Bob: “Okay, okay, so we’ll go to the cavern tomorrow, usual time. Laura will be there. A bit drained, but she’ll be there.”
If you know anything about your Hammer horror vampire films, you’ll recall that it is a staple for them to be set during the very gothic themed nineteenth century. . . that is, except for when Alan Gibson directed Dracula A.D. 1972, which, not surprisingly, was released in 1972, and changed the game.
An attempted modernization of the famed franchise after many long years – Christopher Lee first donned the pitch black cape all the way back in 1958 in Dracula. . . now fourteen years later, this was Lee’s sixth appearance as the pesky vampire. . . his final appearance coming just one year later in The Satanic Rites of Dracula (the only other Hammer feature set during these modern times).
Starting off in 1872 with the feared Dracula in a major league tussle with his dreaded protagonist foil, Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing – Night Creatures; The Brides of Dracula), on the outskirts of London. . . I won’t spoil how, but we then flash forward into the late hippy era, the famed doctor’s great granddaughter, Jessica (Stephanie Beacham) and her gang of friends, including her protective beau Bob (Pip Miller), very groovy and game Laura Bellows (Caroline Munro – Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter; Slaughter High), nervous Gaynor (Marsha Hunt), and others, have all welcomed new friend Johnny Alucard (Christopher Neame) into the fold – just a warning for the wise here, if your newfound buddy’s last name spells out Dracula backwards, you’d be better off finding a different friend pronto.
A fan of the occult, Johnny brings them all to some unhallowed ground in the old dilapidated St. Bartolph’s Church, and, unbeknownst to the gang, this cultist really knows his creepy stuff. Thankfully, Jessica’s grandfather, Lorrimer – funnily enough, looking exactly like his grandfather from one hundred years earlier, has followed in the family legacy of researching the realm of vampires – in fact, he has a PHD on the subject. Could we all be in for a rematch of sorts between good versus evil after a century of peace? If so, what side will Jessica and her gang fall on? But don’t worry, Inspector Murray (Michael Coles) is on the case. . . and you know how successful the police always are in these types of movies.
Fusing old school horror within this very avant garde world of the early 1970s, the clash of cultures works in a quirkily fun kind of way. It’s not too often you will see a counter culture rock band – the California group Stoneground (a late replacement for The Faces) grooving along for a lengthy party sequence only for Dracula to appear onscreen not long after that. . . with his freakishly tall frame, piercing bloodshot eyes, and sharp fangs just raring to go after a hundred year break.
Caroline Munro with Filmizon.com’s Nikolai Adams on September 6, 2025 at a James Bond charity event
Bringing plenty of cheese and camp to the vampiric franchise by uniting these two very different scenarios (as you can tell from the tongue in cheek quote that opened this piece), Dracula A.D. 1972 is not the strongest Hammer film, but it makes up for it with the fun it produces thanks to this most unique culture clash. Plus, it’s always a real treat to see Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing at their best (which is often when they are working opposite each other), while it also gives Caroline Munro a good chance to shine prior to her turn as Bond girl Naomi in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me – Neame would also appear in a Bond movie as Fallon in Licence to Kill (1989). . . in other words – the entire cast furthering this quirky script. So, stake out this late era Hammer horror adventure, it makes for a bloody good (and sometimes silly) time.