I remembered only a few things about the film including the one image almost everyone takes from it. This would be the vampire brides rising from their basement coffins to attack potential victims. These sequences are still quite memorable and effective but the things I had forgotten were numerous!
Bizarrely, I had forgotten that Peter Cushing was even in this film! How the hell did I edit Cushing out of this? Was I trying to excuse him from a movie I thought was beneath him? But there he is front and center playing the same Van Helsing character he played in the previous year's DRACULA A.D. 72 and getting involved in the mystery at the heart of this one. And he's great, as always. I had forgotten that the amazing Freddie Jones is in this doing his usual brilliant, brittle loon character who is teetering on the edge of madness. And he's great, as always. I had completely forgotten the entire MI-6 James Bondian style plot of the film and I found myself very much enjoying how well written it is. I was having quite a lot of fun before the supernatural element in the story advanced beyond somebody possibly screwing over old rich people with occult silliness. Watching British spies work off-book to discover if their superiors are doing dastardly things is entertaining enough on it's own.
But the thing I was most surprised that I had completely mis-remembered was the ending of the film. I correctly remembered that Dracula gets caught in hawthorn bushes but incorrectly thought he was killed by this entanglement. No, no! Drac gets stopped by these thorn bushes and then Cushing grabs a convenient piece of wood and stakes that sucker good! And I mean he leans into this action. It is vicious and well done. How could I have forgotten this? It's the end of the movie! And the end for Hammer of the Lee Dracula character. It's a great vampire destruction and I just edited it out or my head. Nuts!
I stand corrected on the qualities of THE SATANIC RITE OF DRACULA (1973). It was not a sad, silly, sloppy ending for the series. It actually quite strong and I'm glad that the Blu-Ray exists.
3 comments:
My appreciation of the film went up a few notches as well after viewing the new Blu-ray edition. Better than remembered!
It was really shocking to find myself enjoying this one on Blu. It kind of makes me happier than even a NEW good film does because it shows that my tastes can alter over time. Or that a film is best seen under the most optimal circumstances, I guess.
I've always liked this film, and actually prefer it over AD 1972 and one or two of the previous Lee Dracula outings. Using more of the original mythology, hawthorn bush, just increased my admiration for the writers trying to find new, interesting ways to kill Drac. The first 3 are still the cream of the crop, but this one doesn't deserve its nasty reputation.
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