This movie begins with the short explanation that Count Dracula is dead--but his disciples live on. The film then shows a stagecoach being driven extremely fast over a dirt road and eventually coming to a stop at a nearby village where the lone passenger named "Mdm Danielle" (Yvonne Monlaur) is dropped off before the carriage speeds off again. It's at this time that an elderly woman walks into the inn and offers Mdm Danielle a place to stay for the night. She is then driven to a castle on the outskirts of the village. That night she meets a strange man by the name of "Baron Manster" who has been shackled inside a room within the castle and he convinces her to get the key and let him loose. Upon doing that what she doesn't realize is this particular person is no ordinary man--but a vampire who has now been set free to wreck havoc on the nearby countryside. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this particular film managed to continue the fine Hammer tradition of establishing a good, solid Gothic setting necessary for a movie of this type. Yet, even though it had a good story and more than adequate performances for the most part, I didn't particularly care for the ending or the selection of David Peel (as "Baron Meinster") for the role of the vampire. He just didn't seem to have the same sinister quality that actors like Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee manage to convey on screen. But that's just my opinion. In any case, I liked this film in spite of the previously mentioned criticisms and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.
Review of The Brides of Dracula
