HAMMER'S SWINGING LONDON COMEBACK OF 'DRACULA A.D. 1972'

Peter Cushing scolds Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972 Rating: ****1/2

A year after Hammer's progressively-sexual Karstein Trilogy, thrusting the classic vampire-horror into the counter-culture sensibilities while remaining in their signature Victorian Era, they finally skipped to the present, built right into the DRACULA A. D. 1972 title...

And while Peter Cushing's college professor Van Helsing heir has several long bouts of exposition and two third-act vampire battles, Christopher Lee basically hangs around at the same gothic church where he was reawakened by a young British swinger, who's basically the main character here, or at least, technically speaking, the most important...

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972

In that, Christopher Meame becomes a kind of CLOCKWORK ORANGE-inspired sociopathic bad boy and, as shown in the Victorian-era prologue, he too is descended from the origin, gathering the same 1800-era rural ashes that brings Christopher Lee back to life in the hustle-bustle city-centered 1970's...

With slowburn bravado, Neame serves up his groovy/gorgeous lady-friends in what's a kind of proto body-count slasher starting with first-girl Caroline Munro, the most sensuously game during the initial reanimating seance... and whose one quick lustful post-bite expression sums up the bridge between Dracula's hypnotically-infatuated female-prey then (the 1800's) and now (the 20th century)...

Stephanie Beacham in Dracula A.D. 1972 with Christopher Meame and William Ellis

Also featuring black model Marsha A. Hunt and the most subtle, soft-spoken, sophisticated beauty in Janet Key, nicely grown-up from the childlike maid in the original Karstein's VAMPIRE LOVERS that first turned Hammer from atmospheric antique-horror into risque horror-exposition...

Yet even in modern times, there's an old-fashion kind of Scotland Yard politely-interrogating investigation where dialogue between Cushing and detective Michael Coles are as interesting as the young swingers partying in a nightclub before and after Dracula's sporadically lethal (no female victims transformations here) bloodletting...

Christopher Lee in Dracula A.D. 1972

Meanwhile, Peter Cushing has more screen-time than Christopher Lee, as does the vamp-climbing Christopher Neame, fitfully named Alucard... Dracula spelled backwards...

Unfortunately Neame's character, so up-front and viciously primed for a new generation of lady-slaying, comes to his end in a rushed manner: deliberately paving the way for Lee and Cushing's inevitable showdown, protecting the latter's lovely granddaughter Stephanie Beacham... balancing both strong-willed and vulnerable... and filmed by director Alan Gibson in the church/cemetery's gothic darkness contrasting to the otherwise neon-lit London scene...

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972

But what makes DRACULA A.D. 1972 work almost perfectly from beginning to end is that every scene underlines the tension-filled purpose of either remaining a vampire for longer (with every victim having their own importance no matter how much screen-time), or to stop the murderous aspect from continuing...

Overall making for an entirely underrated hunted/hunter masterpiece that brought Christopher Lee's legendary monster back to life — despite the fact he's more like a guest star in his very own comeback feature. 

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972

Caroline Munro in Dracula A.D. 1972

Caroline Munro in Dracula A.D. 1972

Christopher Lee in Dracula A.D. 1972

Caroline Munro in Dracula A.D. 1972

Janet Key in Dracula A.D. 1972 with Pip Miller

Janet Key in Dracula A.D. 1972 with Pip Miller

Stephanie Beacham with Pip Miller in Dracula A.D. 1972

From Dracula A.D. 1972

William Ellis and a cutie in Dracula A.D. 1972

Janet Key in Dracula A.D. 1972

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972 with Janet Key

Christopher Lee in Dracula A.D. 1972

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972

Christopher Lee in Dracula A.D. 1972

Caroline Munro in Dracula A.D. 1972

Peter Cushing in Dracula A.D. 1972 with Michael Coles

Peter Cushing in Dracula A.D. 1972

Michael Coles in Dracula A.D. 1972

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972 with Marsha A. Hunt

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972 with Marsha A. Hunt

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972 with Marsha A. Hunt

Hammer's Dracula A.D. 1972 with Marsha A. Hunt

Janet Key in Dracula A.D. 1972

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972

Stephanie Beacham and Christopher Lee in Dracula A.D. 1972

Stephanie Beacham in Dracula A.D. 1972

Stephanie Beacham in Dracula A.D. 1972

Stephanie Beacham in Dracula A.D. 1972

Stephanie Beacham and Christopher Lee in Dracula A.D. 1972

Stephanie Beacham in Dracula A.D. 1972

Stephanie Beacham in Dracula A.D. 1972

Stephanie Beacham in Dracula A.D. 1972

Stephanie Beacham in Dracula A.D. 1972

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972

From Hammer's Dracula A.D. 1972

Peter Cushing in Dracula A.D. 1972

Peter Cushing in Dracula A.D. 1972 with Michael Coles

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972

Christopher Neame and Janet Key in Dracula A.D. 1972

Christopher Neame and Janet Key in Dracula A.D. 1972 with Pip Miller

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972

Janet Key in Dracula A.D. 1972

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972

Marsha A. Hunt and Michael Kitchen in Dracula A.D. 1972

Christopher Neame in Dracula A.D. 1972

Stephanie Beacham and Peter Cushing in Dracula A.D. 1972