Title: Sexual Perversity in Transylvania?
Product review: Sometimes overlooked because it didn't star Christopher Lee, "The Brides of Dracula" is actually one of Hammer's greatest achievements. Peter Cushing was never better as the unflappable Dr. Van Helsing, who eventually falls victim to the bite of the vampire himself. In the film, vampirism itself is likened to a "sexual perversion" with parallels to libertineism, homosexuality, incest and hanging out with the wrong crowd. Hammer's usual high production values are at their peak. David Peel's Baron Meinster took a lot of heat for not fitting the vampire cliche (what? a blond vampire?), but he's suprisingly effective. A highlight is the scene where an old woman coaxes a newly interred vampire out of the grave for the first time, in sort of a satanic Lamaze ritual. It was three years before Hammer would make another vampire film and six years before Christopher Lee returned. None of these films quite had the style or freshness of the first two.
Would you say this review depicts the product in a flattering or unflattering light?
