Great opening for this installment, a deaf altar boy discovers a young woman hanging upside down from the church bell, blood dripping from her neck. Move forward a year and Count Dracula is accidentally revived. He goes on his usual round of terror and bloodsucking, his target of desire being the beautiful Veronica Carlson. He certainly has great taste in women! The sets are great, I felt like I was almost in the mountain village. Good cast, nice to see Hammer's most prolific actor Michael Ripper have a larger part than normal. No Peter Cushing here, which makes the vampire hunter aspect interesting. There is some debate within the film of faith versus atheism, apparently staking a vampire does not work if the person doing the staking lacks religious belief. Interesting. We have no nudity but there are sexual overtones. Thankfully we get plenty of blood, plus Hammer's trademark day for night scenes and swirling fog. Not one of the studio's best vampire movies but it's still a wonderful piece of Gothic horror, I grew up on watching these films and love immersing myself into them, over and over again.

Great Gothic Hammer horror. One of the better Dracula sequels and one of director Freddie Francis' best. It has a lot of the elements you expect and appreciate from Hammer: solid actors, great sets, quality direction, beautiful and vivacious young women. The plot is relatively simple: Dracula wants revenge and pretty blonde Veronica Carlson but her Monsignor uncle and loser boyfriend have a thing or two to say about that. There's also some interesting additions to the mythology where belief vs atheism is concerned. It all makes for a very entertaining sequel full of many familiar and proved effective Hammer staples, with several new ones as well.

There were quite a few Hammer Dracula films made from the late 1950s well into the 1970s. Most of them were very good, though a few seemed like "the same old same old"--nothing particularly new or innovative. Fortunately, this one offered some unique aspects--making it well worth a look.

The film begins in the town near Dracula's castle. While the evil monster is indeed dead, the town is in dread--sure that somehow the old vampire will return. Based on the many, many times he DID return in the films (despite being clearly destroyed at the end of each film),perhaps the townspeople weren't so dumb after all! However, the Monsignor arrives in town and castigates the local priest for allowing the town to remain in dread and takes the less than willing priest to the castle to perform the exorcism rite and put an end to Dracula forever. But, of course, on the way, the monster is unleashed in one of the more unusual reincarnations of Dracula. Sadly, while this was VERY creative, the camera man and director didn't notice that you can clearly see Dracula's reflection in a pool of water--and we all know that according to every other Hammer vampire film that the beasts can't cast a reflection.

Now here's the really unique part. When Dracula returns to his castle, he sees that the doors have been sealed shut with a giant crucifix and he cannot enter his castle. So, he spends most of the rest of the film seeking out the Monsignor and destroying him as well as his family.

The film features all the usual sets, acting and action. However, Christopher Lee is given almost no lines in the film, though you do see him quite a bit. Additionally, it's one of the few monster films from Hammer that has a real honest-to-goodness sequel that picks up exactly where this one left off in the follow-up films "Taste the Blood of Dracula". Good stuff and a worthy addition to the franchise.