While traveling to her job at a fancy girls’ school, student teacher Marianne (Yvonne Monlaur) gets waylaid at a local inn after her coach driver leaves her stranded. She is “rescued” by Baroness Meinster (Martita Hunt), who takes her to her mansion for the night, claiming that she’s a lonely old woman, desperate for company with some good breeding. By chance, Marianne spots the Baroness’s sexy son (David Peel), who she keeps chained up in his room. Feeling pity for the hunk, she frees him and all hell breaks loose because this particularly hot stud of a baron is a gosh dang vampire! Next thing you know, the village is swarming with bloodsucking vixens and it’s up to Doctor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) to save everyone.
If you’re looking for a prime example of a prestigious Hammer horror title, then look no further than The Brides of Dracula (1960). With the legendary Terence Fisher at the helm, Jimmy Sangster scripting, and Jack Asher on camera, you just can’t go wrong. After the runaway success of Horror of Dracula (1958), Hammer went all out on this gorgeous film and all of the hard work of the cast and crew really shows onscreen. There’s so much iconic Hammer horror goodness going on in this film that it just blows me away.
Surprising literally no one, Peter Cushing delivers, as always. Whenever I think of his multiple portrayals of Van Helsing, this one immediately comes to mind. Hats off to all the ladies in this film, they are all so good. Martita Hunt’s Baroness is a sympathetic and frightening ghoul of a character and I love Freda Jackson’s unhinged portrayal of Greta, the Baroness’s servant. French actress Yvonne Monlaur is so damn adorable, but you can’t help but slap your forehead as her nearly terminal case of naivete gets her into danger at every turn. Since Christopher Lee’s Dracula was killed off in Horror of Dracula and he would never return to the role again (wink, wink), someone had to step in as the main vamp. Enter David Peel as the Baron Meinster. I really dig this dude’s dastardly suave and evilly emo vibe.
As for the disc itself, I can find nothing to complain about with this gorgeous transfer since the film looks and sounds glorious to my eyes and ears. Full disclosure, I’ve heard some scuttlebutt about the image quality of this release being inferior to the Universal Blu-ray, but this looks great to me. Sadly, I haven’t seen any of the other Blu-ray editions to compare this one to its competitors. But I will say that this is a massive upgrade over my ancient Hammer DVD. Diehard transfer experts will likely pass on this one.
As usual with these Shout! Factory Hammer Films Blu-rays, the purchaser of this title will be buried alive in a virtual grave of extras! Kicking things off is an audio commentary full of trivia and thoughtful analysis by film historians, Steve Haberman and Constantine Nasr. There are two “The Men Who Made Hammer” profiles, one on Director Terence Fisher and another on cinematographer Jack Asher. I love this series so far and I can’t wait to see more. There’s an awesome profile on composer Malcolm Williamson by author David Huckvale, who really lays out what makes this Williamson’s music for the film so special. There’s a half hour long “The Making of Brides of Dracula” documentary, original trailer, a radio spot, still gallery, and a tour of the oft-used film location, Oakley Court.
Director – Terence Fisher
Cast – Peter Cushing, Martita Hunt, Yvonne Monlaur
Country of Origin – UK
Reviewer – Richard Glenn Schmidt