"El Conde Dracula" is Spanish director Jess Franco's faithful yet flawed take on the Bram Stoker novel, with Christopher Lee taking a break from his British Hammer series to play the infamous vampire. Lee had high hopes for the film because Franco intended to adhere closely to the book. I think there are things to admire about this version, beginning with Lee's accurate portrayal of an old Dracula who grows steadily younger as he drinks more blood. Many of the Gothic locations are impressive as well, and it's a plus to have Klaus Kinski as Renfield and Herbert Lom as Van Helsing. The problem is that this movie, much like the 1931 Lugosi film, starts out very well and has its best moments in the beginning (say the first half hour) before growing tedious. It's a shame too, because this could have turned out to be the most faithful Dracula adaptation ever done, had Franco tried a little harder. His overbearing need to zoom in to characters' faces becomes so repetitious that you begin to anticipate it after awhile, along with the same ongoing musical cues. It also has a disappointing climax.

It's certainly a Dracula movie worth seeing for fans of the genre, but it is hypnotically draggy at times (then again, so was the book!). It should be mentioned that the print used for the newly released Dark Sky DVD is missing a really effective sequence where a crying woman outside Dracula's castle pleads desperately for the Count to return her little baby to her. **1/2 out of ****

Christopher Lee returns to his most famous role, this time portraying the count getting younger every time that he takes a bite. A little bit jarring in this movie is the presence of Herbert "Commissioner Dreyfus" Lom as Prof. Van Helsing. To add to that, Klaus Kinski plays Renfield a few years before he himself would play the count in Werner Herzog's "Nosferatu". But overall, "Count Dracula" is a pretty cool movie. Dracula fans should enjoy it. I have to admit that I don't know any other of Jess Franco's movies, but if this is any indication, they should be pretty neat.

All in all, the count bids you welcome...

This is yet another telling of the traditional Dracula tale from Bram Stoker. While on the DVD extra interview with director Jess Franco it's obvious he made such a faithful adaptation of the story, I was still left feeling very cold by the film. That's because I had a strong notion of "been there...done that" as I watched the movie. Considering that roughly the same story was told with the Bela Lugosi Dracula and "countless" (get it?) others, I was completely bored by this movie. Had I never seen these other Dracula films, then I probably would have enjoyed it much more. But considering Lugosi, Christopher Lee (innumerable times),Frank Langella, Gary Oldman, Max Shrek and even Louis Jordan have all played the same role, the film just never peaked my interest. Overall, the production is competent but rather low energy and offering nothing particularly interesting or new. The ambiance is only okay and the best aspect of the movie is probably the better than usual treatment for the Renfield character--this time exceptionally well played by Klaus Kinski. Kinski had no trouble playing a crazy person (perhaps because it wasn't much of a stretch) and it's interesting to note that at the end of the decade, Kinski would star as the monster in the remake of NOSFERATU. Otherwise, the film was a competently made drag.

By the way, if you do watch this film, pay close attention to the ending. The way they supposedly kill Dracula is truly unique and shouldn't have hurt him at all based on what they said in all the previous vampire movies--and this results in a very, very anti-climactic conclusion.