DRACULA A.D. 1972 (1972)
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: PG
Duration: 96 Minutes
Audio: English DTS HD-MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Alan Gibson
Cast: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Christopher Neame, Caroline Munro, Stephanie Beacham, Michael Coles
Warner Archive hace cracked open the crypt of Hammer Horror and the first blood-sucking release is the groovy 70's update Dracula A.D. 1972! The film is set in modern 70's London but opens with a prologue set in 1872, it's a brief but action-packed piece of work with Count Dracula (Christopher Lee, The City of the Dead) and his arch nemesis Van Helsing (Peter Cushing, Corruption) dueling atop a speeding horse carriage through the woods. It crashes and the bloodsucker is impaled by the spoke of a broken carriage wheel, the dying Van Helsing manages to plunge the wheel further into the vamp's heart, watching him slow-dissolve into smoldering dust before succumbing to his own injuries.
A hundred years later in the then modern year of 1972 we find Dracula being resurrected by a descendant of one of Dracula's disciples, the tongue-in-cheekily named Johnny Alucard (Christopher Neame, D.O.A.). Brought back to the undead through an overwrought black magic ritual performed in a decrepit old church in the heart of London. It's a campy blood ritual starring Caroline Munro (Slaughter High) as the centerpiece.
With the vintage vamp is back in action drained bodies begin showing up around town, drawing not only the attention of Scotland Yard’s Inspector Murray (Michael Coles, Satanic Rites of Dracula) but also a descendant of the famous vampire hunter, Lorrimer Van Helsing (also played by Cushing 'natch). Dracula sets his sights on making Lawrence's hippy, fun-loving granddaughter Jessica (Stephanie Beacham, And Now The Screaming Starts), hoping to have his revenge on his do-gooder nemesis by making her his newest vampire bride!
Notably this was the first re-teaming of Peter Cushing's Van Helsing and Christopher Lee's vampire since Horror of Dracula (1958), a mod-world reunion that is certainly cheeky in places. I don't think it was made that way, but the swinging London scene has aged with humor, stuff like the Austin Powers series has probably forever tainted this era in that respect.
However, despite hating this movie as a kid, I sort of love it these days, from the wah-wah inflected grooviness of the score, to the fun performs from American hippy-rockers Stoneground, there's a lot of goofy things to love about it. Plus we have excellent turns from Lee and Cushing who are just fantastic. I will say that having Lee's bloodsucker confined to the church is a limiting thing, but he still manages a wonderful performance with his signature presence, as does Cushing who carries the film along.
Christopher Neame is pretty great as the wicked Johnny Aculard, I love the scene of him breaking some a Staffordshire porcelain figurine at an aristocratic party the hippies have crashed at the start of the film, and when he says "dig the music kids!" during the black magic ritual, stuff like that is why the film is regarded as campy, but I think it's more tongue-in-cheek than outright camp. Sadly Caroline Munro is here and gone, I do wish she had a more major role to play, but it is a memorable one, and Stephanie Beacham is damn decent as Van Helsing attractive blonde descendant, nicely filling the role and the prerequisite plunging neckline duties.
Highlights for me would be the carriage scene from the prologue, the deliciously overwrought black magic ritual, and pretty much anything happening inside the church. Despite this being set in the mod 70's the church scene have a that familiar Hammer Gothic atmosphere we all love so much. There's also a fun scene of Van Helsing batting Aculard that is well-done, but also a bit comical, with the vampire hunter warding off the newbie vamp the reflected light from a vanity mirror, causing him to accidentally falls into a shower where is killed by the sunbeams from a skylight. Dracula A.D. 1972 is a film that's been maligned by Hammer fans for years, myself included, but watching it with fresh eyes I think it's kind of an under appreciated gem of the Hammer canon, the humor and modern setting is an adjustment, but not an awful one in my opinion.
Audio/Video: Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) arrives on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive with a new 2K scan from an interpostive, the image is impeccable. Free of blemish and sporting a filmic fine grain veneer that brings out some lovely detail. The garish 70's colors looks well saturated, with the dated fashions and decor looking wonderful, with deep blacks and solid contrast levels. This a HD lovely presentation of this maligned late-era Hammer entry, the sort of spiffy upgrade that might make one reconsider their thoughts on the film.
Audio comes by way of English 2.0 DTS-HD MA Mono with optional English subtitles, it's crisp and clean, well-balanced. The fun but dated wah-wah score from Mike Vickers (At Earth's Core) sounds terrific here, as does the performance from 70's rockers Stoneground, including the awesome "Alligator Man" which always brings a smile to my face.
The single-disc release comes in a standard Blu-ray keepcase, the one-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original key art, an excerpt of the same artwork appears on the disc. The only extra on this release is an unrestored widescreen HD theatrical trailer for the film that will certainly make you appreciate the new scan. I do wish that WAC would spring for at least a new commentart track on their releases, there's a lot to be told about these Hammer classics, and they're deserving of a decent commentary track at the very minimum, but the new A/V presentation is luscious and much appreciated.
Special Features
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min) HD
I've come around on this film quite a bit, I loathed in in my youth, I thought the anti-Gothic mod-70's London setting was awful, but now I can appreciate it for how fun and lively it is. Cushing and Lee are top-notch, and there's actually quite a bit of Gothic flavor here for those looking for it, but there's also some 70's lunacy and dated lingo from th era, but it all adds up to a damn decent Hammer entry. Very pleased to see it get the lush HD presentation it deserves from Warner Archive.
