Dracula jagt Mini-Mädchen (1972)

Dracula jagt Mini-Mädchen: Directed by Alan Gibson. With Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Stephanie Beacham, Christopher Neame. Johnny Alucard raises Count Dracula from the dead in London in 1972. The Count goes after the descendants of Van Helsing.

“Englandu0026#39;s Hammer Studios did 9 Dracula or vampire films from 1958-1974:u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e1. Horror of Dracula (1958); 2. Brides of Dracula (1960); 3. Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966); 4. Dracula has Risen from the Grave (1968); 5. Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970); 6. Scars of Dracula (1970); 7. Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972); 8. The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973); and 9. The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eChristopher Lee plays the Count in all but u0026quot;The Brides of Draculau0026quot; and u0026quot;The Legend 7 Golden Vampires.u0026quot; Peter Cushing also stars in four entries as Van Helsing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBy the time of the seventh film the creative well was apparently running dry and Hammer decided to spice up the series by bringing the Count to present-day London (1972, of course), which was Hammeru0026#39;s response to other successful vampire films at the time taking place in the modern day, such as u0026quot;The Night Stalker,u0026quot; u0026quot;Blaculau0026quot; and u0026quot;Count Yorga.u0026quot; The story revolves around a group of hip counter-culture youths performing a black mass in an abandoned church for kicks (although the ringleader takes it serious) and they revive the blood-sucking prince of darkness. Havok ensues.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePeter Cushing appears as Van Helsingu0026#39;s descendant. Christopher Neame plays the nutjob who performs the black mass with utter relish. Also on hand are the stunning beauties Stephanie Beacham and Caroline Munro. Stephanie plays Van Helsingu0026#39;s daughter and Caroline has a small but significant role. There are a couple of other early-70s hippie babes as well.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe first half of the film borrows heavily from the previous u0026quot;Taste the Blood of Draculau0026quot; in that the Count is resurrected in roughly the same manner, although u0026quot;Tasteu0026quot; is more effective. Which isnu0026#39;t to say that u0026quot;Dracula A.D. 1972u0026quot; isnu0026#39;t a decent entry in the series, albeit bizarre. The main problem with the film is that the story doesnu0026#39;t seem to know what to do once Dracula is resurrected. For instance, Cushingu0026#39;s final battle with the Count is fairly lame for various reasons (I donu0026#39;t want to give anything away), not to mention Lee only appears for about 10 minute in the entire film, which is usual for the series, of course.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnother problem is the score. It screams u0026quot;early 70su0026quot; in a bad way, but doesnu0026#39;t mesh with what is essentially a serious horror flick. Of course some would cite that as part of its charm. I said u0026quot;serious horror flick, by the way, because this is not a goofy or campy flick despite the colorful hippie elements and lousy score.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat works best is that itu0026#39;s a great period piece. Youu0026#39;ll get a groovy glimpse of Englandu0026#39;s counter-culture, including the hippie girls and a live performance by the band Stoneground (who didnu0026#39;t go anywhere beyond this movie, likely because their sound u0026amp; style was already passe by 1972). So, the first half is fun and compelling, whereas the second half just sort of goes through the motions and peters out.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBOTTOM LINE: u0026quot;Dracula A.D. 1972u0026quot; is hard to rate because, despite the mediocre-ness of the storyu0026#39;s second half, the film is a fun experience with numerous highlights. Hence, as a Dracula story I give it a C+, but for entertainment value I give it a solid B or B+.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film runs 96 minutes and was shot in England.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGRADE: B-“