kitsch for its own good, more laughable than anything remotely scary. Other major problems hurt the possibility of enjoying it on some sort of parodic level. Dracula never actually does much, confined to a small location (again!), so not really tearing up contemporary London as it happens, while the 1972 "youths" who form the core of the narrative are actually out of date themselves! Something further compounded by the quite dreadful musical score, which should have been confined in a locked safe a decade earlier. Some of the more notable Hammer touches try to battle there way through the murk, but it's a losing battle, the company's visual identity lost amongst a daft script and cartoonish direction. It has fans, and viewing it now some decades later one can at least embrace it with a modicum of endearment, but it's a poor pic and signals the start of a sad era for a great production company. 4/10