ScreeningNotes’s review published on Letterboxd:
My vampire weekend continues...
Grand Moff Tarkin and 90's-era-Alfred take on Saruman, what's not to love? Between Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee there's an abundance of joyfully camp scenery-chewing to go around, and (Horror of) Dracula really rides a great deal on its amazingly game cast.
The characters and the world is clearly Bram Stoker's, but everywhere small details have been changed. Jonathan Harker isn't visiting Count Dracula to sell him a new house, he's there as a hired librarian with a not-so-secret agenda of killing Dracula and ending his reign of terror. The story takes place in an alternate reality of the world Stoker created where everything is a bit less serious and more fun.
Dracula (Christopher Lee) is on the run after Mr. Harker unsuccessfully invades his home, and he inadvertantly draws the attention of expert vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing). What follows is a series of vampirizations and executions which come increasingly close to home for the doctor, and he struggles to save the town from the undead menace.
It's silly and fun and the Technicolor's always a joy to look at. Took me a while to adjust my expectations after Herzog's Nosferatu, but once I got there it was a great time.
