Scars of Drakula

Hey, wait a minute? Didn't we already have this movie? Yeah, it was when Dracula was a Prince.

Dracula is brought back and suddenly is back in Some Eastern Europe Place, where there happen to be students as tourists in the area. They end up at Castle Dracula, and have to fight him if they want to get away with their lives. Well, okay, not really. One ends up there, and the other two go looking for him. But Dracula now has bats under his control, and they get the business done. From slaughtering people in a church to plucking a single necklace away, they are quite effective (and the puppets aren't terrible either).

When I saw the priest in this movie, I thought "Hey, I recognise that mole", and indeed, it's Lord Mulberry from Fawlty Towers. ... But I'm dancing around the main attraction. The butler Klove is back... and he's played by Patrick Troughton! He's playing a cringing character, but there is no end to which this movie would have been improved if he had said "But Jamie" or "Oh my giddy aunt." Of course he steals all the scenes he is in (but then I'm biased).

And let's take a moment to pick at this movie, because I did, and have been, but let's address a few things. In the movie, there is a picture of Sarah that's cracked... although the crack moves around so much, it's clearly different props every time. And aside from being in the forest, it is clear that when they enter a village they are on a set. And by night they mean "obviously day". And when the castle is set on fire, the long shot is clearly a model. The sounds aren't so much bat as seagull. And vampires aren't real...

Now, I am enjoying these, these are the first Hammer movies I've seen, but this feels like a repeat.

[END]