cult film freak: SUZAN FARMER ENLIGHTENS 'DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS'

Written by James M. Tate / 11/27/2021 / No comments / barbara shelley , body count , christopher lee , dracula , hammer films , horror , philip latham , sixties , suzan farmer

SUZAN FARMER ENLIGHTENS 'DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS'

11/27/2021 | No comment

Suzan Farmer & Barbara Shelley in DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS Year: 1966 Rates: ***

Another suitable name for DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS would be HAMMER HOTEL since the basic premise is the luring of two couples into Dracula's castle and featuring two gorgeous women, one in her experienced-hot thirties the other her lithe-naive-twenties...

But the luring isn't really a temptation but rather, like most Hammer Films, tons of expository dialogue (mostly uttered by intensely bearded Andrew Kier) that, halfway through, finally gets this lost stranded foursome into the murky manor where of course, DRACULA will inevitably rise in the form of the iconic Christopher Lee...

Suzan Farmer & Barbara Shelley in DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Not without a price... it takes one of the men's blood for reanimation, thanks to the movie's downright spookiest character in castle butler "Klove" played by long-faced Philip Latham, who, more Frankenstein's Monster than Igor, does the lethal dirty work while most of PRINCE is a male fantasy centered upon the two vulnerable starlets...

Hammer scream queen Barbara Shelley is the oldest and initially uptight (noting if they stay the night there won't be a tomorrow) so of course, she gets bitten and vamped-out first...

Suzan Farmer as Diana in DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Leading to Suzan Farmer, an adorable girl-next-door/dimple-chinned starlet that the rest of the picture hinges upon the possession of... fought-over by both Shelley and Dracula... the latter basically crashing his own party, serving more as "special guest" than titular star...

Thus providing Shelley the most fangy fun throughout, while quasi comic-relief Thorley Walters as an absent-minded version of Van Helsing pales to Peter Cushing... But it's the ladies here that matter. Both of them, equally.

Philp Latham actually makes a better antagonist for DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Christopher Lee and Francis Matthews in DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Share This Post :

Tags : barbara shelley , body count , christopher lee , dracula , hammer films , horror , philip latham , sixties , suzan farmer

James M. Tate

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)ANATOMY OF A MURDER 10)THE CROWDED SKY 11))THE MAN FROM LARAMIE 12)SHARKS' TREASURE 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE SYSTEM 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)HIDDEN FEAR 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)NIGHT CREATURES 22)CURSE OF THE DEMON 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE BREAK 25)AIR PATROL 26)HANNIBAL BROOKS 27)EASY LIVING 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)FRENZY 30)THE ROARING TWENTIES 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 1)VIRGINIA MAYO 2)SUE LYON 3)GENE TIERNEY 4)MERRY ANDERS 5)FAYE DUNAWAY DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)STANLEY KUBRICK 4)ORSON WELLES 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)JOHN LANDIS 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)VAL GUEST 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER