Dracula Has Risen from the Grave: A Standard Entry in the Hammer Series That Offers Nothing New (Blu-ray)

The Film:

The great Sir Christopher Lee became quite well-known for a number of roles he played throughout his prolific career, including Saruman in "The Lord of the Rings," Fu Manchu in five different films, and Lord Summerisle in the horror classic "The Wicker Man," though, of course, there are those who will forever remember him as one of the very best to take on the role of Count Dracula, a part he played a grand total of ten times over the course of 18 years, seven of which were for Hammer Films.

The third of these Hammer outings was the aptly-titled "Dracula Has Risen from the Grave" from 1968, where indeed the notorious vampire happens to get resurrected in a rather silly & coincidental manner to continue his reign of terror. Lee's first two entries left a lot to live up to, but that didn't stop screenwriter John Elder and director Freddie Francis from trying. The film received a somewhat mixed reception, and in the course of nearly 60 years, doesn't really seem to get mentioned very often alongside its predecessors, but in hopes of getting it back in the conversation, Warner Bros. has decided to re-issue the standard Blu-ray, once again giving us the perfect excuse to revisit another older classic. Does this lesser-discussed entry deserve to be placed right alongside the first two, or is this sequel better left in the shadows?

As the film opens, a young altar boy discovers the corpse of a woman inside a church bell who appears to be a victim of Count Dracula (Christopher Lee). The Count was supposedly killed a year ago, but this discovery ignites fear that his evil spirit still curses their small village. Meanwhile, Monsignor Ernst Mueller (Rupert Davies) has come to the village for his annual inspection, but finds that the locals refuse to attend mass due to the shadow of Dracula's castle touching the church and that the local priest (Ewan Hooper) has lost his faith.

In an effort to fix the situation, Mueller & the priest go to the castle to perform an exorcism, but the latter only makes it part of the way and falls as he attempts to flee a thunderstorm. He survives, but is wounded, with his blood just happening to trickle into Dracula's mouth, whose icy confinement was broken by the priest's fall. Mueller finishes the exorcism and seals the castle with a cross, but Dracula takes control of the priest in order to exact revenge on the Monsignor's niece, Maria (Veronica Carlson), who is currently being courted by local baker Paul (Barry Andrews). Will they be able to stop the notorious vampire before he's able to get to her?

"Dracula Has Risen from the Grave" starts off as you would think a follow-up would, with the local villagers still living in fear of the possibility that Dracula is still alive or still exerting some kind of evil influence over them. This is, of course, followed by the Count being brought back in a pretty ridiculous manner to once again wreak havoc as before, with only a few brave souls willing to try and stop him. If this sounds like a very typical "Dracula" outing, that's because it basically is a rather standard entry that doesn't really try to do anything new or outgoing with the material, instead settling for a film that follows the regular beats that the audience would expect.

That said, it's hardly a bad entry, it's just one that doesn't do anything unexpected or out of the ordinary. If you're looking for nothing more than the infamous vampire going about his usual bit of taking victims while people try to stop him, you might find enough here to like, but for those hoping for a little more, you'll likely be a little disappointed at Lee's third outing as the Count, perhaps even more so with its strange lack of stronger horror elements. What we end up with is basically a middling entry, one that dutifully follows the outline for a run-of-the-mill "Dracula" flick, but which doesn't strive to do anything more, ultimately giving us the likely reason as to why it's usually not brought up alongside its stronger predecessors very often.

Video/Audio:

"Dracula Has Risen from the Grave" returns to Blu-ray in a 1.85:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of excellent quality, presenting a crisp, sharp picture throughout its entire 92-minute duration that perfectly highlights its various period details. Likewise, the 1.0 DTS-HD Master Audio track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in outstanding quality. Overall, Warner Bros. has done a marvelous job in both areas for the film's re-issue.

Special Features:

None.

Conclusion:

"Dracula Has Risen from the Grave" is basically your standard entry that has the resurrected Count once again causing his usual havoc, which may be enough for some, but for those hoping for it to be a little more outgoing or attempt to do something beyond a typical, run-of-the-mill "Dracula" outing, it may be a little disappointing to find that it's ultimately satisfied to be a somewhat middling sequel.

Score: 3/5

Now available on Blu-ray.

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