Dracula Has Risen from the Grave
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| Dracula Has Risen from the Grave | |
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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 |
| Music by | James Bernard |
| Cinematography | Arthur Grant |
| Editing by | Spencer Reeve |
| Distributed by | Hammer Studios |
| Release date(s) | November 7, 1968 |
| Running time | 92 min. |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Dracula: Prince of Darkness |
| Followed by | Taste the Blood of Dracula |
| Allmovie 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 Count Dracula, with support from Rupert Davies, Veronica Carlson, Barry Andrews, Barbara Ewing, Ewan Hooper and Michael Ripper.
The world of the film is arguably far darker and more ambiguous than the 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, the Monsignor goes up to the Castle himself to exorcise 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 gate, 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 Cannenberg.
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 Cannenberg, 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 punishes the tavern girl for her "failure" by biting and killing her. The Priest destroys her corpse. He also helps Dracula find Maria. He comes into her room at night, over the rooftops of Cannenberg. 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 china doll.
The Monsignor figures out what is going on and follows the fleeing Dracula, but is attacked by the Priest. In his weakened state, he recruits Paul to help, despite their differences (Paul is an atheist) before he dies. Paul also unwittingly enlists the help of the Priest, who at first seems to comply but, unable to break free from Dracula's influence attacks Paul as well. Paul however recovers in time and forces the Priest to lead him to Dracula's lair. Dracula is staked but because neither the atheist Paul nor the weak Priest pray over him, Dracula is able to free himself and manages to flee together with Mary, pursued by Paul and the Priest.
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, Dracula falls backfirst upon the cross and is impaled. He tries to free himself again but this time the Priest speaks the Lord's Prayer and Dracula dies and dissolves into dust. Paul, reunited with Maria, 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. Notably missing are the approach road, coach path and moat seen in front of Castle Dracula in 1958's Dracula and 1966's Dracula: Prince of Darkness. Those films were made at Bray Studios.
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 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. In the US, the film was rated G.
[edit] External links
- Dracula Has Risen from the Grave at the Internet Movie Database
- Dracula Has Risen from the Grave at Allmovie
- Dracula Has Risen from the Grave at Rotten Tomatoes
- Online Review with gallery
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