My favourite hammer draccie =)

This film, and its follow-up (SATANIC RITES), usually takes a beating in reviews. Granted, it's not HORROR OF DRACULA, but you pretty much have to take it on its own terms, as Hammer was trying to launch a new series by relocating the count in contemporary times. (Which might explain lapses in continuity between this and the other Dracula/Van Helsing films. For example, the pretitle sequence finds Van Helsing getting killed in the 1800s, yet he is alive and well in the early 1900s in LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES.) I think Hammer's two "mod" Draculas were a lot more entertaining than many of the other attempts to put Dracula in a modern setting. If nothing else, consider the cast: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Stephanie Beacham and Caroline Munro. This film also marks the second time (of only three films) that Cushing and Lee would actually play Van Helsing and Dracula opposite each other in the same movie. (Well, 4 films, if you count the recycling of the finale of HORROR OF DRACULA for DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS' opening sequence.)