If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

There are some effective scenes in Dracula Prince of Darkness, most notably the revival of the old Count himself by his manservant. The story however, relies upon the strangers stranded in an old house they've been warned against trope, and Dracula himself is curiously sidelined for much of the movie.Gone also is the gorgeous colour pallet of Hammer's first Dracula; instead we have a fairly bland-looking widescreen film, which makes it feel more about cost-cutting than developing the series further. While Father Sandor (Andrew Keir) is an acceptable replacement for Van Helsing he isn't given enough screen time. Only Barbara Shelly rises above the material to give a good performance.Poor old Christopher Lee. No wonder he used to moan so much about the shoe-horning of Dracula into any old story. He's ill used here and doesn't have a single line of dialogue.There are some compensations however. The brutal sacrifice of one of the tourist party to resurrect Dracula is extremely well done and surprisingly gruesome, as Kensington Gore rains down upon Dracula's ashes. Also the staking of Barbara Shelly is powerful - almost a symbolic rape-scene as the clergy pin her down. And the climax is pretty good, too. Adequate if not great, then, on the whole.

Christopher Lee was really a good actor at playing as Dracula but he wasn't more talked about or more successful as Bela Lugosi was. I mean, Christopher Lee has the sense of being the Count but at the same time, he wasn't that good at the same time. Lets just say, he was just an alright actor but I don't think any actor will replace Lugosi's fame of being the ultimate Dracula.The setting for the film was good, it actually did give me chills and I mean, chills that you normally wouldn't feel unless it is a freaky movie. Yeah this is a bit of freaky movie like Dracula did kill a couple and was trying to kill the other couple. The horse carriage with no one on it and the couple staying in a weird looking shed was sorta creepy.Good film but not a favorite Dracula film of mine.......

Either Christopher Lee wasn't asked to reprise his famous role, or declined the offer to appear in a sequel to 1958's ground-breaking 'Dracula/Horror of Dracula' for over seven years. While he pursued other projects the world over, Hammer had continued to make a name for itself as a major horror film company.One of the most astounding aspects of 'Prince of Darkness' is that Lee's distinctive voice, which was such a hallmark of his Count, is entirely absent here; Dracula is silent. Again, it's never been made quite clear whether Lee refused to say the lines, or that he just wasn't given any. Jimmy Sangster has said 'vampires don't chat', and didn't write any for his main character. Lee, never afraid to slate Hammer Dracula productions, has said he refused the lines given him. Either way, this is a very ponderous, uneventful film. We have interesting characters like Klove, Dracula's 'manservant', and a Renfield-type called Ludwig, both of whom do not have a great deal to do and seem almost superficial. The other characters are a stuffy bunch – Helen is made a little more interesting when she becomes a vampire, but is still very mannered – especially when compared to Melissa Stribling's saucy Mina from the original. The acting is very good all round from a terrific cast, the characters just seem perfunctory. I really miss a formidable foe for Dracula. Andrew Keir as Father Sandor is enjoyable, but he is no Van Helsing.The film also suffers from 'sequelitis' in that it takes half the running time for Dracula to be resurrected (in the film's best sequence – certainly the most bloody), which means that his reign of terror lasts … just over half an hour. In the original, he had been terrorising his townsfolk for centuries.Dracula's demise is similarly cursory. It's a fairly impressive finale – even if it does make The Count appear rather foolish – but pales when compared to grisly finale of the original.

Horror of Dracula will always be my favourite of the Hammer Dracula series, but Dracula: Prince of Darkness is still very good and one of the best in the series.There are a couple of imperfections, with Dracula: Prince of Darkness' main flaw being the rather too-long a time it takes to set up, with some of the first thirty minutes being a little draggy. The dialogue is also rather ham-fisted and over-silly, which was a bit of a shock to me seeing as the script was penned by Jimmy Sangster, whose scripts for Hammer are usually quite intelligent and nuanced. The acting is very solid on the whole, but Francis Matthews is somewhat stiff and pallid as the hero, and his chemistry with Suzan Farmer, who with her charming sympathetic presence actually acquits herself pretty well, is a little on the dull side.Dracula: Prince of Darkness looks great though. It's very beautifully shot and has a wonderfully sumptuous Gothic atmosphere throughout. The handsome sets and period detail are very evocative, and the colours are strikingly atmospheric. James Bernard's music score is very effective, it isn't too complicated but what it is is very elegant in orchestration and effortlessly creates chills without ever being too obvious. Dracula: Prince of Darkness may get off to a slow start, but the story is mostly entertaining and engrossing. Sure it is not unlike anything we have seen already, but that didn't matter, because a vast majority of the film is brilliantly suspenseful and has a genuine sense of dread and creepy atmosphere, the chills and scares pitched beautifully. There are also three unforgettable scenes, the still shocking(and quite gruesome) Dracula resurrection, Helen's pretty nerve-shredding demise and the exciting climax on the ice.Regarding the acting, it's solid on the whole apart from Matthews. The sadly late legendary Christopher Lee, even without saying a word, still induces goose-bumps as Dracula, while a wonderfully gruff Andrew Keir is a worthy opponent for him(if not erasing memories of Peter Cushing, not that one should really be expecting that) and Barbara Shelley proves herself to be more than just a beautiful-looking scream queen, there's some nice sympathetic depth to her performance. Phillip Latham is very creepy as Klove and Thorley Walters' Ludwig sends shivers down the spine. Terence Fisher directs adeptly.All in all, while not quite Hammer at their finest, even with its flaws, Dracula: Prince of Darkness is still one of the standouts of the Hammer Dracula series. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox