COUNT DRACULA AND HIS VAMPIRE BRIDE

This movie was better known to many of you as The Satanic Rites Of Dracula. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee co-star in this classic thriller where Lee returns to his role as Dracula and Cushing is the only man that can stop the evil vampire and and his brides from spreading a deadly plague around the world.

Late at night in Dracula’s castle, a satanic ritual is taking place. While this is going on, a man is tied down to a bed upstairs, he is able to untie himself and strangle his captor and leaves the room. As he tries to escape, he sets off and alarm that alerts all that were in the ritual that he has escaped. While the man is being questioned by investigators, the ritual continues. We see a beautiful woman lying on a bed waiting to be killed as a sacrifice to the evil one. The ceremony begins with a baptism with the blood of a rooster who had it’s throat slit. Inter-spliced is the investigation of the cult by Inspector Murray.>Each of the people involved in the satanic cult are introduced by the investigators through a slide show taken by the man who escaped early in the film. As each cult members name is mentioned, he or she walks up to the woman who is covered with blood, takes a small part of the blood and rub it on their forehead. This is great way to introduce each character and explain why they are important to the story.

Hammer studios who produced this film did an exceptional job of inter-splicing the scenes enough to build a solid foundation for the rest of the film to be built on and to establish that those involved in the occult are wealthy, intelligent individuals who contributed to the good of society but have become addicted to a type of worship that calls for worshiping human blood. Or were they?

Any student who is taking film school, should be encouraged to watch this film. Hammer studios produced this movie and did an exceptional job of injecting large amounts of emotion into each character. The shocking twist and turns are complimented with great cutaways and head shots that add to the shock and horror. The downside to this movie is Dracula is not in the movie very often. His role in the film is limited and Lee is limited to just a few lines which does not allow him to show his great acting skills.

Horror-Express

The time is 1906. The place is China. A destinguished archeologist is on an expedition when he comes across a cave and begins exploreing. Inside he makes a hideous discovery, a frozen body that looks as if most of the flesh has been worn away. The explorer and his partner decide to excavate the frozen body and load it on a train to take it back to his laboratory. After a thief dies attempting to break into the large container the monster is kept in, many feel that what is inside is not only alive, but possessed by the devil himself.

Once on the train in the baggage car, the creature is set free after a fellow archeologist requests a hole be drilled into the creature's container so that he can observe it. The terror is suddenly unleashed and hell is taking over. It is discovered that the creature is part man and part ape and has killed the baggage man, escaped the container and locked the dead baggage man in the container instead. From here the creature unleashes its horrible attacks on many of the passengers and crew on board the train. Autopsies performed show that the creature draines the brain of his victims leaving them with no memory.



After the creature is shot and killed, the story moves from the monster being the threat to the lead inspector taking on the characteristics of the monster. The story takes on a Biblical style battle battle between good and evil. The lines between heaven and hell are blurred in the blatently biblical references placed throughout the last twenty minutes of the film. An overwhelming number of sadistic mind numbing agonizing scenes bring about a shocking end to the movie; an all out war between light and darkness.

This movie is well worth the price of any set you may find this gem on. Horror Express is a clinic on how to tell a great story, keep the viewer wanting more and happily, getting it.