FAQ

A year has passed since the freezing of Dracula (Christopher Lee) under the ice in the river that flows past his castle. Because the villagers still fear even the shadow of the castle, Monsignor Ernst Mueller (Rupert Davies) and the village priest (Ewan Hooper) decide to exorcise the castle and prove to the villagers that the evil is gone. While the Monsignor seals the castle door with a large cross, the priest accidentally falls on a rock and hits his head, his blood flowing onto the ice under which Dracula is encased, resurrecting him. Angered by Mueller's desecration of his castle, Dracula vows revenge on both Mueller and his niece Maria (Veronica Carlson).

Dracula Has Risen from the Grave is the fourth movie in Hammer Horror's Dracula series, preceded by (1958), The Brides of Dracula (1960) (1960), and Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) (1966) and followed by Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) (1970), Scars of Dracula (1970) (1970), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) (1972), and The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) (1973). All of Hammer's Dracula movies are based on the character created by Irish novelist Bram Stoker in his 1897 novel Dracula. The screenplay for Dracula: Prince of Darkness was written by British screenwriter Anthony Hinds.

Dracula. That scene is a prologue, taking place a year before the rest of the movie, during the time that Dracula was active during Dracula: Prince of Darkness. The Monsignor says as much himself as he's driving his cart toward Carlsbad. "A year has passed since Dracula, perpetrator of these obscene evils, was destroyed." And then again at the inn, he says to the village priest, "I know that your church was once vilely desecrated, but the perpetrator of that ghastly deed was destroyed some 12 months ago. Was he not sent to his doom in the waters of your mountain and was he not, therefore, destroyed forever?"

Viewers' general consensus is that he was invited. Maria sees him outside her window, goes towards him slightly, then starts walking backwards towards the bed while opening her outer-nightgown to reveal her neck: a non-verbal cue.

Now that his revenge is "complete", Dracula abducts Maria and takes her to his castle. He forces her to remove the cross from the door. Meanwhile, Paul follows on horseback, arriving just as Maria tosses the cross over the cliff. Dracula tries to toss Paul over the cliff, too, but Dracula himself falls, impaling himself on the cross. Paul and Maria embrace. The priest, apparently released from his tie to Dracula, recites the Pater Noster. In the final scene, Paul looks down to see that the Dracula' body has all but disappeared, and he makes the sign of the cross.