With The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula (the latter retitled Horror of Dracula in America to avoid confusion with the Browning version, which was still playing in theaters twenty-seven years later) at the helm, director Terence Fisher created a series of films, known as Hammer Horror after the production company backing the pictures, based upon the original Universal monsters. Yet, aside from being one of the few diligent forces in horror during the following decade, the Hammer Series firmly established Britain as a source for serious cinematic terror because, in his various interpretations of the monsters which haunted humanity in the past, Fisher updated the horrors of the contemporary society in a cycle of devastating, visceral films which brazenly presented evil at its apex.
In May of 1888, Jonathan Harker (John Van Eyssen) arrives at Castle Dracula with the intent to kill its namesake under the ruse of being hired as Count Dracula’s (Christopher Lee) private librarian. Before nightfall on the day of his arrival, a woman (Valerie Gaunt) mysteriously presents herself and bites Harker. Later that evening, Harker discovers the female and her master sleeping in caskets and drives a wooden stake through the former’s heart as Dracula escapes. Harker’s friend, Doctor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) arrives at the castle shortly thereafter to discover his friend’s body resting in a coffin as Harker’s fangs gleam in the moonlight. Van Helsing dispatches his friend and returns home to divulge to Harker’s fiancée, Lucy (Carol Marsh), that her beloved is dead. He is received by Lucy’s sister, Mina Holmwood (Melissa Stribling), and brother, Arthur (Michael Gough), who are skeptical about the mysterious nature of Lucy’s demise as they disclose that Lucy isn’t well. Doctor Seward (Charles Lloyd Pack) is sent for and, unable to diagnose Lucy, Van Helsing advises closing the windows from dusk until dawn and filling the room with garlic flowers. At midnight, Lucy, unable to breathe, tells the maid, Gerda (Olga Dickie), to remove the garlic and open the windows. Upon finding Lucy’s corpse the following morning, Van Helsing vows revenge.
Obviously, Fisher’s version of Bram Stoker’s novel deviates quite liberally from the original source material but, contrary to what many critics theorized, the director’s decision to do so was not solely based upon the desire to make the central figure more explicit or the violence more gratuitous in order to garner ticket sales. Rather, like modern day interpretations of Shakespeare, Stoker’s work is altered in order to reflect the culture and time in which it was being made.
For example, by having blood flow freely and placing numerous scenes of impalings unabashedly on screen, the implication follows that evil can no longer be conveniently veiled or overlooked. The subject of revaluation in this regard is directly addressed in the film when Arthur and Van Helsing discuss what are common myths concerning vampirism and those that are fact-based (many of which conflict with what Stoker and Browning had informed us previously). To this ends, the director usurps the omniscient knowledge of Browning’s Van Helsing as we learn alongside Fisher’s protagonist while he researches his nemesis. Thus, Fisher grants us our intellectual modesty whereas latter-day monster hunters were default scholars upon the nature and weaknesses of their social predators. Logically, the mysterious nature of monsters such as Dracula are ambiguous because, if a large body of knowledge pertaining to their circumstances where known, they would readily be eradiated and social normalcy returned as a consequence. This premise is also paralleled by the now staple character Doctor Steward, an inept authority who is dumbfounded as to the cause of Lucy’s illness.
Another of Fisher’s most prominent themes to this philosophical effect is his emphasis upon his victims’ sexual licentiousness, which–as in Stoker’s time–was a social faux pas. As in the novel, Dracula (or any of his protégées) is only able to seduce a human if the latter is willing. Fisher’s social criticism presents itself in that many characters are yearning to be victimized during the film. We watch as Lucy eagerly anticipates Dracula’s entry into her bedroom (Cushing’s portrayal of the Count generated countless fan requests asking to be granted the eternal kiss from the actor). Early in the film, Harker succumbs to his fate due to accepting the pleas of “You must help me” from a robust Valerie Gaunt as she nestles in her savior’s chest before peering longingly up at his pulsating neck.
Complimenting his critique of sexual autonomy, Fisher altered the original with the pointed intent of highlighting the manner in which Christianity was being perceived during the time. He did this by having his protagonists use the sign of the cross, not as a saving grace which is reverently received and humbly appreciated, but rather as an avenue for revenge.
Not only have the ills of society become more poignant in the director’s worldview, but the chasm between good and evil everyday life has narrowed as a consequence. Fisher transverses Dracula’s ancestry, traditionally set in Transylvania, by placing his antagonist in a nearby town which is accessible by carriage, thus localizing the “curse” of Dracula. (There are some geographical anachronisms with the various locales in the film but the essence of the short proximity between Castle Dracula and the Holmwood’s estate is nonetheless retained.)
Cushing’s rendering of the Count compliments the localizing of evil by disengaging the vampire from social norms and delicacies in that, instead of courteously greeting Harker upon his arrival, Dracula leaves a note alongside a cold meal. Later that evening, after curtly greeting Harker, Dracula does not reemerge with a smile and a bow but rather with eyes blazing and fangs bared as he descends upon his victim. As such, however stringently social dictums and mores were reinforced in a culture known as the epitome of such standards, evil was now unwilling to abide but such arbitrary legislation in the wake of its hedonistic, self-interested desires. In so doing, Fisher allows his vampire to freely exhume evil, permitting the associations with Satan uttered during the film to be more readily acceptable.
Terence Fisher created his radical version of Dracula with the intention of breaching standardized ideals and preconceptions, not only concerning the figure of Dracula and how to depict such a character and his subsequent tale, but also by forcing his audience to forego their notions of acceptable morality and the contemporary mindset regarding religion. In this sense, Fisher selected the perfect medium and topic in which to initiate and present rigorous social because he knew that few would be able to sever themselves from what had come before. With this, while many critics ostracized his work as genre blasphemy, Fisher knew he had accomplished his task.
-Egregious Gurnow
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
