Dracula: Prince of Darkness

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dracula: Prince of Darkness
Directed by	Terence Fisher
Produced by	Anthony Nelson Keys
Written by	Story: Anthony Hinds Screenplay: Jimmy Sangster
Starring	Christopher Lee Barbara Shelley
Music by	James Bernard
Cinematography	Michael Reed
Editing by	Chris Barnes
Distributed by	Hammer Studios
Release date(s)	January 9, 1966 (UK)
Running time	90 min.
Language	English
Preceded by	Dracula (1958 film)
Followed by	Dracula Has Risen from the Grave
IMDb profile

Dracula: Prince of Darkness is a 1966 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer Studios.

Dracula's servant, Klove (Latham), uses the blood of victim Alan Kent (Tingwell) to resurrect the Count.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The film begins where the 1958 film Horror of Dracula, also directed by Fisher, left off. It stars Barbara Shelley, Francis Matthews, Suzan Farmer and Charles Tingwell as four travellers who stay as guests at Dracula's castle. Philip Latham plays servant Klove (whose character was resurrected by actor Patrick Troughton in the 1970 film Scars of Dracula) and Christopher Lee is literally resurrected to play Count Dracula. Scottish actor and Hammer stalwart Andrew Keir plays vampire-hunter Father Sandor. Thorley Walters also appears as Ludwig, an eccentric, bug-eating lunatic apparently based on the character of Renfield in Bram Stoker's original novel.

The film was photographed in Cinemascope by Michael Reed, designed by Bernard Robinson and scored by James Bernard.

Christopher Lee as Count Dracula at the film's icy climax.

The film is most striking for its vivid imagery, including the pseudo-Eucharistic ritual that resurrects Dracula, the staking of Barbara Shelley (in a controversial scene which some people believe has sexual overtones) and the Count's demise in the icy waters of his moat, a memorable sequence acted mainly by stuntman Eddie Powell.

[edit] Trivia

Filmed back to back with Rasputin, the Mad Monk, using many of the same sets and cast.
The script was novelized by John Burke as part of his The Second Hammer Horror Film Omnibus paperback in 1967.

[edit] External links

Hammer Dracula films
Dracula Dracula (1958) \| The Brides of Dracula (1960) \| Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) \| Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) \| Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) \| Scars of Dracula (1970) \| Dracula AD 1972 (1972) \| The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)