The Dracula Story, Take 25

Film: Dracula A.D. 1972
Format: DVD from Mokena Community Public Library through interlibrary loan on basement television.

There are a lot of basic stories that crop up on this blog over and over. It seems like there’s a Holocaust movie every year, for instance. Nothing shows up here more than Dracula, though, although there may be more zombie films overall. Dracula is probably the most frequently mentioned character, though, and that’s especially the case if you include Count Orlock as essentially the same character. With Dracula A.D. 1972 we are once again diving into the Dracula story, with the only real difference being the setting. If you have to have something to separate your Dracula movie from all of the rest, having cars and 1970s technology is at least a start.

After the original Dracula story where the Count goes ham on Mina Harker, all of the Dracula stories are essentially variations on a theme. Dracula, who was killed in the previous film (or in this case, simply killed in the past) is resurrected in one way or another. He hyper-fixates on a young woman, kills a few others to gain strength, makes a few lesser vampires to assist him, and generally speaking dies just as he is about to turn his obsession into his newest vampiric creation.

That summary works for Dracula A.D. 1972. We begin in 1872, where Dracula (Christopher Lee) is killed by Lawrence Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) with the very inventive method of staking him with a broken wagon wheel. Van Helsing dies of his wounds, and soon after, one of Dracula’s disciples (Christopher Neame) shows up to collect some important bits from the count and then buries him in a grave near Van Helsing’s in an old church graveyard.

Jump to the present and we’re going to spend time with a bunch of swinging hippie-types in London. While most of these people are ultimately kind of faceless, there are a few that are noteworthy. One of these is Jessica Van Helsing (Stephanie Beacham), great-granddaughter of Lawrence and granddaughter of occult expert Lorrimer Van Helsing (Peter Cushing). The other person most noteworthy in this group is Johnny Alucard (also played by Christopher Neame), who appears to have inherited the mantle of following Dracula.

Much of the first part of the film is about resurrecting Dracula, which happens when Johnny convinces all of his friends to hold a black mass in the no-longer-sanctified church where Dracula is buried. This brings back the count who takes this opportunity to make Jessica the object of his obsession. Honestly, it makes sense. This Dracula isn’t about finding his bride and living with her through the ceaseless ages, but about revenge on the entirety of the Van Helsing family.

So, what follows is a slow whittling down of Jessica’s friend group as Dracula and his new minion Johnny seek to bring Jessica under the count’s control. This would be the first step in his eventual revenge over the entire Van Helsing clan. It seems like this would be a very short revenge arc. Kill Jessica, kill Lorrimer, Miller time.

You can probably guess the rest of what happens throughout. Dracula mesmerizes some people, Van Helsing goes to the cops who naturally don’t believe him, and eventually Van Helsing proves correct on everything he says. Meanwhile, Jessica gets pulled further and further into the count’s clutches, in part because he makes his way through her friend group with impunity. Again, you’ve seen this before.

The idea of Dracula in a modern setting is fun and enduring. Someone so inured in old world sensibilities forced to suddenly deal with modern terminology and slang is a great way to do something at least in the direction of new. There’s not a lot here that is actually new, though. It’s a movie you’ve seen.

Why to watch Dracula A.D. 1972: It’s fun seeing Dracula in swinging Britain.
Why not to watch: Aside from the setting, there’s not much new here.