Dracula Has Risen from the Grave
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| Dracula Has Risen from the Grave | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Freddie Francis |
| Produced by | Anthony Nelson Keys |
| Written by | Anthony Hinds |
| Starring | Christopher Lee Rupert Davies Veronica Carlson Barbara Ewing Barry Andrews Ewan Hooper |
| Music by | James Bernard |
| Cinematography | Arthur Grant |
| Editing by | Spencer Reeve |
| Distributed by | Hammer Studios |
| Release date(s) | November 7, 1968 (UK) |
| Running time | 92 min. |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Dracula: Prince of Darkness |
| Followed by | Taste the Blood of Dracula |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave is a 1968 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis for Hammer Films. It stars Christopher Lee as the Count, with support from Rupert Davies, Veronica Carlson, Barry Andrews, Barbara Ewing, Ewan Hooper and Michael Ripper.
The world of the film is far darker and more ambiguous than the Christian-influenced world created by director Terence Fisher for the previous three films in the Dracula series.
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[edit] Plot summary
The film opens in a middle-European village still in the throes of Dracula's reign of terror (see Dracula: Prince of Darkness), where an altar boy discovers the body of a woman stuffed in the church's bell. She is another victim of Dracula, and the village - which Dracula's castle overlooks - is terrified.
A year after Dracula has been destroyed, a Monsignor (Davies) comes to the village on a routine visit, only to find the altar boy is now a mute. The villagers refuse to use the church because "the shadow of his castle touches it". And the Priest has apparently lost his faith. To bring to an end the villagers' fears that Dracula still lives, the Monsignor volunteers to go up to the Castle himself, and sanctify it. The Priest joins him, but stops halfway up the mountain and lets the Monsignor continue alone.
However, as the Monsignor exorcises the castle and attaches a large metal cross to its doors, a storm brews, and the Priest becomes scared. He tries to run back down the mountain, but falls and is knocked out, cutting his head on a rock. The blood trickles into a frozen stream, through a crack in the melting ice, and onto the lips of the preserved body of Count Dracula, which brings it back to life.
The Monsignor goes back to the village, believing that the Priest had already returned safely, and he assures the villagers that Dracula has been dealt with, and the castle sanctified to protect them from its evil. He then returns to his home city of Carlsbad.
Unbeknownst to the Monsignor, the Priest is now under the control of the resurrected Count. Furious that the cross has been erected, preventing him from returning to his castle, Dracula demands to know who is responsible. The Priest leads Dracula to Carlsbad, in pursuit of the Monsignor. There Dracula finds a new victim - the Monsignor's beautiful niece, Maria (Carlson). First, he bites and enslaves a tavern girl where Maria's boyfriend Paul (Matthews) works. She almost brings Maria under Dracula's power, despite her jealousy. However, Maria is rescued by at the last minute by someone looking for her. Dracula slakes her bloodlust on the tavern girl, killing her. The Priest destroys her. He also helps Dracula find Maria. He comes into her room at night, over the rooftops of Carlsbad. The scene where he bites her is intense, and ends with an off-screen bite while a close-up shows her hand pushing away a child's stuffed animal.
When the Monsignor figures out what is going on, he recruits Paul to help, despite their differences (Paul is an avowed atheist). Trying to protect Maria, the Monsignor is attacked by the Priest, and later dies. The Priest, struggling to break free of Dracula's control, tries to help Paul but fails.
In the end, Dracula brings Maria to his castle, where he orders her to remove the large metal cross. She does so, and it falls on the ground below, impaling itself in the dirt. In a fight with Paul for Maria, Dracula falls backfirst upon the cross. He dies and dissolves into dust, while Paul makes the sign of the cross.
[edit] Cast
- Christopher Lee (Count Dracula)
- Rupert Davies (Monsignor Ernest Muller)
- Veronica Carlson (Maria Muller)
- Barry Andrews (Paul)
- Barbara Ewing (Zena)
- Ewan Hooper (Priest)
- Michael Ripper (Max)
- John D. Collins (Student)
- George A. Cooper (Landlord)
[edit] Production
This was the first of the Hammer Dracula films to be shot at Elstree Studios in London.
The film was photographed by Arthur Grant using colored filters belonging to director Freddie Francis, also a cameraman by trade, who had used them when photographing The Innocents (1961). Whenever Dracula (or his castle) was in a scene, the edges of the frame were tinged a dark yellow-brown.
In Australia, this was the first of the Hammer Draculas to be passed by the censors, the previous films - Horror of Dracula (1958) and Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) - having been banned. The film was slightly trimmed and ran for a three-week season at Sydney's Capitol theatre in January 1970.
[edit] Goofs
Since the first Hammer Dracula film is set in 1885, and Dracula: Prince of Darkness ten years later (1895), this film is presumably set in 1896 (with the slaying of the woman found in the belfry taking place in 1895). But a coffin (apparently belonging to the same woman) is seen bearing a plaque with the date "1905".
[edit] External links
- Dracula Has Risen from the Grave at the Internet Movie Database
- Dracula Has Risen from the Grave at All Movie Guide
- Online Review with gallery
- Online Review
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)
