Dracula: Prince of Darkness

Original title: Dracula, Prince of Darkness

1966
Approved
1h 30m

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

11K

YOUR RATING

Christopher Lee in Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)

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Vampire Horror Horror

Ten years after his demise, Count Dracula is resurrected by his servant and preys on four unsuspecting English tourists who have taken shelter in his castle.Ten years after his demise, Count Dracula is resurrected by his servant and preys on four unsuspecting English tourists who have taken shelter in his castle.Ten years after his demise, Count Dracula is resurrected by his servant and preys on four unsuspecting English tourists who have taken shelter in his castle.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

11K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Alan
(as Charles Tingwell)

Thorley Walters

Ludwig

Philip Latham

Klove

Walter Brown

Brother Mark

George Woodbridge

Landlord

Jack Lambert

Brother Peter

Philip Ray

Priest

Joyce Hemson

Mother

John Maxim

Coach Driver

Peter Cushing

Doctor Van Helsing
(archive footage)
(uncredited)

Alistair Dick

Monk
(uncredited)

Lee Fenton

Monk
(uncredited)

George Holdcroft

Monk
(uncredited)

Director
- Terence Fisher
Writers
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
In the scene where Dracula is being "resurrected" from a coffin into which his ashes have been spread, from blood dripping down from a poor victim (provided by Klove) Dracula is made to "manifest himself" over a period of about a minute. This was achieved by overlapping "dissolves" of a series of twelve locked-down camera shots, involving first the ashes, then a skeleton, then some body-fat on the skeleton, et cetera, along with swirling mist, until we finally perceive the full form of Dracula. He doesn't appear fully dressed as is usually the case. The shot moves to outside the coffin and a bare arm reaches out. The vampire's clothes were seen in earlier scenes awaiting his return.

Goofs
At the beginning of the film, the dead girl being carried in the funeral procession is breathing heavily.

Quotes
Alan Kent: You forget about all of this in the morning, you'll see.
Helen Kent: There'll be no morning for us.

Alternate versions
The UK cinema version was cut by the BBFC with edits to blood flows during the resurrection scene, a closeup shot of Helen's staking, and a shortening of the seduction scene where Dracula pulls a hypnotized Diana towards his chest wound. Video releases featured the cut cinema print though all widescreen DVD releases feature the fully uncut version.

Connections
Edited from Horror of Dracula (1958)

User reviews128

Review

Featured review

In some respects as good as the original,all the Hammer clichés at their best

Dracula Prince Of Darkness is in many ways as good as the first of the Hammer Draculas. It isn't actually the first sequel they made- that being The Brides Of Dracula- but that did not have Dracula in it, it actually being another adventure for Peter Cushing's Van Helsing, the vampire hunter. This film is hardly a classic, but it's extremely effective in what it sets out to do.

Rather disappointingly, Dracula is not revived {in startlingly gory fashion}until half the film is over, and even after that only puts in brief appearances. Although this has been heavily criticised, in some ways it makes the film more effective ,as you don't always know when he is going to appear. He doesn't even speak ,just hisses. The leisurely first half is nonetheless full of creepy atmosphere, while the second half is pretty much all action. The scene where a writhing Barbara Shelley is held down and staked remains astonishingly effective, and only Dracula's icy demise seems a little unconvincing technically.

Of course the sexual element is hardly worth thinking about- prudish Shelley becomes'eroticised'as a vampire and than has to be killed, and why were the Hammer ladies always far more attractive in their vampiric form? Still, this film shows many of the Hammer elements at their best.