Halloween Challenge Day 1: Hammer Horror Dracula Series

I'm a big fan of vampire movies and I'll most likely be watching a few more of them before the challenge is over. But I’ve always been meaning to watch all of the Hammer Dracula films starring the great Christopher Lee. So I guess now would be the perfect time to do it.

In total there are 8 films in the series, 7 of which Lee starred as Dracula--Horror of Dracula, Brides of Dracula, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Scars of Dracula, Dracula A.D. 1972, The Satanic Rites of Dracula

Since watching them in a short time frame they all kind of blur together for me. Are they great vampire movies? Not particularly. The plots of the movies are really all the same. Dracula comes back from the dead ALWAYS going after the women. Most of the time they are in their nightgowns with over exposed cleavage. He usually manages to make at least one his vampire bride sidekick. But he never fares well with getting a second one, cause she usually always has a boyfriend/husband that comes and rescues her at the last minute and kills him.

Really the best part about any of these movies is Christopher Lee’s performance as Dracula. Most of the time he just bares his fangs and hisses. But he looks scary enough with just his fangs and blood-shot eyes, plus he barely speaks. He is one of the most terrifying vampires in cinema history, at least in my opinion he is. And for that reason alone I think the movies are worth a watch.I have two particular favorites out of the series Brides of Dracula and Taste the Blood of Dracula. 

Brides of Dracula actually does not star Christopher Lee. And the "Dracula" character isn't even in it. Instead it has a totally different actor in the main vampire role. What I liked about this movie is that its story is different from the other films. It's actually more of a Van Helsing movie which is played by Peter Cushing, who did return from the first movie.

Taste the Blood of Dracula is kind of a revenge movie. It still has the same plot structure like the rest of the films, but what I think makes this movie cool was the way Dracula was resurrected. It's pretty badass and kind of gross at the same time.