While Christopher Lee's Count Dracula is really nothing more than an extended cameo, he's very good once again in the direct version of Bram Stoker's story, focusing more on Jonathan Harker (a very handsome but dimwitted Fred Williams), Renfield (eerily attractive Klaus Kinski) and Van Helsing (a superb Herbert Lom) than the Count. still a major character, but more talked about than seen. Harker, filled with warnings of the evil castle he's locked in, sees a bat flying outside the window, and instantly opens it only to be attacked in the face. He then encounters Dracula's three wives, finds himself at the castle's window and manages to fall out, only to wake up back in London where Dracula has just arrived to take over the property that Harker has just purchased for him. How did he manage to get from the Carpathian Mountains in Eastern Europe and not only across the continent, but the English channel as well!
Lom, whose performance as Van Helsing Anthony Hopkins obviously emulated for the 1993 Francis Ford Coppola remake, plays him completely seriously with no buffoonery whatsoever. Kinski's dangerously sexy character is erotically attractive even with his disgusting bug eating habits, probably the only Renfield to stir up the libido with his mysterious mannerisms. Maria Rohm as Mina and Soledad Miranda as Lucy are simply just window dressing, but Miranda is seductive as she entices a child into the woods for her evil plans after being made a vampire herself. The sad shot of a young mother begging to get her child back from Dracula's Hungarian castle is frightening and sick simply through the insinuations of what has happened to that baby. It is that type of horrific action that makes this really frightening.
As good as the three male performances, Christopher Lee makes Dracula's supporting status even more mysterious because of the limited footage of his appearance. He's still as sexy as ever with his graying hair, dashing but evil, and with limited dialog (no accent whatsoever), that makes his character even scarier than his initial appearance as Dracula in 1958. Only Bela Lugosi's Count from the 1931 movie could claim a more mysterious, evil count with his slow speaking and spooky eyes and grasping hands. This version is beautiful artistically, and there are many moments that obviously inspired the later remake which is a modern classic in its own right. Classic Gothic horror can't get any better than this!
Lom, whose performance as Van Helsing Anthony Hopkins obviously emulated for the 1993 Francis Ford Coppola remake, plays him completely seriously with no buffoonery whatsoever. Kinski's dangerously sexy character is erotically attractive even with his disgusting bug eating habits, probably the only Renfield to stir up the libido with his mysterious mannerisms. Maria Rohm as Mina and Soledad Miranda as Lucy are simply just window dressing, but Miranda is seductive as she entices a child into the woods for her evil plans after being made a vampire herself. The sad shot of a young mother begging to get her child back from Dracula's Hungarian castle is frightening and sick simply through the insinuations of what has happened to that baby. It is that type of horrific action that makes this really frightening.
As good as the three male performances, Christopher Lee makes Dracula's supporting status even more mysterious because of the limited footage of his appearance. He's still as sexy as ever with his graying hair, dashing but evil, and with limited dialog (no accent whatsoever), that makes his character even scarier than his initial appearance as Dracula in 1958. Only Bela Lugosi's Count from the 1931 movie could claim a more mysterious, evil count with his slow speaking and spooky eyes and grasping hands. This version is beautiful artistically, and there are many moments that obviously inspired the later remake which is a modern classic in its own right. Classic Gothic horror can't get any better than this!