The Brides of Dracula (1960)

Written by Wuchak on September 19, 2021

Actually “The Brides of Baron Meinster”

A beautiful French schoolteacher (Yvonne Monlaur) travels to Transylvania for a position at a school, but is forced to spend the night at the grand mansion of Baroness Meinster (Martita Hunt) where she meets the Baroness’ handsome son, who is curiously kept captive in one part of the manor (David Peel). When vampirism breaks out Dr. Van Helsing offers his skills to save the locals (Peter Cushing).

"The Brides of Dracula" (1960) is the sequel to Hammer’s “Horror of Dracula” (1958). It was originally supposed to be called “Disciples of Dracula” since Dracula doesn’t actually appear in the story. Instead there’s the unknown David Peel as Baron Meinster, who does a fine job, but he’s very different from Christopher Lee and more akin to Frank Langella’s take on Dracula in his 1979 film.

The set-up of the story is similar to most Dracula yarns: Sophisticates from Western Europe travel to Transylvania and end up spending the night at a diabolical chateau where vampiric horror ensues. As usual with Hammer, the atmosphere is Gothic, the colors lush and the women beautiful (particularly Yvonne Monlaur). The mother is an interesting character and formidable woman; her reasons for doing what she does are understandable.

For those interested, the nine Dracula-themed films Hammer did are: “Horror of Dracula” (1958), “The Brides of Dracula” (1960), “Dracula: Prince of Darkness” (1966), “Dracula Has Risen from the Grave” (1968), “Taste the Blood of Dracula” (1970), “Scars of Dracula” (1970), “Dracula A.D. 1972” (1972), “The Satanic Rites of Dracula” (1973) and “The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires.” Christopher Lee plays Dracula in every one of these except "The Brides of Dracula" and "The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires." Meanwhile Peter Cushing plays Van Helsing in five of them (although not always the same Van Helsing, since two of the installments take place in the modern day).

The film runs 1 hour, 25 minutes, and was shot at Bray Studios, just west of London (interiors), and nearby Black Park and Oakley Court (exteriors).

GRADE: B