10 Hammer Horror Movies You NEED To See

If Dracula 1958 was Batman Begins, then Prince Of Darkness is The Dark Knight. Presented as a direct sequel, this is nearly as good as it gets and the whole gang are back again; Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelley and Terrance Fisher behind the camera. This is Christopher Lee's finest performance as the titular count, ironically, as he des not utter one single word of dialogue; his red eyes, imposing frame and enthusiastic physicality do all the heavy lifting here.

After an action packed prologue, the drama finds two English couples, Charles, Diana, Alan and the wary Helen, travelling through the Carpathian Mountains. Warned to stay away from the local castle by Andrew Keir's expositional Abbot, this is of course exactly where they end up, ferried in by a horse drawn coach that appears from nowhere. It's all downhill for the Brits from there: Dracula is resurrected when Alan is murdered by the butler and left to drip onto the Count's desiccated remains. Instant vampire? Just add blood.

Although the absence of Cushing is felt, the vivd production design, especially Carlsbad Castle (a set built entirely on the back lot at Bray) and the frozen moat that spells the downfall of Dracula in the film's climax, more than makes up for it. The performances are played with utter conviction, all to the sound of the increasingly declamatory orchestra, that ramps up the tension with dramatic crescendos in the final fight to the death. This film is as immortal as its iconic villain.