WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Dracula A.D. 1972 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:10.400 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:16.239 Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb. 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:19.040 And this is Joe McCormick. And today on Weird House 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:21.880 Cinema we're going to be talking about the Oh. I 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:24.200 usually say the year, but now I'm not so sure. 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:26.800 Was it actually released in nineteen seventy two? 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:29.040 Yes it was, And I want to stress Joe that 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:32.600 it was released nineteen seventy two of the common era. 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:38.680 Okay, not nineteen seventy two BCE. Right, this is Dracula 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:43.239 AD nineteen seventy two, the Hammer horror movie starring Christopher 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:44.519 Lee and Peter Cushing. 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:48.440 That's right. So last week we not only did a 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:51.479 Frankenstein movie, we did one of the best known and 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.640 most beloved of all Frankenstein movies, nineteen thirty five is 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:57.840 Bride of Frankenstein. And to follow that up, I just 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:00.360 I have been feeling weeks in advance. It's like we 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:03.520 would need to do a Dracula movie after that. But 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:07.360 which one? Right, There's so many Dracula films to choose from. 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:11.520 We've been talking about doing nineteen thirty one's Dracula or 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:14.280 the Mexican Dracula film that came out the same year. 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:17.920 Those I think are both fine choices. But I found 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:20.840 I was craving not just a drac movie, but a 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:24.920 weird spin on Dracula, which brings us back to the 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:29.759 world of late franchise ingenuity, which is something I always enjoy. 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:32.680 You know that point in a film franchise where people realize, 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:34.959 all right, we've done the same thing over and over again. 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:37.119 We need to go in a new direction. We need 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:38.959 to spice it up. What can we do? 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:44.800 Dracula goes West or Dracula in Space that's actually that's 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:46.840 a real movie, Dracula three thousand. 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:49.760 Yeah, yeah, these are all valid choices. Dracula and the 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:51.760 Old West has also been done. I just love it 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:54.720 when a franchise gets maybe a little desperate and starts 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:57.440 taking some risks. And that's where we are with the 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:03.040 seventh film. In Hammer Horror Dracula series kicked it off 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:06.560 with fifty eight Stracula the nineteen sixties, The Brides of Dracula, 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:10.200 then Dracula Prince of Darkness in sixty six, then Dracula 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.600 Has Risen from the Grave in sixty eight, then Taste 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:16.600 the Blood of Dracula in seventy well, and then we 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:19.239 have Scars of Dracula I think that's the same year. 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:23.079 And then we get to Dracula AD nineteen seventy two, 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:27.320 which had the fabulous working title of Dracula Today. 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:30.120 It sounds almost like the name of a publication, like 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:32.840 it's a magazine for the modern Dracula connoisseur. 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:35.440 Yeah, alright. I mentioned it to my wife and she's like, 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:37.560 it sounds like a morning show, like Dracula hosts the 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:40.079 morning show. It's Dracula Today, and he's got his hot 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:45.520 mug of blood. So yeah, I think it's so at 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:47.960 this point in the film franchise, Yeah, we're definitely in 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:50.320 that experimental mode and it would stay that way for 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:53.440 the duration. The film to follow this up was seventy 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:56.720 three is The Satanic Rites of Dracula, which I have 0:02:56.840 --> 0:02:59.120 not seen, but I've definitely flagged it because it's my 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:01.640 understanding that it's sort of a Dracula spy movie. 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:04.520 Yes, I have seen this one. I've mentioned this on 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:10.160 the show before, but this was an especially hilarious movie 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:14.400 viewing experience because I watched it with early YouTube auto 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:18.440 generated subtitles with a group of friends, and the subtitles 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.560 were all wrong. There was one point where somebody I 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.680 don't remember what the actual line in the movie was, 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:31.160 but the subtitle took it for the boat carrying general freeballs. 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:36.480 General freebops. Okay, I don't think he's established in this film, 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:38.760 though some of the characters from this film will carry 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:39.880 on into the next one. 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:43.520 There's also a line that the subtitles interpreted as Peter 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:46.720 Cushing or a Peter Cushing type guy answering a telephone 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:49.880 and saying saw it on Twitter, and I was shocked. 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:54.440 All right. So we've definitely flagged that one for later. 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:58.920 The final Dracula movie from Hammer Pictures was actually a 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:02.720 co production with Shaw Brothers. It is nineteen seventy four, 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.640 is the Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires and East 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:09.280 Meets West Vampires film. This one's been on the list 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:12.360 for a long time. I haven't seen it yet, but 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:15.200 I mean, how can you resist such a mashup? 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:18.240 How could it go wrong? I've got to see that one. 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:21.680 So yeah. Today's movie, Dracula AD nineteen seventy two, takes 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:25.920 the Dracula franchise into modern times in a way. It's 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:28.960 kind of a predecessor to nineteen seventy nine's Time after Time, 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:31.000 which we previously talked about in the show. 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:34.120 Oh yeah, I can see that. I mean so in 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:37.720 that episode we came up with a taxonomy of different 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:42.200 kinds of time travel movies. This isn't exactly a time 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:46.799 travel movie because nobody actually travels, there is no time machine, 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.919 nobody leaves the time they're naturally in. But it is 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:54.240 a generation spanning movie where the vampire is slain in 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:57.760 one era and resurrected in another. So you might expect 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.520 there to be some I don't know so kind of 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:03.679 a fish out of time elements like we talked about 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.760 in that episode where the character from the past is 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:09.960 forced to deal with how things have changed in the 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:13.080 modern world. I must say, none of that. There's nothing, 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.640 nothing like that at all. Yeah. 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.600 And I've seen some reviewers who come more recent reviewers 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:20.520 who've commented on that, like saying, why is there not 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:22.640 like a fish out of water, a fish out of 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:26.680 time plot element to this? And I'm part of my 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:28.600 thinking on that, I'm thinking, Okay, well, you don't want 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:33.480 to make Dracula look foolish. This film takes Dracula's status seriously, 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:37.120 and Dracula remains like a severe threat. He is just 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:40.800 hunger and evil. But on the other hand, as we've 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:43.160 seen in other films, it can be done. You can 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:45.760 do the Fish out of Time at least a little 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:48.640 bit and have the character that is engaging and it 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:53.279 still be fearsome. The example that comes to mind, just 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:55.680 off the top of my head would be The Terminator. 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:58.440 It's not much of a Fish out of Time, but 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:00.400 there is that one funny moment where he tries to 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:02.760 go in and buy a plasma rifle from Dick Miller. 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:06.000 Yeah, yeah, just what you see pal. 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:08.640 Yeah, And that's a funny moment, but it doesn't make 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:12.240 the Terminator less terrifying in that film. So there's some 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:14.720 sort of balance that would have been possible with Dracula 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:18.040 going out at night and feeding on hippies. But Dracula 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:19.880 just doesn't get out in this movie and do that 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:20.400 sort of thing. 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:23.760 That's exactly the issue. So the movie is trying to 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.640 be a it's trying to be conceptually Fish out of Time. 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.400 It's trying to say, okay, we have this monster from 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:34.600 a different era. You know, he came to London in 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:37.840 this movie. In the eighteen seventies and suddenly he's here 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:40.960 in the nineteen seventies, and whoa, it's a crazy context. 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:44.200 There are all these hippies and cars everywhere. This is 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:47.359 not what we expect to see surrounding Dracula. But Dracula 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:50.839 is never like, he never meets any of that stuff 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:53.559 in his resurrected form. He just hangs out in a church. 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:56.599 So I don't think he ever even sees any of 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:58.520 the signs of the modern world. 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:03.359 Right right, He's just ordering like takeout delivery essentially the 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:05.279 whole time. He doesn't get out and see that world. 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:07.840 You know, whether he'd be phased by the changes in 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:10.560 the world, who can say. I mean, maybe maybe Dracula 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:12.920 just sees blood at the end of the day and 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:15.920 so it doesn't matter. He's like, that's it doesn't it 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:18.200 doesn't matter at all. Just bring me the blood. But 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:19.840 maybe you could have had some neat moments. 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:23.200 The Dracula in this movie does not seem very impressed 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:27.400 or even very reactive to anything around him. He you know, 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:31.040 there's the part where his lackey raises him from the 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:33.720 dead and says, master, I've brought you back, and he 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:38.200 just says it was my will. He walks past him, 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:41.640 So I don't know. I kind of think that that 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:45.320 aloofness and high handedness might come through as well if 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.440 he were forced to, you know, be around automobiles or 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:50.320 something and be like, you wouldn't even notice them. He 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:51.240 just walked past him. 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:54.760 Yeah, it would have been interesting to see how they 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:58.600 would have handled it. Now, one thing I want to 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:01.280 mention about this this particular the movie is with its 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:06.400 elements of like hippies and groovy London counterculture to the 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:10.559 limited extent that it is explored. As I was digging 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:12.280 on this one, I was like, oh, man, I wonder 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:16.080 if this one is Electric Wizard certified, because the themes 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:18.600 just seem to fit too perfectly for this to not 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:21.360 be the case, And so I looked it up. I 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:24.080 grabbed the book Come My Fanatics, A Journey into the 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:26.280 World of Electric Wizard by Dan Franklin, which came out 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:29.800 earlier this year, and it basically is just filled with 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:34.120 various movies references and movie mentions that line up with 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.720 their work, and it is in fact cited as an influence. 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:40.760 Dracula eighty nineteen seventy two is cited as an influence 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:43.640 on the excellent two thousand and seven album which cult today. 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:46.440 I know the Wizard and I can see this movie 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:49.680 being right up their alley. They love some witch Finders 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:52.120 and some hammer Horror and all that good stuff. 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:55.840 Yeah, I mean satanic rites of Drugula obvious. Obviously there's 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.800 a connection there. The title of track on the album 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:01.480 which cult today, it's one of Dracula today. And then 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:05.360 they also have that Torquamada seventy one track which also 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:08.560 has sort of like similarities to the title here. So yeah, 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.040 I can see this one as having been a strong 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:13.720 influence now that it's been pointed out to me. 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:16.240 Now here's a question. This is a convention. I can 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:20.480 think of several examples of movies like this where it's 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:24.320 Dracula and then just the number of years. So there's 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:29.960 Dracula nineteen seventy two, Dracula two thousand, and Dracula three thousand, 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:32.280 which is the one in space with Casper van Deen. 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:34.480 Is that one in the year three thousand? 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:37.800 I guess it's supposed to be. That one's really really 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:41.600 not good like z Grade, though it does make one 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:44.320 choice that I really like, which is it sets it 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:46.240 in the future. So they're on like a space ship. 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:50.400 I think Casper Vanden's character is Captain von Helsing of 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:54.640 the USS whatever it is, maybe the Demoter, I don't know, 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:58.040 but the like they come across Dracula in a Darrylic spaceship. 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:00.400 But then when they wake him up, is he like 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:03.200 a spacey Dracula. Is he wearing kind of a spooky 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:06.319 space suit. No, he's just dressed in like a Halloween 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:09.040 store Dracula costume, with like the cape and the high 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:10.240 collar and the ruffles. 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:13.600 You know. I doubt they pulled it off and made 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:17.040 it work, but on paper, I respect the choice. I 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:20.560 do like it when Dracula is like powerful in spite 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:24.199 of the tropiness of the way he is dressed. And 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:26.040 I think that an example that can be found in 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:30.360 this movie because Christopher Lee, again his Dracula, maybe doesn't 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:31.959 have as much to do, doesn't get to do as 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:35.480 much killing and exploring as we would like, but it 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:38.840 is still a strong screen presence. It is still like 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:40.880 a terrifying vision of Dracula. 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:44.400 Yeah. I think Christopher Lee is almost always pretty strong. 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:46.679 I think he's good in the moments he has, though 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:50.200 I do think the movie under uses him. We kind 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:52.880 of don't get enough Christopher Lee, and we don't get 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:55.640 enough of several of the movie's big selling points. 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:58.440 That's true, that's true. Oh but come back to what 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:02.280 you were saying. Yeah, Dracula said. But it was also 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:06.280 released as Dracula's seventy three in France and Spain as 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:08.760 it came out in seventy three, so they had upgrade 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:11.360 the title. Nobody wants last year's Dracula. I mean, come on, 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:15.680 but it's worth looking up the French poster for Dracula 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:19.160 seventy three because it's absolutely stunning. It's like, I don't 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:20.960 even know how to explain it. It's got this weird 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:23.560 kind of I don't know, almost kind of like our 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:27.520 deco looking font. And then Dracula's head is like this 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:34.480 psychedelic floating visage in the sky, gazing hungrily at bikini women. 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:37.400 It really doesn't look like Christopher Lee. It's more like 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:42.880 a floating monster mask that is bleeding colors into the stratosphere. 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:48.120 Yes, so look that up. It's good. Now. I want 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:52.439 to stress that this movie is not everyone's favorite. Roger 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:56.880 Ebert only gave it one star, single star. Michael Weldon 0:11:57.120 --> 0:12:00.720 of Psychotronic Film Guide called this one's time quote a 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:04.840 big mistake. And I even touch base with Hammer fan 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:07.800 and former producer of the show Seth Nichols Johnson, who 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:10.960 again big fan of a lot of Hammer films. He 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:12.960 says this is not one of his favorites. He likes it, 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:14.199 but is not one of his favorites. 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:17.280 Fair enough. I think it'll make for a good discussion 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:19.360 on the show, But I say it's not one of 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:22.080 the best Hammer Horror Draculas. I think Horror of Dracula 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:22.760 is much better. 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:25.640 No, No, I think to enjoy this film, you've got 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:29.240 to be on board for again late franchise innovation, for 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:35.760 some sort of you know, risky if not completely realized, 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:40.120 dream of where Dracula could take you. And I guess 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:42.559 also the further away we are from it in time, 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:47.040 the more it has been allowed to age, because I 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:49.000 know a lot of these commentators were talking about when 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:51.880 it first came out. Weldon criticized it as being already 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:56.040 dated when it hit the screen, But we've had decades 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:58.480 for this film to mature, and now we can appreciate 0:12:58.559 --> 0:12:59.760 it for what it is. 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:02.920 I suspect people might have found the hippie caricatures more 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:07.880 grating in the seventies. I find them delightfully amusing. 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:11.240 Now, yeah, yeah, I think that could be part of it. 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:15.200 All right, elevator pitch for this one. I would say 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:18.280 these hippies are such a drain on society. Of course, 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:19.800 they resurrected Dracula. 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:23.920 It's the dope, it's the Devil music, it's the Dracula rites. 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:26.800 That's right, my other one that came up with his parents. 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:29.679 Be aware of these warning signs that your twenty five 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:33.320 year old teenager may be involved with drugs, sex, black masses, 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.600 rock music, and Dracula resurrection. 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:38.880 We do have several parenting scenes where Peter Cushing is 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:43.720 trying to exert a positive influence on his granddaughter Jessica. 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:46.720 You know, he's trying to figure out, like, hey, are 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:49.360 her friends on the level, but it just doesn't go anywhere. 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:54.360 No, all right, let's listen to some trailer audio. 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:04.520 Yesterday, Draculife was the most fearsome being the screen has 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:14.760 ever seen. Today tonight you you. 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:28.800 You could be Dracula's next victim. 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:33.360 Something new yet as old as time. Come on, Johnny, 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:40.880 a date with the Devil. Are you ready? He's ready? 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:46.200 He's waiting to freak you out right out of this world. 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:50.920 Night September eighteenth, eighteen seventy two, one hundred years ago 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:59.360 to the day. 0:14:57.480 --> 0:14:58.880 You witnesses. 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:03.360 You must swear before the name of the devil to 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:04.600 keep it secret. 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:06.440 Who knows about vampires? 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:07.800 For God's sake, my. 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:12.480 Grandfather died fat, most terrible us go. 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:13.800 To them out of altar. 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:21.480 The year is nineteen seventy two, a leap year in horror, 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:37.960 a vintage year for vampires. Come the time for the 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:40.520 masters of horror to meet again in. 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:46.120 The twentieth century. 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:51.240 Come to me, Condracula. 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:56.400 All right. Well, if at this point you would like 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.920 to go watch Dracula eighty nineteen seventy two for yourself, 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:02.400 well you're in luck because this one was released through 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:06.120 Warner Brothers, so it's widely available. It's even currently available 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:08.160 in the States, at least on Max. Looks like they 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:11.440 have a number of Hammer horror flicks in there, so yeah, 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:14.200 go crazy. You can also get it on basically any 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:16.560 physical or digital format you desire. 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:27.040 All right, let's do those connections. 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:30.040 All right. The director is Alan Gibson, who lived nineteen 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:33.600 thirty eight through nineteen eighty seven, Canadian director who worked 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:35.680 a lot in the UK, with TV work going back 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:37.640 to the mid sixties, but it's his horror work that 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:41.920 most remember him for today. His credits include nineteen seventies 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:44.800 Goodbye Jim and I, which I believe is some sort 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:48.920 of scary twin movie this film, of course, and its 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:52.120 follow up nineteen seventy three is The Satanic Rights of Dracula. 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:55.160 He also continued to work in TV and directed episodes 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:58.600 of the anthology series thriller Tales of the Unexpected and 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:01.760 Hammer House of Horror. In fact, one of the Hammer 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:05.040 House of Horror episodes he directed was The Silent Scream, 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:09.040 starring Peter Cushing, but also a young Brian Cox, who 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:10.560 was actually I think we did the Math. He would 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:12.520 have been like thirty four at the time. 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:16.800 Wow, it's hard to understand that I'm looking at Brian 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:18.760 Cox younger than I am now. 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:22.840 Yeah, yeah, he came out with I mean, Brian Cox 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:25.280 has always made a career of you know, playing at 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:31.800 least you know, heavies and formidable personalities. Formidable personalities, yeah, 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:35.400 not so much, you know, leading man type stuff. So yeah, 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:37.840 he's one of those actors who, perhaps even early on, 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:40.399 always looked like he was in his late forties at least. 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:43.359 But great actor. I haven't seen the episode, but I'm 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:44.360 might have to seek it out. 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:46.639 And you said it's also got Peter Cushing. 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:50.159 Yeah, yeah, Peter Cushing. You know, it's just he was 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:53.000 he was on speed dial for Himmer. They needed him 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:55.240 for something. He's like, yeah, is it a movie? Fine? 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:58.280 There TV show, Great, I need a flight to China. Great, 0:17:58.320 --> 0:17:59.040 Let's make it work. 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:00.600 It's nice to have steady work. 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:04.399 Yes, all right. The screenwriter for this one is Don Hoten, 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:07.960 who lived nineteen thirty through nineteen ninety one, British television 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:12.159 screenwriter and producer whose writing credits include thirteen episodes of 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:15.520 Doctor Who from nineteen seventy, The Satanic Rites of Dracula, 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:19.440 the Seven Golden Vampires movie, and also another show, Brothers 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:23.679 Hammer co production from seventy four, an action picture titled Shatter. 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:27.000 I believe Peter Cushing is in that one as well. Okay? 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:29.320 Is it about a man who has the power to shatter? 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:33.240 It looks like it's kind of like crime or act 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:36.320 crime action, maybe spy. I'm not sure. You know, it's 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:40.119 one of those non horror Hammer films that perhaps gets 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:44.280 re explored less in the modern era. I see, all right, Well, 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:47.280 who's playing the title character of Count Dracula. Well, of 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:50.080 course it's Christopher Lee, who lived nineteen twenty two through 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:52.480 twenty fifteen. We've talked about Lee before on the show, 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:54.920 as he's popped up in numerous films we've discussed already 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:57.200 and is just going to keep popping up because he's 0:18:57.240 --> 0:19:00.560 an icon of horror. But here he is in one 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:04.280 of his most iconic roles, the one that influenced his 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:07.640 casting and presentation in late career hits like the Star 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:11.080 Wars prequels like Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:14.520 He was, I think, rather famously tired of playing Dracula 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:17.080 at this point in his career, or at least tired 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:20.040 of playing Dracula the hammer away. I'm to understand the 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:23.199 nineteen seventy Jess Franco picture Count Dracula was more in 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:25.080 line with what he wanted to do with the character 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:29.080 at that point in his career. But still, again, it's 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:31.720 a great screen presence, and one can only imagine that 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:34.159 he enjoyed working once more with his friend and a 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:37.080 long time co star of twenty two films, Peter Cushing. 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:39.359 What is his Do you know what his take in 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:41.919 the Franco count Dracula is. How's it different? 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:45.120 I haven't seen it in its entirety yet, it's been 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:48.439 It was actually a film I was considering for this 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:51.200 month on Weird House because it's supposed to be, first 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:54.240 of all, not as sleazy as other just Franco films, 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.480 like it's a little more mainstream, has a great cast, 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:01.880 you have like Kloskinski playing Renfield in it. But it's 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:04.520 supposed to be more of like a sympathetic tragic Dracula. 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:07.719 And I'm to understand it's the first Dracula film in 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:11.840 which we initially meet an elderly Dracula who is then 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:14.080 made young again through the consumption of blood. 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:16.679 Oh okay, so this has many things in common with 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:20.040 what would later happen in Bram Stoker's Dracula, directed by Coppola, 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:22.680 which we were just talking about in our Core episodes 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:26.000 earlier this week. Yeah. Yeah, that has the at least 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:30.280 partially sympathetic Dracula. Adds in a love story for Dracula, 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:33.000 which I want to emphasize is not in the book. 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:37.439 Dracula is not in love. He does not romance in 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:39.800 the book. He is just a demon and he's just bad. 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:43.119 And that also has a Dracula who when Jonathan Harker 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:46.000 first meets him in Transylvania, he looks very old and decrepit, 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:48.560 but by the time he reaches London he is young 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:51.000 and rejuvenated and old many So. 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:54.119 Yeah, the Dracula that we get in Dracula eighty seventy 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:57.840 two is certainly the demonic Dracula. In fact, they call 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:01.520 him the demon vampire in the pro to the picture. 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:05.199 He is just pure supernatural hunger. He has more in 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:09.240 common with the Terminator than some of the more sympathetic 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:14.960 film versions of Dracula that we've seen in this film's way. 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:21.320 Yeah, just a mean, nasty, vengeful, uncomplicated, demonic vampire. Now 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:23.640 I mentioned this earlier, but just to get a little 0:21:23.680 --> 0:21:26.320 bit deeper into it. I feel like Christopher Lee is 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:29.120 good in this movie. But one of my major complaints 0:21:29.160 --> 0:21:32.320 about the film is that it is reserved in the 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:35.240 deployment of its key selling points, one of them being 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:40.240 Christopher Lee. He's a kind of He's an ineffectual vampire. 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:42.400 He doesn't have a lot of lines, and he has 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:45.760 limited screen time, and that screen time is confined to 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:49.600 basically just two locations. It feels almost like they were 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:51.359 trying to make sure they could shoot all of his 0:21:51.480 --> 0:21:55.040 scenes on the same day and you could see how 0:21:55.680 --> 0:21:58.159 his like the fact that he never leaves the church 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:01.280 he's resurrected in in the modern era unless he I 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:03.640 don't think there's ever a scene of him going anywhere else. 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:04.800 Is there. I can't think of one. 0:22:05.440 --> 0:22:06.040 I don't think so. 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:08.720 Yeah, so he's just there, so you could say, well 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:11.560 that that speaks to his power, right, so you know, 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:13.840 he just stays there and he has his servants bringing 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:16.399 him victims, so like he doesn't he's so powerful he 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:19.320 doesn't even have to go out hunting. But I don't know. 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:21.560