Critic Reviews
67
Metascore
Generally Favorable
positive
5(56%)
mixed
4(44%)
negative
0(0%)
Showing 9 Critic Reviews
100
It's a film that deserves recognition as one of this country's finest horror movies, a sexually charged Gothic nightmare featuring standout performances from Hammer stalwarts Lee and Peter Cushing, who stars as vampire hunter Van Helsing.
100
Bloody well done. Hammer finally gave the Dracula legend the treatment it deserved here, entrusting it to the brilliant director of The Curse of Frankenstein, Terence Fisher, who injected glorious life into the familiar material.
80
Superb direction from Terence Fisher and a crisp, clean script by Jimmy Sangster are complemented by a rapturous score from James Bernard. [27 Oct 2013, p.6]
75
A colorful version of Bram Stoker's deathless tale of the bloodsucking count has Christopher Lee as a suave Dracula and Peter Cushing as his nemesis Von Helsing. [02 Oct 1998, p.J]
70
Both director Terence Fisher as well as the cast have taken a serious approach to the macabre theme that adds up to lotsa tension and suspense.
60
Peter Cushing carries most of the ho-hum script as Dr. Van Helsing, though the well-lit color photography, central to the Hammer formula, can't compare with the shadowy magnificence of Nosferatu (1922) or Dracula (1931).
60
It's often entertainingly creepy in a twilit world of its own.
60
By deviating from Stoker's text, Hammer was clearly signalling a new direction in horror. It was garish, it was sexy and it was never afraid to be gory.
50
Perhaps the constant hunt for hemoglobin is slowing our villain down, for this time there are strong indications that the once gory plot is showing definite signs of anemia.
