Review Dan Curtis' Dracula (1973)

[chainsaw_metal1]

Written by Richard Matheson and directed and produced by Dan Curtis, the genius behind Dark Shadows, this version of Dracula takes many cues from the Hammer productions, with a gothic house instead of a castle. Here the titular vampire is played by Jack Palance, who gives a very good performance, giving us a pained and tortured Count. In a twist of fate, Palance would play Dracula here, and several years before, Marvel Comics illustrators used Palance as the model for the character in their comic Tomb of Dracula. Matheson was also the first writer to use the long lost love angle for Drac, with Mina being a reincarnation of his long dead beloved. Good production values, good acting, and it feels very much like it might have been done by Hammer. Worth checking out. I think it's still up on Hulu.

 

[johnnybear]

I saw this last year for the first time in decades! It's good but not a patch on the Hammer Christopher Lee films of the fifties, sixties and seventies! Strange how both Dan Curtis and Hammer killed Jonathan Harker off too!
JB