Complete list of Dracula movies from British studio Hammer
DRACULA MOVIES FROM HAMMER (1950s-1970s)
It’s hard to find a better example exploring the Dracula legend on screen than the Hammer films made between 1958 and 1974.
Article summary:
Complete list of Dracula movies from British studio Hammer
How to get these movies (including film collections and box sets)
The surprising connections between Dracula and another literary character!
Following the success of the Universal Monster movies in the 1930s and 1940s, British studio Hammer took up the mantle in the 1950s and made some classic monster movies—featuring some of the same monsters—through the 1970s. Hammer’s Dracula movie series often starred Christopher Lee as Count Dracula and Peter Cushing as Doctor Van Helsing.
Lee was quoted by the Hollywood Reporter:
“I haven’t spent my entire career playing the guy in the bad hat. Although I have to say that the bad guy is frequently much more interesting than the good guy.” (SOURCE)
Peter Cushing said in an interview that his early acting was mostly theatre comedy and TV work.
“But after the sensational and financial success of those early Hammer pictures, you do rather get typecast. It doesn’t matter.”
He also shared what fans would write to him:
“What they say in their letters is that the horror films of today, they repel you and you’re sickened. And the Hammer ones that we did make you shiver and shake and cuddle each other to feel comforted, but they never repelled.” (SOURCE)
There were nine Hammer movies about Dracula and company. Below, we have info about each of the movies! (Including where you can find them.) Plus some decidedly weird details…
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Complete list of Dracula movies from British studio Hammer
Dracula i.e. Horror of Dracula (1959)
Celebrating the landmark Dracula movie made by actual British people.
In 1958, British movie studio Hammer picked up where Universal Monsters had left off, launching their own monster movie series with DRACULA starring Christopher Lee as Count Dracula and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. The first of NINE movies in Hammer’s Dracula film series, DRACULA adapted the original novel—albeit in a scaled-down format.
By the way, Christopher Lee’s version playing Dracula was named by Empire magazine as the seventh “Greatest Horror Movie Character of All Time.” The movie itself was labeled as the 65th “best British film ever” when Time Out magazine polled 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics.
“The Dracula movies are probably some of the most famous and enduring ones there are,” Lee was quoted as saying. “And I am very grateful to them, for sure.” (SOURCE)
Find Dracula i.e. Horror of Dracula on Amazon
The movie is also available in these sets:
4 Film Favorites: Draculas (Dracula A.D. 1972, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Horror of Dracula, Taste the Blood of Dracula)
TCM Greatest Classic Film Collection: Hammer Horror (Horror of Dracula / Dracula Has Risen from the Grave / The Curse of Frankenstein / Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed)
The Brides of Dracula (1960)
That time The Brides of Dracula was almost about Dracula. (Kind of.)
When Dracula died in his debut movie, British film studio Hammer brought back Van Helsing in the 1960 movie THE BRIDES OF DRACULA. The movie starred Peter Cushing again as the vampire killer.
One interesting detail is that early drafts of the screenplay revolved around a completely different character—and Count Dracula was originally going to make an appearance. It was only during rewrites that Dracula was taken out and the story was changed to be about Van Helsing.
As for Dracula, don’t worry—he eventually got better. Christopher Lee came back as Count Dracula in 1966’s DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS.
Find The Brides of Dracula on Amazon
The movie is also available in this set:
The Hammer Horror Series (Brides of Dracula / Curse of the Werewolf / Phantom of the Opera / Paranoiac / Kiss of the Vampire / Nightmare / Night Creatures / Evil of Frankenstein)
Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)
When one of the Dracula movie characters ended up with a spin-off series.
Christopher Lee returned to the role Count Dracula in 1966’s DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS. Created by British movie studio Hammer, the movie follows a family arriving at a tiny hamlet in the Carpathian Mountains. But when they're diverted to the former castle of Count Dracula, his former manservant wants to use their blood to make Dracula rise again from the dead.
One of the movie’s characters was Father Sandor. Under the alternate spelling “Father Shandor,” turns out the demon-fighting priest had a comic book series in England. When the magazine HOUSE OF HAMMER in 1977 adapted DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS, they apparently continued with the priest in an ongoing comics feature.
As for the movie, Dracula: Prince of Darkness is the one where Dracula never speaks out loud. “As everybody knows,” Lee was quoted as saying, “I didn’t speak, because I said I couldn’t say the lines.” (SOURCE)
On the other hand, the film’s screenwriter—Jimmy Sangster, who wrote under the pen name John Samson—claims that he didn’t write anything for Dracula to say.
Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1968)
When that priest accidentally brought Dracula back from the dead. Again.
The fourth of Hammer’s Dracula movies, this was the third to star Christopher Lee as Count Dracula. The movie also shows a village trembling in fear. And a priest forsaking his vows in the service of evil. And young beauties falling victim to a mysterious seducer. And, well, each night bringing the threat of death. Because, you know, Dracula has risen from the grave.
Find Dracula Has Risen From the Grave on Amazon
The movie is also available in these sets:
4 Film Favorites: Draculas (Dracula A.D. 1972, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Horror of Dracula, Taste the Blood of Dracula)
TCM Greatest Classic Film Collection: Hammer Horror (Horror of Dracula / Dracula Has Risen from the Grave / The Curse of Frankenstein / Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed)
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
Christopher Lee returns to play Dracula with a “terrifyingly bloodshot performance.”
After three English gentlemen accidentally bring Count Dracula back to life (again), the Count decides to get revenge for the death of his servant and plans to make the men die by the hands of their own children. The fifth movie in Hammer’s Dracula series—and fourth to star Christopher Lee as Count Dracula—Taste the Blood of Dracula has gotten some good reviews. The Los Angeles Times called the movie “superior in production, performance, story and atmosphere” to the previous movie in the series, and also remarked that Christopher Lee “seems to take new interest in the role with a terrifyingly bloodshot performance.” The book The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films referred to the movie as “the finest genuine Dracula sequel in the entire series.” Surprisingly, Taste the Blood of Dracula was originally written without Dracula appearing at all—until Lee was convinced to come back to play Dracula again.
Find Taste the Blood of Dracula on Amazon
The movie is also available in this set:
4 Film Favorites: Draculas (Dracula A.D. 1972, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Horror of Dracula, Taste the Blood of Dracula)
Scars of Dracula (1970)
Certain details that contradict the earlier movies have made some ask whether a reboot was planned in case Christopher Lee didn’t come back.
A young man is murdered while spending the night at Count Dracula’s castle, prompting his brother to come to the small town where all the traces end to look for him. Scars of Dracula reconstituted a few details from the character as introduced in Bram Stoker’s original Dracula novel. The Count is now introduced as an “icily charming host.” He has command over nature. He can scale the walls of his castle. Scars of Dracula also gave Lee more to say and do than any of Hammer’s other Dracula films since he first played the character in 1958’s Dracula.
Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
When Dracula showed up in the present day. (Well, still decades ago, I guess.)
For the Hammer movies about Dracula and company, the film DRACULA A.D. 1972 (made in, well, 1972) was the one that said, “What if Dracula woke up in the same time as when the movie was made?”
Sure, Van Helsing (played by Peter Cushing) killed Dracula in 1872. But then 100 years later, Dracula was brought back from the dead in modern (well, “modern”) London. You know, with electricity and cars and stuff.
It sounds like I’m making fun of the movie, but it is totally worth checking out.
Find Dracula A.D. 1972 on Amazon
The movie is also available in this set:
4 Film Favorites: Draculas (Dracula A.D. 1972, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Horror of Dracula, Taste the Blood of Dracula)
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
That time Dracula was a Bond villain. (Sort of.)
IN 1973, British movie studio Hammer brought back Christopher Lee as Count Dracula in the movie THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA. Oh—and despite the title, you could say this one was the LEAST “occult” of the series. It also saw the return of Peter Cushing as a version of Van Helsing.
This is one of those movies where I love the weird mashup of ideas—but feel kind of weird that I like it so much. Here’s the deal: Set in the present day (well, the 1970s), THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA is a whole lot like a kind of spy-fi movie with the Secret Service and with actress Joanna Lumley starring as Jessica Van Helsing. And, you see, Joanna Lumley was a cast member in the British spy-fi TV show THE NEW AVENGERS. And the big finale involves Dracula acting a whole lot like a supervillain from a James Bond movie.
So maybe it sounds too weird to you. But I love all these different ideas mashing up together at the same time.
Find The Satanic Rites of Dracula on Amazon
By the way, here are the opening credits of the 1970s spy-fi show The New Avengers with Lumley:
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)
Wait—is this the WEIRDEST or the BEST Dracula movie?
So in 1974, British movie studio Hammer teamed up with the Hong Kong movie studio Shaw Brothers to create this vampire-kung-fu movie LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES. In the Monster Complex show on YouTube, I called this the “what the hell was that” Dracula movie.
In the movie, it’s 1904 and Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing is back!) and son are in China when they get asked to deal with a group of sword-wielding vampires. Oh, and it involves Count Dracula—but now being played by someone who is not Christopher Lee.
I’ll be honest. I’m weirdly fascinated by this movie. But not sure I really want to show it to anybody.
As for the Dracula movies losing Christopher Lee, he had this to say: “I stopped appearing as Dracula in 1972 because in my opinion the presentation of the character had deteriorated to such an extent, particularly bringing him into the contemporary day and age, that it really no longer had any meaning.” (SOURCE)
The surprising connections between Dracula and another literary character!
(And WAIT until you find that character’s connections to another famous Universal Monster!)
Certain things we remember about Dracula actually come from a DIFFERENT vampire from a DIFFERENT book altogether! Click the video below to find out the SURPRISING revelation on this episode of the Monster Complex show!
See the original article: Did DRACULA copy ANOTHER vampire from a DIFFERENT book?
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British studio Hammer kicked off their classic monster movies with their Dracula films often starring Christopher Lee as Count Dracula and Peter Cushing as Doctor Van Helsing. Find out about all nine movies in their series.