transforms mundane British parkland into Transylvania. Only MUST BE DESTROYED has a few patches of print damage, and is further af- flicted by minor background audio crackle (nev- ertheless, the foley effect of a hand-drill boring through the top of Freddie Jones’ skull is one of our favorite gruesome sounds). Added picture quality affords added detail worth lingering over: witness the 19th Century newspaper caricature of George Pravda and Peter Cushing as vulturous mad doctors glimpsed in MUST BE DESTROYED, but even period beer adverts used as background décor in HAS RISEN are worth an admiring freeze- frame. All are 16:9-enhanced, which very occa- sionally cramps headroom, but never impinges disastrously on the frame in the way we noted [VW 94:34] on Warners’ DVD of Hammer’s original HOR- ROR OF DRACULA (to be fair, those without widescreen monitors have reported that the prob- lem is less evident if that release is seen letterboxed). So, the films have to stand on their own
merits. Though the Frankenstein was made between
the two Draculas, it makes sense to juggle chro- nology and look at the pair before the singleton. Despite Freddie Francis’ THE EVIL OF FRANKEN- STEIN (not yet on DVD) and Jimmy Sangster’s THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN [VW 79: 46], the Hammer Frankenstein cycle can best be as- sessed as a sub-set of the oeuvre of Terence Fisher, who stuck with the Peter Cushing-starring
films from THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN [VW 94:34] in 1957 to FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL in 1973. However, after delivering two (arguably, three) Draculas, Fisher left that series to a succession of other hands, with Christopher Lee’s increasingly-marginalised Count providing some physical continuity and, at least until DRACULA A.D. 1972 (not yet on DVD), a run of John Elder/Anthony Hinds scripts fur- thering an overall storyline, picking up from Fisher’s DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS (avail- able from Anchor Bay in an old, non-anamorphic but enjoyable widescreen transfer) a tendency to pick up from Dracula’s death in a previous in- stallment, explain how he comes to be up and about and mixed-up with a new clutch of young leads (with heroes more often than not named Paul) and then dispatch him via some new method in preparation for a next resurrection. Oddly, though one director essentially guided his career, Cushing’s Victor Frankenstein wasn’t as served by continuity: after THE REVENGE OF FRANKEN- STEIN [VW 89:62], a direct sequel to CURSE, each instalment reinvented the background, previous history and even fundamental character of the Baron. It’s a moot point as to which approach is superior: the Draculas are sometimes hamstrung by a serial-like need to get the Count out of his last predicament, while each of the Frankensteins makes for a more satisfying solo watch—though fans paying close attention tend to grumble about
Christopher Lee alights to the room of Veronica Carlson for a late night snack in DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE.
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