Dracula Has Risen from the Grave
Encyclopedia
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave is a 1968 British horror film
directed by Freddie Francis
for Hammer Films
. It stars Christopher Lee
as Count Dracula
, with support from Rupert Davies
, Veronica Carlson
, Barry Andrews, Barbara Ewing
, Ewan Hooper
and Michael Ripper
.
), where an altar boy discovers the body of a woman stuffed in the church's bell. She is another victim of Dracula, and the village - which Dracula's castle overlooks - is terrified.
A year after Dracula has been destroyed, a Monsignor
(Davies) comes to the village on a routine visit only to find the altar boy is now a frightened mute. The villagers refuse to attend Mass at church because "the shadow of his castle touches it". The Priest has apparently lost his faith. To bring to an end the villagers' fears, the Monsignor climbs to the Castle to exorcise it.
The Priest cannot follow him up the mountain and the Monsignor continues alone. As the Monsignor exorcises the castle, attaching a large metal cross to its gate, a storm strikes, and the Priest tries to run, but falls and is knocked out, cutting his head on rock. His blood trickles into a frozen stream; through a crack in the melting ice it trickles on to the lips of the preserved body of Count Dracula and brings it to life.
The Monsignor goes back to the village believing that the Priest had already safely returned, and assures the villagers that the castle is sanctified to protect them from Dracula's evil. He returns to his home city of Kleinenberg.
Unknown to the Monsignor, the Priest is under the control of the resurrected Count. Furious that the cross prevents him from entering his castle, Dracula demands that the enslaved Priest says who is responsible. The Priest leads Dracula in pursuit of the Monsignor and he discovers a new victim for Dracula's revenge - the Monsignor's beautiful niece, Maria (Carlson). First, Dracula bites and enslaves Zena the tavern girl (Ewing). Zena almost succeeds in bringing Maria under Dracula's power, despite her jealousy. However, Maria's boyfriend Paul (Andrews) works in the bakery beneath the tavern, and he rescues her. Dracula punishes the tavern girl for her "failure" by biting and killing her. The Priest is summoned to burn her corpse in the fire of the bakery oven before she turns into a vampire (her teeth have already grown into fangs) and he helps Dracula find Maria. Dracula comes into her bedroom at night over the rooftops. The scene where he bites her is intense and ends with her hand pushing away her china doll.
The Monsignor sees the signs of vampirism in his niece and follows the fleeing figure, but is knocked insensible on the rooftop by the Priest. In his dying state he recruits Paul to help. Paul is an atheist but his love for Maria drives him. Unwittingly he enlists the Priest's help who, unable to break free from Dracula's influence, tries to attack Paul. Paul forces the Priest to lead him to Dracula's lair beyond the tavern bakery. They stake Dracula through the heart; the faithless Priest and the atheist Paul cannot complete the rite and Dracula removes the stake himself. He draws Maria to him on the rooftop, and they are pursued by Paul and the Priest.
Dracula carries Maria to his castle, orders her to remove the metal cross. She tumbles it over the parapet to the ravine below. Paul faces the Count outside the castle and during the struggle Dracula drops over the parapet and lands on his back, impaled on the cross. He fights to free himself, weeping tears of blood, but the Priest recites the Lord's Prayer
and Count Dracula perishes, and dissolves into dust. Reunited with Maria and his religion, Paul crosses himself over the spectacle.
in London
. Notably missing are the approach road, coach path and moat seen in front of Castle Dracula in 1958's Dracula
and 1966's Dracula: Prince of Darkness
. Those films were made at Bray Studios
.
The film was photographed by Arthur Grant using colored filters belonging to director Freddie Francis, also a cameraman by trade, who used them when photographing The Innocents (1961). Whenever Dracula (or his castle) is in a scene, the frame edges are tinged crimson, amber and yellow.
Initially Terence Fisher was to direct the film, but dropped out due to illness; Freddie Francis stepped in.
In Australia, the film was the first Hammer Dracula to be passed by the censors; the previous films Dracula (1958) and Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) were banned. The film was slightly censored and ran for a three-week season at Sydney's Capitol theatre in January 1970.
, and Dracula AD 1972
.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
directed by Freddie Francis
Freddie Francis
Frederick William Francis BSC was an English cinematographer and film director.He achieved his greatest successes as a cinematographer, including winning two Academy Awards, for Sons and Lovers and Glory...
for Hammer Films
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
. It stars Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
as Count Dracula
Count Dracula
Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and archetypal vampire. Some aspects of his character have been inspired by the 15th century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler...
, with support from Rupert Davies
Rupert Davies
Rupert Davies was a British actor. He remains best known for playing the title role in the BBC's 1960s television adaptation of Maigret, based on the Maigret novels written by Georges Simenon....
, Veronica Carlson
Veronica Carlson
Veronica Carlson is an English model and actress, famous for her roles in Hammer horror films.Born as Veronica Mary Glazer, Veronica Carlson spent most of her childhood in Germany where her father was stationed...
, Barry Andrews, Barbara Ewing
Barbara Ewing
Barbara Ewing is a UK-based actress, playwright and novelist. Born in New Zealand, she graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with a BA in English and Maori before coming to Britain in 1965 to train as an actress at RADA in London.She made her film debut in the horror film Torture...
, Ewan Hooper
Ewan Hooper
Ewan Hooper is a Scottish actor who is a graduate from, and now an Associate Member of, RADA. Hooper was the motivating force in the foundation of the Greenwich Theatre, which opened in 1969. Hooper was the founder director of the Scottish Theatre Company formed in Glasgow in the 1980s...
and Michael Ripper
Michael Ripper
Michael Ripper was an English character actor born in Portsmouth.He began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 1950s was virtually unknown; he was seldom credited. He played one of the two murderers in Richard III. Ripper became a mainstay in Hammer Film Productions...
.
Plot
The film opens in a middle-European village still in the throes of Dracula's reign of terror (see Dracula: Prince of DarknessDracula: Prince of Darkness
Dracula: Prince of Darkness is a 1966 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer Studios. The film was photographed in Techniscope by Michael Reed, designed by Bernard Robinson and scored by James Bernard.-Plot:...
), where an altar boy discovers the body of a woman stuffed in the church's bell. She is another victim of Dracula, and the village - which Dracula's castle overlooks - is terrified.
A year after Dracula has been destroyed, a Monsignor
Monsignor
Monsignor, pl. monsignori, is the form of address for those members of the clergy of the Catholic Church holding certain ecclesiastical honorific titles. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian monsignore, from the French mon seigneur, meaning "my lord"...
(Davies) comes to the village on a routine visit only to find the altar boy is now a frightened mute. The villagers refuse to attend Mass at church because "the shadow of his castle touches it". The Priest has apparently lost his faith. To bring to an end the villagers' fears, the Monsignor climbs to the Castle to exorcise it.
The Monsignor goes back to the village believing that the Priest had already safely returned, and assures the villagers that the castle is sanctified to protect them from Dracula's evil. He returns to his home city of Kleinenberg.
Unknown to the Monsignor, the Priest is under the control of the resurrected Count. Furious that the cross prevents him from entering his castle, Dracula demands that the enslaved Priest says who is responsible. The Priest leads Dracula in pursuit of the Monsignor and he discovers a new victim for Dracula's revenge - the Monsignor's beautiful niece, Maria (Carlson). First, Dracula bites and enslaves Zena the tavern girl (Ewing). Zena almost succeeds in bringing Maria under Dracula's power, despite her jealousy. However, Maria's boyfriend Paul (Andrews) works in the bakery beneath the tavern, and he rescues her. Dracula punishes the tavern girl for her "failure" by biting and killing her. The Priest is summoned to burn her corpse in the fire of the bakery oven before she turns into a vampire (her teeth have already grown into fangs) and he helps Dracula find Maria. Dracula comes into her bedroom at night over the rooftops. The scene where he bites her is intense and ends with her hand pushing away her china doll.
The Monsignor sees the signs of vampirism in his niece and follows the fleeing figure, but is knocked insensible on the rooftop by the Priest. In his dying state he recruits Paul to help. Paul is an atheist but his love for Maria drives him. Unwittingly he enlists the Priest's help who, unable to break free from Dracula's influence, tries to attack Paul. Paul forces the Priest to lead him to Dracula's lair beyond the tavern bakery. They stake Dracula through the heart; the faithless Priest and the atheist Paul cannot complete the rite and Dracula removes the stake himself. He draws Maria to him on the rooftop, and they are pursued by Paul and the Priest.
Dracula carries Maria to his castle, orders her to remove the metal cross. She tumbles it over the parapet to the ravine below. Paul faces the Count outside the castle and during the struggle Dracula drops over the parapet and lands on his back, impaled on the cross. He fights to free himself, weeping tears of blood, but the Priest recites the Lord's Prayer
Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...
and Count Dracula perishes, and dissolves into dust. Reunited with Maria and his religion, Paul crosses himself over the spectacle.
Cast
- Christopher LeeChristopher LeeSir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
(Count Dracula) - Rupert DaviesRupert DaviesRupert Davies was a British actor. He remains best known for playing the title role in the BBC's 1960s television adaptation of Maigret, based on the Maigret novels written by Georges Simenon....
(Monsignor Ernest Muller) - Veronica CarlsonVeronica CarlsonVeronica Carlson is an English model and actress, famous for her roles in Hammer horror films.Born as Veronica Mary Glazer, Veronica Carlson spent most of her childhood in Germany where her father was stationed...
(Maria Muller) - Barry Andrews (Paul)
- Barbara EwingBarbara EwingBarbara Ewing is a UK-based actress, playwright and novelist. Born in New Zealand, she graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with a BA in English and Maori before coming to Britain in 1965 to train as an actress at RADA in London.She made her film debut in the horror film Torture...
(Zena) - Ewan HooperEwan HooperEwan Hooper is a Scottish actor who is a graduate from, and now an Associate Member of, RADA. Hooper was the motivating force in the foundation of the Greenwich Theatre, which opened in 1969. Hooper was the founder director of the Scottish Theatre Company formed in Glasgow in the 1980s...
(Priest) - Marion MathieMarion MathieMarion Mathie is an English actress who appeared in the last four series of Rumpole of the Bailey as his fearsome wife; and many other roles in other productions, including Mrs Susan Wyse in the London Weekend Television adaptation of the Mapp and Lucia books by E. F. Benson.-Notes:...
(Anna) - Michael RipperMichael RipperMichael Ripper was an English character actor born in Portsmouth.He began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 1950s was virtually unknown; he was seldom credited. He played one of the two murderers in Richard III. Ripper became a mainstay in Hammer Film Productions...
(Max) - John D. CollinsJohn D. CollinsJohn D. Collins is an English actor, perhaps best known for appearing in the BBC sitcom Allo 'Allo! in which he played Flt. Lt. Fairfax, a stranded British airman in occupied France during World War II...
(Student) - George A. CooperGeorge A. CooperGeorge A. Cooper is an English actor.One of his best-known roles was as the caretaker Mr. Griffiths in the long-running children's TV series Grange Hill...
(Landlord)
Production
This was the first of the Hammer Dracula films to be shot at Elstree StudiosElstree Studios
"Elstree Studios" refers to any of several film studios that were based in the towns of Borehamwood and Elstree in Hertfordshire, England, since film production begun in 1927.-Name:...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Notably missing are the approach road, coach path and moat seen in front of Castle Dracula in 1958's Dracula
Dracula (1958 film)
Dracula, also known as Horror of Dracula in the United States, is a 1958 British horror film. It is the first in the series of Hammer Horror films inspired by the Bram Stoker novel Dracula. It was directed by Terence Fisher, and stars Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Carol Marsh, Melissa Stribling and...
and 1966's Dracula: Prince of Darkness
Dracula: Prince of Darkness
Dracula: Prince of Darkness is a 1966 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer Studios. The film was photographed in Techniscope by Michael Reed, designed by Bernard Robinson and scored by James Bernard.-Plot:...
. Those films were made at Bray Studios
Bray Studios (UK)
Bray Studios is a film and television facility at Bray, near Windsor, Berkshire, England. The films Alien and The Rocky Horror Picture Show were shot there...
.
The film was photographed by Arthur Grant using colored filters belonging to director Freddie Francis, also a cameraman by trade, who used them when photographing The Innocents (1961). Whenever Dracula (or his castle) is in a scene, the frame edges are tinged crimson, amber and yellow.
Initially Terence Fisher was to direct the film, but dropped out due to illness; Freddie Francis stepped in.
In Australia, the film was the first Hammer Dracula to be passed by the censors; the previous films Dracula (1958) and Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) were banned. The film was slightly censored and ran for a three-week season at Sydney's Capitol theatre in January 1970.
DVD release
On 6 November, 2007, the film was released as part of a DVD four-pack along with Horror of Dracula, Taste the Blood of DraculaTaste the Blood of Dracula
Taste the Blood of Dracula is a British horror film produced by Hammer Film Productions and released in 1970. It stars Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, and was directed by Peter Sasdy...
, and Dracula AD 1972
Dracula AD 1972
Dracula A.D. 1972 is a 1972 Hammer Horror film directed by Alan Gibson, written by Don Houghton and starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Stephanie Beacham. Unlike earlier films in the Hammer Dracula series, Dracula A.D...
.