“Horror Of Dracula” (also known as just “Dracula”) is a 1958 British movie that is the first in the long line of Hammer “Dracula” films. This is easily one of the better Hammer films that I’ve seen. It’s not my favourite version of “Dracula” but I respect it and enjoy it for what it is.

In this film, Jonathan Harker accepts a job at the castle of Dracula (Christopher Lee “The Wicker Man”, “The Man With The Golden Gun”). Harker intends to kill Dracula for he knows he is a ghoulish vampire. When Harker fails, Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing “Star Wars”, “Top Secret!”) becomes the only one with the knowledge and conviction that is capable of defeating the foul creature when it goes after Harker’s family.

While I do like the performance from Christopher Lee, I’m frequently disappointed at how little he speaks in the role. Other versions of the character would use their charisma to charm people with conversation. Sadly, Lee never really gets to do that because he so rarely speaks. Peter Cushing is great as Van Helsing. Lee and Cushing had previously worked on Hammer’s “The Curse Of Frankenstein” and would go onto to work together in many more horror pictures. The other characters are fine and I like the performance from Michael Gough (“Batman”).

“Horror Of Dracula” is an enjoyable interpretation of the story. It misses a lot of the elements that I liked in some of the other versions such as “Nosferatu”, the 1931 “Dracula” and 1992’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”. If you’ve seen other Hammer films, you probably know what to expect. Hammer brought the violence and there are some great effects here. I love the atmosphere and I really like the performances too. If you’re a vampire movie fan then you owe it to yourself to see the first of the Hammer “Dracula” pictures.