One of Hammer's earliest hits was THE HORROR OF DRACULA (1958) starring a young Christopher Lee (today's audiences know Lee from THE LORD OF THE RINGS films) as Count Dracula. It was another retelling of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. Hammer had a hit and commissioned another Dracula film. But Christopher Lee didn't want to be typecast as Dracula (he would play the part again in 1966's DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM HIS GRAVE and 8 more times afterward). So Director Terence Fisher (who directed THE HORROR OF DRACULA) and three writers (Jimmy Sangster, Peter Bryan, and Edward Percy) moved forward with a vampire film without showing Dracula that would be called THE BRIDES OF DRACULA (1960) in which one of Dracula's disciples terrorizes an all-girl's school.
I first came across THE BRIDES OF DRACULA like I came across a few Hammer horror films while playing at a friend's house when I was a young boy. My best friend Richard's mother always had the television on at noon. A local channel seemed to be showing Hammer horror films at that time. I recall watching BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE (1958) also written by Jimmy Sangster and THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF (1961) which was also directed by BRIDES Terence Fisher while at his house. But I will never forget when THE BRIDES OF DRACULA came on in my friend's living room. The two scenes that etched in my mind were a dead girl's hands clawing out of the earth as she rose for the first time as a vampire and the giant windmill climax in which the hero destroys the vampire. I would not see THE BRIDES OF DRACULA again for more than twenty years until I rented bad video copy of the film in the early 90s.
THE BRIDES OF DRACULA opens with a narrator telling us Dracula is dead but his disciples live on as the 19th century comes to a close. Marianne Danielle (Yvonne Monlaur) rides a carriage from Paris to Badstein where she's to be a French student teacher at an All-Girls Academy. While stopping at the Running Boar tavern for food, one of those disciples (Michael Mulcaster) pays the coachman (the aptly named Michael Ripper) to take off without Marianne. Seemingly stranded at the inn, a late night visit for wine by the Baroness Meinster (Martita Hunt) turns into an invitation to spend the night with her at the nearby Meinster Castle. The Baroness says she lives alone except for her servant Greta (Freda Jackson). But from her bedroom balcony, Marianne sees a man in the courtyard below. The man is Baron Meinster (David Peel), the Baroness's son.
Marianne sneaks down to meet the Baron and discovers he's chained by the leg to the wall. Meinster begs her to steal the key from his mother's room and free him. The naïve Marianne obliges not realizing that Meinster is a vampire. No longer shackled, Meinster turns on his mother the Baroness then flees. When Marianne discovers the hysterical Greta grieving over the dead Baroness, she runs from the castle into the nearby forest. She's discovered the next morning by a coach carrying Doctor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing). Stopping at the Running Boar again, Van Helsing learns a young village woman (Marie Devereux) has died from mysterious circumstances. Before investigating the death, Van Helsing escorts Marianne to the Ladies Academy in Badstein.
At the Academy, Marianne meets the stern headmaster Herr Otto Lang (Henry Oscar) and his more warm hearted wife Frau Helga Lang (Mona Washbourne). Marianne meets the girls and hits it off with another student teacher Gina (Andree Melly). Van Helsing returns to the village to check on the dead girl but she's already been buried. When he goes to inspect her grave in the church yard, he witnesses Meinster's servant Greta urging the village girl to scratch her way out of the ground. Van Helsing tries to stake her but the village vampire girl escapes. Van Helsing wanders up to Meinster Castle and discovers Baroness Meinster inhabiting the grounds. She's also a vampire. The Baron is hiding out there as well. He escapes in his coach. Van Helsing waits until sunrise before hammering a stake through the Baroness's heart to give her peace.
Back at the Academy, Baron Meinster shows up to woo Marianne. He proposes to her and she accepts. Later that night, Meinster bites Gina. When Van Helsing returns to the Running Boar, he finds a Dr. Tobler (Miles Mallson) has arrived. He's been called to look into a death at the Girl's Academy. Tobler invites Van Helsing to join him. Van Helsing discovers that Marianne's engaged to Meinster. Gina's body lies in rest in a barn next to the school. When Gina rises and almost bites Marianne, Van Helsing arrives to intervene. He tracks Gina to an old windmill where Meinster is hiding out. Meinster battles Van Helsing and bites him. Van Helsing takes a hot iron and cauterizes the bite. Meinster returns to the Academy and grabs Marianne, taking her back to the old mill to join his other brides. He's surprised to find Van Helsing still alive. Good versus evil ensues as Van Helsing and Meinster duel with holy water and fire underneath the massive wind mill while Meinster's vampire brides watch with delight.
Hammer films were an exciting new interpretation of the Universal horror films. Hammer brought good production value to the stories (although you recognize some of the same sets and forests in their films). Early films like THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957) and THE HORROR OF DRACULA are well made if a bit over the top at times. THE BRIDES OF DRACULA is no exception. But there's something about BRIDES that raises it to a higher level than some of Hammer's other hit films. What seems unlucky in having Christopher Lee bow out as the tall, elegant Dracula provides an opportunity for the shorter but well coiffed David Peel to step in as a new vampire Baron Meinster. The film's location at an All Girl's School promises some sexual tension between the Baron and the young women he preys on. The relationship between Baron Meinster and his mother feels like Greek tragedy. And set pieces like the young vampire girl digging out of her coffin or the finale at the giant windmill (resembling a humongous holy cross) are memorable and will be copied by future filmmakers. But the key to THE BRIDES OF DRACULA popularity are those vampire babes...I mean brides.
Dracula's brides have always titillated audiences. The King of Vampires has three beautiful undead wives fawning over him. Do they all sleep together in one coffin? What do the brides do when he's gone? Iron his cape and dust the abbey? In Tod Browning's DRACULA (1931), we only get glimpses of the brides, dressed in flowing white gowns. They're beautiful and mysterious but Browning leaves us wanting to know more about them. He doesn't play up their sexuality. The Spanish version of DRACULA (also 1931) utilized Dracula's brides sensuality better than the English version. It wasn't until more recent films like Francis Coppola's DRACULA (1993) and Stephen Sommers' VAN HELSING (2003) put Dracula's brides front and center, emphasizing their sexiness and blood lust. But it was THE BRIDES OF DRACULA that first put a spotlight on the feminine side of vampirism.
There's always been something sensual about a vampire biting the neck of a young woman and drinking her blood. It's the supernatural equivalent to sexual intercourse. Whether the vampire is Dracula or Baron Meinster in THE BRIDES OF DRACULA, the men are usually handsome and aristocratic. The women they pursue are often virgins or soon to be married young ladies. Although DRACULA had the Count pursuing mainly one woman (Mina), BRIDES finally focuses on a multitude of women that Meinster wants to add to his flock. He's like a bloodsucking Warren Beatty. DRACULA and VAN HELSING showed the brides already dead and serving Dracula. THE BRIDES OF DRACULA is the first film to show a vampire like Meinster trying to create his trio of terror.
I would consider THE BRIDES OF DRACULA a cult film. I knew there was something unique about BRIDES but apparently so did some of Hollywood's best filmmakers. In the THE MATRIX RELOADED (2003), the Wachowski Brothers sequel to THE MATRIX (1999), THE BRIDES OF DRACULA can be seen playing on a television during a scene. In Tom Holland's FRIGHT NIGHT (1985), Roddy McDowell's character Peter Vincent is a homage to Peter Cushing and Vincent Price. McDowell definitely channels Cushing's Van Helsing and dresses like him too. But the biggest homage to THE BRIDES OF DRACULA is from director Tim Burton (BEETLEJUICE, BATMAN). In Burton's SLEEPY HOLLOW (1999), the finale takes place in a huge windmill that clearly is a nod to THE BRIDES OF DRACULA (and with a better budget). Burton even uses Hammer film stars Christopher Lee and Michael Gough (HORROR OF DRACULA, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA) in supporting roles for SLEEPY HOLLOW.
THE BRIDES OF DRACULA doesn't miss a beat with virtually unknown English actor David Peel as the main vampire Baron Meinster replacing Christopher Lee who chose not to return as the Count after THE HORROR OF DRACULA. Even though Dracula is mentioned in the title, Peel's Baron is one of his disciples, perhaps bitten by Dracula. The Baron comes off as a spoiled brat, a petulant son, and when cornered, a snarling vampire. We feel sorry for Meinster early when we learn his overbearing mother, the Baroness Meinster keeps him chained up. The Baroness sees her son as an embarrassment to the family name and a danger to the community. Mother knows best right? She still loves her son, even worships him. She later confesses she encouraged his partying with a bad crowd. Filled with guilt for what he's become, the Baroness lures Marianne to their castle, a sacrifice to her son to keep him happy. But the Baroness's plan backfires. Meinster tricks Marianne into setting him free. The first person Meinster turns on? His loving mother. Whereas Christopher Lee would return as Dracula in 1966, David Peel would give up acting and become a successful art dealer.
It's a sad moment when Van Helsing stumbles across the Baroness, now herself a vampire. She's embarrassed to be a member of the undead instead of the ruling elite. She gladly accepts Van Helsing's wooden stake through the heart to bring her peace. Peter Cushing as Dr. Van Helsing brings his usual class and gusto to the role of vampire killer. Cushing is a master at incorporating props with his acting. Watch him in BRIDES as he's always washing his hands, opening his medical bag, or in the finale, branding himself with a hot iron to rid himself of Meinster's curse. Cushing would play everything from Sherlock Holmes to a pirate captain for Hammer but he would mostly play either Van Helsing or Dr. Victor Frankenstein. After a distinguished career mostly appearing in the horror genre, Cushing would be rewarded with his most famous role as the evil Grand Moff Tarkin in George Lucas's STAR WARS (1977). Well done Mr. Cushing.
Sprinkled throughout THE BRIDES OF DRACULA are character actors whose performances also help make BRIDES so memorable. There's the alluring Yvonne Monlaur as the French student teacher Marianne and focus of Baron Meinster (Monlaur was actually French). Martita Hunt brings elegance as Baroness Meinster, the over protective mother of her vampire son. You will never hear a more bloodcurdling cackle than from Freda Jackson as the Meinster's loyal servant Greta. For comic relief, we have Miles Malleson as Dr. Tobler, the eccentric local doctor and a bit of a hypochondriac himself. Both Cushing and Malleson appeared in THE HORROR OF DRACULA although Malleson played a different, smaller role in HORROR.
Budget limitations hinder THE BRIDES OF DRACULA at times. Both Meinster Castle and the giant windmill are clearly models instead of the real thing. The large vampire bat that Meinster turns into is slow and not very realistic or scary. Yet THE BRIDES OF DRACULA has an operatic style to it. To hell that the production can't afford a real castle and windmill. Dramatic organ music played over the insert shots make the castle and wind mill seem big and real. Director Fisher uses lots of garish colors - velvety purples and burgundy reds to make BRIDES more flamboyant, vibrant. THE BRIDES OF DRACULA is a feast for the eyes with its sets, wardrobe, and overall visual look.
Hammer Films would ignite a new generation in the late 50s and 60s to discover the Universal monsters that gave audiences chills back in the 30s. Hammer would update these classic tales with lurid color, more blood, and a little bit of sex. THE BRIDES OF DRACULA would be one of Hammer's early successes. BRIDES has all the classic vampire motifs: caskets and graveyards, holy water and crosses, wooden stakes and giant bats, and blood thirsty vampires and oh, those wonderful, beautiful vampire brides. Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, and the Mummy would be in good hands with Hammer Films for the next decade.
