The film begins by a narrator telling us Dracula is dead..but his disciples live on to spread vampirism. It's all about a beautiful woman named Marianne Danielle (Yvonne Monlaur) going to a woman's academy to teach French. It gets complicated but she ends up spending the night in castle Meinster. She also meets young, handsome Baron Meinster (David Peel) who's chained up in the castle by his mother...because he is a vampire. She doesn't know this and lets him loose. It's a good thing Dr. van Helsing (Peter Cushing) is around!

OK--this isn't perfect. Some of the plotting is clumsy (i.e.--why didn't the Baron just turn into a bat and fly out of his chains?),Manlaur is a TERRIBLE actress and the fake bats are pretty laughable (I saw the strings at one point!). Still this is just great. It moves quickly and has some great performances by Cushing (of course),Feda Jackson (as Greta--tearing the scenery) and a GREAT performance by Peel. He's sexy, handsome and scary as hell as the vampire. Hard to believe he was FORTY when he did this! Also I'm lucky enough to have a copy of the pristine print they released on laser disc and VHS in the early 1990s. The color is incredible and the picture and sound are crystal clear.

I'm giving it an 8--I WANT to give it a 10 but Monlaur and some clumsy plotting (what happens to the two female vampires at the end?) really work against it. Still--a must-see!

The film begins with a woman traveling to her new job as a teacher at a girls' school. However, her carriage takes off without her and she's stranded. An old Baroness takes her home and soon it becomes apparent that the lady is keeping her vampire son there in the castle under wraps. Every so often, she brings him a young girl to suck dry but otherwise she keeps very tight reins on him. However, when this young woman meets the vampire and he convinces her to let him go, all heck breaks loose--resulting in the Baroness' death and Baron Meinster running about recruiting sexy she-vampires. Not surprisingly, Van Helsing shows up and there is the usual showdown at the end, though how Meinster is destroyed is rather creative.

This is one of the lesser vampire movies from Hammer films for a wide variety of reasons. First, despite the word 'Dracula' in the title, this film isn't about him at all but some other vampire. As a result, Christopher Lee is nowhere to be seen--and this will probably upset many fans. From what I read, it sounded like Hammer was trying to save money and changed the character to Meinster. Second, the story itself isn't especially logical or coherent--seeming like the script was a bit of an after-thought--with some weird story about a vampire cult that never is hashed out properly. However, despite these serious deficiencies, the mood is excellent--with great music, costumes and sets and the film looks like a vampire movie should.

Definitely a lesser Hammer vampire film, but for fans of the genre it's all fun stuff.

The Brides of Dracula is not as good as 1958's Dracula(or Horror of Dracula),but it is almost as good and a very good follow-up, a near classic in fact. Yvonne Monlaur is rather wooden in the female lead role, the bat effects are truly laughable and the film drags a tad at the halfway mark but that's it for the flaws personally.

Hammer horrors are always at least visually good, and The Brides of Dracula certainly looks good. In fact it looks fantastic, to me it's one of the best-looking Hammer films. The photography is smooth, rich in colour and enhances the atmosphere rather than detracting and the sets are some of the most sumptuous and atmospheric of any Hammer horror. The music in its most haunting parts positively induces tingles down the spine and while there are a couple of clumsy loose ends the script is one of Hammer's most nuanced. The story is filled with marvellous atmosphere and Gothic ghoulishness and is always compelling and easy to follow, the standout scene is the ending which is like a fairy-tale nightmare come to life.

Terrence Fisher's direction is unflinching and the performances on the whole are very good, especially from a classy and typically impeccable Peter Cushing as one of the best screen Van Helsings and Martita Hunt as a sometimes sympathetic but genuinely scary Baroness, especially in the scene when she's standing behind Monlaur. Freda Jackson is chilling also and chews the scenery with glee(and not in a negative way despite how it sounds) and Miles Malleson brings some amusing comedy that doesn't feel out of place at all. David Peel is nowhere near in the same league as Christopher Lee- then again it's really difficult to follow Lee in any role really- but while a little fey in places he is a worthy and charismatic substitute.

Overall, a near classic if with its weak spots. 8/10 Bethany Cox