Hammer Horror and Dracula A.D. 1972
One of my favourite Vampire films was the Hammer Horror Classic, Dracula A.D. 1972. I was a big lover of the Hammer Horror genre and I grew up with it. I loved Hammer Horror as it was very atmospheric and kind of glamorous. I am not a fan of extreme, excessive, guts and gore and I find a lot of modern day horror and indeed fantasy hard to stomach in that respect.
Hammer Horror
I am more into Supernatural Horror that had a dramatic, at times, romantic, atmospheric quality. Moonlight, Castles and horse drawn carriages. A lot of Hammer Horror was like that. This one was a bit more modern which made it stand out from their previous movies. But it still had that unique Hammer quality.
“The Year is 1972
A Leap Year in Horror
A Vintage Year for Vampires”
Cast including Caroline Munro
Dracula A.D. 1972 had a really impressive cast including Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Stephanie Beacham. My favourite character was Caroline Munro who played Laura Bellows. She was perfect for Hammer Horror and had such an enchanting, beautiful look and amazing long dark glossy hair. She reminded me of my favourite comic book character, Misty.
Contemporary Horror Plot
While most Hammer films before this were set back in time, this movie had an upbeat, contemporary feel which was kinda cool. It was actually released in 1972 and had a real Hippy vibe. It opens in 1872 with Dracula and Vampire Hunter, Van Helsing battling on top of a stage coach with both appearing to suffer mortal wounds. It then moves us a century forward to 1972 Swinging London where a group of hippies including Van Helsing’s grand daughter, an Occult expert, played by Stephanie Beacham start dabbling in the macabre.
Dracula A.D. 1972 Band – Stoneground
I am not going to go into the whole plot but I really liked this movie. It’s the most Hippyish Dracula movie I have seen. I liked the band in this film. There was some cool music played by a really hippy looking group called Stoneground performing “Alligator Man”.
Stoneground – “Alligator Man”
Stoneground were a Californian group formed in San Francisco in 1970. They also featured in another Warner Brothers movie called “Medicine Ball Caravan”. Will leave you with “Alligator Man”.
Perfect Horror for a Supernatural Hippie 🙂
Dracula A.D. 1972 has to be one of the funkiest Dracula’s ever. The perfect film for a Supernatural Hippie. 😉 Hee hee. If you’re a Horror fan.
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Supernatural Hippie 
…Even do there are many different versions of this story made for movies, initially written by Bram Stoker, I like the best when the main character was played by Bela Lugosi in 1931., and Christopher Lee in 1958. (even do the first official movie version was in 1922., released by the name “Nosferatu – A Symphonu of Horror)…
Yes lots of films regarding Dracula. 🙂 Some of my favourites were Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Dracula 2000. I also love many films about Vampires generally such as The Lost Boys, Frightnight and Interview with the Vampire. I wish there was like a version of Netflix that had all the old movies and older TV series and stuff as there is lots of stuff I want to see that was made decades ago.
I see you are more a fan of the new movies. Me, quite on the contrary, especially in the last few years, I´m exploring the old movies, from 1880´s to 1950´s; and there are a lot of good movies made in that long period, even do most of them are BW and silent…
Yeah I think I am a fan of newer movies. Though I like 70s and 80s movies a lot. I think it’s hard to find older movies.
No, it is not. You have a bunch of good older movies on video channels for free on YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo etc…
Okay cool. That’s good to know. I have searched before for an older movie and couldn’t find it. When I say old it was from the 1970s which is probably old by today’s standards! I cant think of any older movies I want to see but honestly it’s an area I have not really thought about. I do like colour and speech in film. But I am sure there are some classics if we look back.
If you search you will find them. Internet is a big space…
Exp. “The Return of Dracula”, 1958 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHtLVSQn6GI); The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, 1920. (first official horror movie) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVI_VIyQu3w); Nosferatu – The Symphony of Horror, 1922. (the first famous horror before Dracula and Frankenstein)(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC6jFoYm3xs); Frankenstein 1931. (https://www.twitch.tv/videos/98075641); Dracula 1931. (https://vimeo.com/138583645)….
Thanks for these recommendations. I have seen one of these but didn’t like it! But will check some of the others out. At the moment I’m still trying to find horror from the 70s I haven’t watched. Appreciate these links. Cheers 🧛♂️🧛♀️
You´re welcome! As I said, you have a lot of different (free) movies on the video channels throughout Internet, you just have to search for it. Try to Google “watch horror movies 1970s” or something similar. It just depends what are you looking for…
Will do. 🧛♀️🧛♂️🎩🦇👻🕶
You do… 😉
I never got into Vampire movies, or horror films in general. But you make these Hammer movies sound quite appealing!
Interesting. Not everyone is into Vampire or Horror. I like them, but not all of them. I am not a fan of really dark stuff or gratuitously gory stuff. But I like the whole Dracula thing! Hammer Horror was a unique era in Horror. I did love their films. Hammer Horror appeals to me. Though it may not be your cup of tea. 🙂
I’ll make sure I give at least one of them a chance!
Pick the least horrific one so you don’t get offended! LOL “The Devil Rides Out” was a very good one, very scary. But I think that one might freak you out too much if you are new to them. You might like that Dracula A.D. 1972 as you like your music.
thanks for the recommendation!