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The Lives and Deaths of
Hammer's Dracula

The Hammer Dracula Timeline

Researched and written by Kenneth Sundberg

Movie stills © Hammer Film Productions
Image enhancing by Kenneth Sundberg

In the late 1950s the motion picture character of Count Dracula was given a new life thanks to the British movie company Hammer Film Productions. Writer Jimmy Sangster was one of the "dynamite team" who rejuvenated the vampire lore for the 1958 DRACULA (aka Horror of Dracula). It was the movie which eliminated Dracula's ability to transform into a silly bat or a sheepish wolf - and presented the bloodthirsty vampire Count as a dynamic, passionate, violent and yet humane creature. These changes only improved the believability of the Gothic horror yarn. Tall, dark and devilishly handsome Christopher Lee became the Dracula for the new generation.

But already with the first sequel, The Brides of Dracula (1960), the same studio - and most of the original "dynamite team" - did horrible damage to the excellent 1958 preface by allowing vampires hiss like snakes inhaling balloons and turn into ridiculously clumsy giant bats. The Brides of Dracula did not even include Dracula himself, but because Peter Cushing's Doctor Van Helsing character was included, the movie is considered as an official sequel. Hammer's next vampire vehicle was The Kiss of the Vampire (1964) and even though both Cushing and Lee were absent, the movie turned out to be one of the finest vampire epics from Hammer.

Sadly, Christopher Lee's return as the vampire count in Dracula - Prince of Darkness (1966), was the opposite of The Kiss of the Vampire. The sorry script was credited to John Samson - actually a pseudonym hiding the producer Anthony Hinds and Jimmy Sangster. Producer Hinds continued writing the equally unambitious screenplays for further sequels under the pseudonym John Elder. Nevertheless, Dracula was a box-office item for Hammer and thus the series continued with Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) and Scars of Dracula (1970). The last-mentioned messed the continuity of the series entirely.

Replacing Anthony Hinds, writer Don Houghton brought everything else except the vampire Count into the hip 1970s in Dracula A.D. 1972. Hammer's official Dracula series starring Christopher Lee reached an embarrassing anticlimax in 1974 with The Satanic Rites of Dracula. The vampire count did, however, return once more in The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) - albeit the movie is actually a prequel to the entire Hammer Dracula series, with the vampire count in desperate need for proper resurrection.

KenNetti's The Lives and Deaths of Dracula is an essay on the Hammer Dracula character. The essay follows the official Dracula movies (starring Lee) in succession and in chronological order. The Hammer Dracula Timeline presents an expanded, never-before-seen analysis on the factual dates and years within each movie (including The Brides of Dracula, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, and The Kiss of the Vampire). KenNetti hopes that the essay and carefully-researched timeline bring some new perspectives into this very old subject matter.

- SPOILER ALERT -
You should NOT read any further if you don't know or don't want to know that in almost every film of Hammer's Dracula series Dracula gets resurrected in the beginning and killed in the end.

H A M M E R ' S
DRACULA MOVIES
Official and unofficial

PLEASE NOTICE
The list of Hammer's "official"
Dracula series contains usually
only the movies starring
Christopher Lee as Dracula.
There are, however,
many opinions whether
The Brides of Dracula and
The Legend of the 7 Golden
Vampires are "official"
sequels or not.

1
D R A C U L A
(aka Horror of Dracula)
Van Helsing: Peter Cushing
Dracula: Christopher Lee
Principal photography:
November 1957 - January 1958
British release: 22 May 1958
Screenplay by Jimmy Sangster
Directed by Terence Fisher
The KenNetti Rating

2
THE BRIDES OF DRACULA
(Original production title: Dracula II)
Dracula is not included in this movie!
Van Helsing: Peter Cushing
Principal photography: January - March 1960
British release: 7 July 1960
Original screenplay "Disciple of Dracula"
by Jimmy Sangster
Second draft of the screenplay by Peter Bryan
Final screenplay by Edward Percy and
Anthony Hinds (uncredited)
Directed by Terence Fisher
The KenNetti Rating

3
THE KISS OF THE VAMPIRE
(Original production title: Dracula III)
Dracula & Van Helsing not included in this movie!
Strictly speaking this movie does not belong
to Hammer's Dracula series, but when examined
more carefully, there are some details that link
this movie to Hammer's 1958 original Dracula
and also to 1966 Dracula, Prince of Darkness.
Principal photography: September - October 1962
British release: 5 January 1964
(Inspired partly by The Brides of Dracula
second draft screenplay by Peter Bryan)
Final screenplay by John Elder
(pseudonym for Anthony Hinds)
Directed by Don Sharp
The KenNetti Rating

4
DRACULA
PRINCE OF DARKNESS
Van Helsing is not included in this movie!
Dracula: Christopher Lee
Principal photography: April - June 1965
British release: 9 January 1966
(Inspired by a late 1950s draft The Revenge of Dracula)
Final screenplay by John Samson (pseudonym for
Anthony Hinds & Jimmy Sangster)
Directed by Terence Fisher
The KenNetti Rating

5
DRACULA HAS RISEN
FROM THE GRAVE
Van Helsing is not included in this movie!
Dracula: Christopher Lee
Principal photography: April - June 1968
British release: 7 November 1968
Screenplay by John Elder
(pseudonym for Anthony Hinds)
Directed by Freddie Francis
The KenNetti Rating

6
TASTE THE
BLOOD OF DRACULA
Van Helsing is not included in this movie!
Dracula: Christopher Lee
Principal photography: October - December 1969
British release: 7 May 1970
(Inspired partly by the original screenplay
"Dracula's Feast of Blood" by Kevin Francis)
Final screenplay by John Elder
(pseudonym for Anthony Hinds)
Directed by Peter Sasdy
The KenNetti Rating

7
SCARS OF DRACULA
Van Helsing is not included in this movie!
Dracula: Christopher Lee
Principal photography: May - June 1970
British release: 8 October 1970
Screenplay by John Elder
(pseudonym for Anthony Hinds)
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
The KenNetti Rating

8
DRACULA A.D. 1972
(Original production title: Dracula Today)
Van Helsing: Peter Cushing
Dracula: Christopher Lee
Principal photography: September - November 1971
British release: 28 September 1972
Screenplay by Don Houghton
(Original title "Dracula / Chelsea 1972")
Directed by Alan Gibson
The KenNetti Rating

9
THE SATANIC RITES
OF DRACULA
(aka Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride)
Van Helsing: Peter Cushing
Dracula: Christopher Lee
Principal photography: November 1972 - January 1973
British release: 13 January 1974
(Original draft "Dracula is Dead... But Alive...
and Well... and Living in London"
by Jimmy Sangster)
Final screenplay by Don Houghton
Directed by Alan Gibson
The KenNetti Rating

10
THE LEGEND OF
THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES
(aka "The Seven Brothers Meet Dracula")
Van Helsing: Peter Cushing
Dracula: John Forbes-Robertson
Principal photography: October - December 1973
British release: 29 August 1974
Screenplay by Don Houghton
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
The KenNetti Rating

The Original Essay
The Lives and Deaths of Dracula

PLEASE NOTICE
This essay includes only
Hammer's "official" Dracula movies
starring Christopher Lee;
(for the Hammer Dracula Timeline
please scroll downwards)

The main problem in Hammer's six official DRACULA sequels is that the writers - Anthony Hinds (under the pseudonym John Elder) and Don Houghton wasted time to create stories for new victims, although they should have concentrated a bit more to Dracula himself. Throughout the sequels the vampire Count just pops up, pops in for a drink or two, and then pops off - till the next movie. One doesn't need eyeglasses to witness Christopher Lee's disenchantment growing deeper and deeper with each sequel while playing the Count.

However, when Hammer's DRACULA series are watched in succession and in chronological order, the result is quite intriguing, to say the least.

The story starts naturally with Horror of Dracula (1958). The vampire Count, played to perfection by Christopher Lee, is strikingly young, dashing, tall, dark and handsome - in a mature way - and yet gruesome when needed. In other words, all's well, and the Count is happy as he is. Obviously he is in his "original" vampire form (in other words, no one has tried to destroy him yet).

But then Doctor Van Helsing (the great Peter Cushing) enters the story. Fighting against Dracula, the good Doctor rips some curtains away and the Count is burnt to death by the rays of the rising sun.

Ten years later (as the movie's story claims), the Count is suddenly brought back to life by a mysterious man servant named Klove in Dracula - Prince of Darkness (1966). Totally drained and terribly exhausted from his long slumber the Count doesn't understand exactly what has happened; he suffers from a major hangover (ouch, those red watery eyes!!) and eventually acts only by his animal-like instincts trying to survive - hence the lack of talk and some regrettable clumsiness. (Legend has it that Christopher Lee refused to speak any of the ridiculous lines written for the Count). Unfortunately in this first sequel Dracula has never the time to restore himself properly - only after biting one little neck (or two, if we include the opening scene from Dracula Has Risen from the Grave) he stumbles along, falls into the castle moat and drowns.

When the Count is again brought back to life thanks to a literally stumbling priest in Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), the bloodthirsty vampire has now a stronger will to survive and is full of rage because of the humiliating three-nights existence on his previous outing. The Count has also learnt another important thing: Women are good to drink from but are simply plain stupid when turning into vampires (implied quite clearly in both Horror of Dracula and Prince of Darkness) - so from now on the Count doesn't make his victims to become vampires anymore.

In Dracula Has Risen from the Grave the Count has regained his aristocratic charisma and is very powerful, near at the height of his great reign - but this is the point where all great men should take very cautious steps: Stumbling again, and once more literally, the Count meets his unforgettable doom with the crucifix and melts again into oblivion. Luckily he has a very persistent disciple (though not Klove) who sacrifices his own body and brings him, again, back to life in Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970).

Now, think of it: You have died once by burning badly in sunlight, once by drowning into chilling water, and once by getting impaled by a crucifix - not forgetting surviving another murder attempt by the good old stake-in-the-heart routine (in the infamous Dracula Has Risen from the Grave scene that may be more known than the movie's actual climax with the crucifix). After all this, you quite probably grow weary and just would like to stay dead.

But even if dead, you might want to defend your loved ones, those people who care about you. Thus comes the time to Taste the Blood of Dracula, and the Count is up again, this time a little reluctantly, but to revenge the death of his mortal disciple. But remembering everything that has happened to him in the past, the Count is extremely cautious and keeps hiding in the bushes or lurking in the shadows without his prior "larger-than-life" aristocratic presence (which was so clear in Horror of Dracula and Dracula Has Risen from the Grave). And, by God, the Count would have lived his eternity happily from here on, if he wasn't quite accidentally destroyed again ...by God himself, in God's house. A blunder indeed, for the Count.

At this point it is good to notice that the Count was far from his home. Actually in England. He didn't care of the spooky-white walls and high-class decoration of his magnificent castle anymore - now he was happy in dark crypts and dusty dungeons. So, when a funny bat spat blood onto his remains and brought him back to existence for the fourth time, in Scars of Dracula (1970), the Count knew exactly what he should do: Remain in the darkness, far from ruined chapels, crucifixes, moats, and other stuff that would mean destruction for him. So, he moved into a very different castle which provided the necessary darkness and shadows for his remaining happy days. After so many terrible adventures, the Count was tired and humble, although still thirsty - but only a shell of a man that he once had been. If he managed to look his reflection in a mirror, he would have been heartbroken to see this zombie he now was. Thus the name Scars of Dracula has more than one meaning.

But what about Klove, the mysterious man servant of his? Klove's scars may be much deeper than the Count's; perhaps Dracula found his old servant and beat the hell out of him because of the bad job Klove had done to begin with (in Prince of Darkness) - the result being the disfigured and different-looking Klove in Scars of Dracula. And then they lived happily ever after. Until, that is, when some villagers went crazy and burnt half of the castle down. And from there on, all went downhill. Happily flapping bats had more power and determination than the Vampire Lord himself. Who would like to continue such an existence? Thus, one could easily believe, that when the volts more than twelwethousandsomething hit through the Count's body in the form of a lightning bolt, he quite possibly thought "Please let me die."

But no. Not a chance, because in the early seventies an extremely annoying disciple brought him - again - back to life in Dracula A.D. 1972 (released, surprise surprise, in 1972). After being burned by the sun, drowned in icy water, impaled by a crucifix, destroyed by God's wrath, and electrocuted by lightning (and getting impaled by a broken carriage wheel, if we include here the independent prologue of Dracula A.D. 1972) - there's not much chances that the Count would be the same dashing aristocrat of his youth with definitive power. On this return the Count has regained a healthier-looking skin color and a better hair-do (compared to his previous outing), but these superficial features won't hide the fact that he is just a grumpy old man. Very old. And tired. Instead of venturing into London's bustling seventies nightlife the Count decides to stay hiding in a ruined church.

A ruined church? Hasn't the Count's previous ruined church episode (Taste the Blood of Dracula) taught him anything? Or perhaps, could it be his intentional decision, his own silent death-wish to remain in the church - as hazardous as it is - because he is so very tired? Perhaps because he is so tired, he also continues his nearly-trademark stumbling fashion by falling into an open grave and perishes again when getting impaled by several wooden stakes.

And yet, by the time of The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1974) he is once more brought to existence (although this time nobody cares to explain how it was done). Thus the very tired grumpy old Count decides that since he is doomed popping up and off as long as there are stupid people in the world, it is better to destroy the entire world. Maybe, just maybe then the Count would finally get his rest in peace - even if it meant dying of thirst. That's why Dracula becomes extremely furious - and regains a big part of his long-lost aristocratic charisma - when Van Helsing Jr. (once again Peter Cushing) mangles the Count's magnificent plan. Not anymore stumbling, but unfortunately getting literally tangled up - in a hawthorn bush - the dying Count must have just one thing in his mind when the merciless thorns tear off his skin: "Please God, let this be it. Keep me dead."

And so it was. Finally the grumpy old extremely tired Count Dracula, the Prince of Darkness, got his eternal rest in peace.

Putting all the Hammer DRACULA movies together this way gives a tiny fragment of evidence that even though most of these movies are just plain silly with their individual stories, Anthony Hinds and Don Houghton did accidentally concoct quite a humane - and surprisingly believable - script whole for the title character in Hammer's DRACULA series starring Christopher Lee.

However, if the Hammer Dracula series are examined more carefully - and three important, Dracula-inspired vampire movies by Hammer are included into the whole - they form quite an incredible timeline...

Never-Before-Seen Analysis
The Hammer Dracula
T I M E L I N E

- The Years, Stories & Characters -

Including the following Hammer movies
Dracula (aka Horror of Dracula, 1958)
The Brides of Dracula (1960)
The Kiss of the Vampire (1964)
Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966)
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
Scars of Dracula (1970)
Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1974)
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)

The years and dates are
facts from the movies
except the ones with *
indicate pure supposition
by KenNetti

1804
Transylvania
(The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires)
Eastern occultist Kah dares to disturb the sanctity of Count Dracula. Entering Kah's body through metamorphosis, the vampire count moves to China. Ending up into an abandoned temple near the village of Ping Kuei, Dracula apparently enjoys his new Chinese identity as the leader of the Seven Golden Vampires.

July 12, 1814,
unknown location
(Dracula A.D. 1972)
Lawrence Van Helsing is born. The proud father may be Joseph Van Helsing ("husband of Elizabeth") born June 11, 1783, and departed May 2, 1847. All this can be read on the tombstone at St. Bartolph's church.

September 18, 1872, London
(Dracula A.D. 1972)
The very first "destruction" of Dracula and the death of Lawrence Van Helsing. After spreading horror in China for several decades, Dracula's globetrotting has ended up in England, where Lawrence Van Helsing gets killed while destroying Count Dracula quite accidentally during a high-speed chase through Hyde Park in London. Getting impaled by a carriage wheel, Dracula disintegrates to dust. (The beginning and other details of this adventure are not officially explained in the movie). Dracula's disciple, an ancestor of Johnny Alucard, witnesses his master's disintegration and buries the remaining ashes outside the gates of St. Bartolph's church, while Van Helsing is laid to rest into the hallowed grounds of the graveyard. Apparently this specific disciple didn't know an easier and swifter way to resurrect his master - because it takes exactly one hundred years to Dracula's resurrection at St Bartolphs.

1885, unknown location
(Dracula Has Risen from the Grave)
Gisela Heinz is born. Twenty years later she will be the infamous "Dead Girl in Bell" in the church of an unnamed Carpathian village.

May 3, 1885, Carpathia
(Horror of Dracula)
Jonathan Harker arrives at Castle Dracula, near the village of Klausenberg in the Carpathian mountains, Transylvania. In the castle, an astonishingly young-looking Count Dracula welcomes Harker to work as an librarian. (More than twelve years has passed since Dracula was destroyed during the mysterious 1872 London adventure; apparently someone has resurrected the vampire lord without the ashes buried at St. Bartolphs). Dracula knows that his new librarian is a "distinguished scholar" but may not know that Harker is, in reality, a vampire hunter and a very close friend to a Doctor Van Helsing. Or then Dracula actually knows all of it and starts the very first carefully prepared revenge to all vampire hunters led by the Van Helsing family. During an unforgettable first night in the library of Castle Dracula, a vampire woman takes a quick bite of Jonathan.

*May 4, 1885, Carpathia
(Horror of Dracula)
Jonathan Harker finds out that he has been bitten. He climbs out the window, leaves his diary into a hallowed place near the castle and goes searching for Dracula's crypt (which is actually ridiculously easy to find - and even easier to enter). Jonathan finds both Dracula and the vampire woman sleeping in their tombs. Obviously Jonathan cares more for the vampire woman, because he stakes her first. The screaming woman doesn't disintegrate, but ages swiftly into an old hag. Unfortunately Dracula is awakened by the horrifying screaming - and thus Jonathan Harker meets his own doom at the clutches of the very angry vampire count.

"A few days later", Carpathia
(Horror of Dracula)
A stranger arrives at the village of Klausenberg. He is Doctor Van Helsing - (but we never learn his first name or anything else about him; he may be Lawrence Van Helsing's son, brother, twin-brother, doppelganger or just an associate; however, the ultimate possibility is that he may as well be the seventy-years-old Lawrence Van Helsing who did not die in 1872 but staged his own funeral to be able to continue vampire hunting from the shadows). While he is an expert on vampirism, this Doctor Van Helsing does not know the exact location of Castle Dracula. To find Harker and the castle, Van Helsing needs the villagers' help, but a local landlord refuses to be of any help. However, someone from the village has visited very recently at Castle Dracula, because Van Helsing receives a surprise souvenir with his meal: the diary of Jonathan Harker. Traveling to the castle, Van Helsing witnesses a hearse with a white coffin storming out from the castle. After searching the castle, Van Helsing finds Dracula's crypt. Harker is sleeping in the tomb previously occupied by Dracula. To save his friend's soul, Van Helsing destroys the vampire-Harker by staking and burning (both offscreen).

*May 14, 1885, Carlstadt
(Horror of Dracula)
Doctor Van Helsing breaks the news to Arthur Holmwood that Jonathan Harker, the groom of Holmwood's sister Lucy, has died. According to Van Helsing, ten days has passed since Jonathan's death (but it is not clear if the doctor actually refers to the destruction of vampire-Jonathan or the day Jonathan became a vampire).What Van Helsing doesn't know is that the bedridden Lucy is already under Dracula's spell. The same night Dracula makes another visit to Lucy's bedroom.

*Some days later, Carlstadt
(Horror of Dracula)
Arthur's wife, Mina Holmwood, wants a second opinion of Lucy's strange illness and lets Van Helsing to examine the young woman. Despite Van Helsing's intervention, Lucy dies after one more nocturnal visit by the vampire count. Lucy becomes a sinister new vampire woman. For some reason, Lucy wants her first victim to be housekeeper Gerda's daughter, little Tania. However, Lucy the vampire is destroyed by Van Helsing before any real atrocities happen. The gruesome staking has quite an effect on Lucy: death restores her breathtaking beauty.

December 1, 1885, Ingstadt
(Horror of Dracula)
Count Dracula's hearse with a white coffin is registered into the records of Ingstadt's customs house. This little fact mentioned in the movie offers quite an incredible revelation: Dracula's journey from Transylvania's Klausenberg to the frontier of Ingstadt - and further to Carlstadt - has taken nearly half a year: Van Helsing arrived to Klausenberg only "a few days" after Harker's arrival and witnessed the white hearse storming out from Castle Dracula. So, if Dracula's journey to Carlstadt really took half a year, the entire continuity of the story turns very questionable and extremely silly: Why does the movie's climax present the chase from Carlstadt via Ingstadt to Carpathia as if it would happen all in less than one day?

*1885 or 1886, Carpathia
(Horror of Dracula)
Dracula's second destruction. Doctor Van Helsing rips window curtains away in the library of Castle Dracula and the searing sunlight disintegrates the vampire lord to dust. Intriguing detail: Most of Dracula's clothes do not disintegrate - and neither his famous silver ring.

*After 1885 to early 1890s,
Transylvania
(The Brides of Dracula)
Dracula's disciple, Baron Meinster, causes trouble in the district and is chained into his room by his own mother. Not very intelligent French woman called Marianne Danielle ends up in the Chateau Meinster, liberates the Baron and runs into the night to be rescued later by Doctor Van Helsing. Marianne starts her dubious career as a teacher in the Badstein Girls' Academy, but soon the bloodthirsty Baron is all over the place. Van Helsing returns to fight against the evil Baron and his very lame "brides". In an epic burning windmill (a la 1935 The Bride of Frankenstein) the brides are apparently destroyed by the flames. Baron Meinster is totally shocked that his good looks have been messed up with holy water and falls weeping to the ground, while Van Helsing experiments the vampire-destruction power of the shadow of a windmill.

1895 or 1896, Carpathia
(Dracula - Prince of Darkness)
or 1905, Carpathia
(Dracula Has Risen from the Grave)
(The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires)

IMPORTANT NOTE
ABOUT THIS "GAP" IN TIME:
As the somewhat careless writers of Hammer's Dracula series seem to have pulled most years out of a hat, it is more the viewer's opinion what counts when trying to fill the plot holes and some major gaps in this silly timeline. In the first sequel, Dracula - Prince of Darkness, the adventure takes place "ten years after" the events of Horror of Dracula. After careful inspection of the second sequel (Dracula Has Risen from the Grave), the first sequel could easily be repositioned to happen in 1905 - not ten but nearly twenty years after Dracula's destruction in 1885 or 1886. Likewise, if we take no heed of the death year revealed on the lid of Gisela Heinz's ("Dead Girl in Bell") coffin, the adventure of Dracula Has Risen from the Grave could have taken place ten years earlier. However, KenNetti sticks to the impressive Gisela Heinz evidence - but also because The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires does offer further evidence for Dracula being alive and well around 1904 - extremely close to the death year of Gisela Heinz - thus giving unexpected substance to the theory that the spirit of Dracula hopped from one place to another, depending where and how he was resurrected. After all, some of Dracula's ashes were still awaiting to be resurrected outside St Bartolph's graveyard in England, while another chunk of his remains was waiting for resurrection in Carpathia...

1904, China,
the village of Ping Kuei
(The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires)
Professor Laurence Van Helsing battles against the covenant of Chinese vampires with the aid of martial arts experts. In the climax Laurence Van Helsing confronts his old nemesis Dracula, emerging from the dark overlord Kah. Quite effortlessly, the professor destroys the vampire lord by impaling him with a spear. While Dracula disintegrates, Van Helsing and his adult son Leyland survive this adventure. (Logically speaking, how did we ever return to China at this point? Maybe the vampire lord, after his second destruction, crept back into his morphed, still-excisting Chinese form). At this point it is also good to note, that while the "Doctor" has changed into "Professor", this Van Helsing should be the one from the previous adventures (Horror of Dracula and The Brides of Dracula). However, he can also be another son, brother, twin-brother, doppelganger or just another associate of daddy Lawrence.

*1905, Carpathia
( o r - 1 8 9 5- / -1 8 9 6 )
(Dracula - Prince of Darkness)
(PLEASE SEE THE ABOVE NOTE)
In Dracula - Prince of Darkness, the mysterious manservant named Klove has taken up residence at the Castle Dracula in Carpathia. On their way to the even more mysterious area of Carlsbad, four English tourists (!) meet the grumpy and schizophrenic Father Sandor, the Abbott of Kleinburg, who takes Doctor Van Helsing's role in this adventure. Sandor (who is actually the only source claiming that Dracula was destroyed "ten years ago") calls all local vampire-believers idiots, and yet warns the English tourists NOT to go the "Castle"! Of course, the tourists end up in Castle Dracula, where the elegant but eerie Klove welcomes them heartily. Count Dracula is brought back to life via a bloody ritual by the murderous Klove. (Intriguing detail: the resurrection materializes only Dracula's naked body, while Klove provides new clothes for the Count; Dracula's naked body is only hinted by showing a naked, hairy arm and hand crawling up from the tomb, while Klove waits with a new cape for the Count). One of the tourists, the very frightened Helen Kent, becomes a most sensuous vampire woman after Dracula's bite - but unfortunately her vampire career ends before it has even started properly.

*1905, Carpathia
( o r - 1 8 9 5- / -1 8 9 6 )
(Dracula - Prince of Darkness)
(PLEASE SEE THE ABOVE NOTE)
The Prince of Darkness spreads his reign of terror on only three consecutive nights. On the third night Dracula wants Diana Kent to drink his blood, but is interrupted badly. At the very beginning of his fourth night the remaining Kents and Father Sandor corner the Count on the frozen river of Castle Dracula. The vampire lord sinks into the running waters through cracked ice and drowns - but does not disintegrate.

1905, Carpathia
(Dracula Has Risen from the Grave)
The blood-splashed Gisela Heinz is found suspended in the bell of a village church and buried. Gisela, the "Dead Girl in Bell" represents clear evidence that Count Dracula had more victims on the three consecutive nights of his previous reign of terror than is revealed in the previous movie (Dracula - Prince of Darkness). The quite-well-preserved Gisela is to be exhumed by Dracula's servant a year later; the coffin lid has 1905 as the year of her death.

1906, Carpathia
(Dracula Has Risen from the Grave)
Ernst Muller, the Monsignor of the province of Kleinenburg pays a visit to the unnamed little village near Castle Dracula. While the Monsignor reminisces that "a year has passed since Dracula was destroyed", the most accurate mathematic truth - based on the timeline started with Horror of Dracula and continued in Dracula - Prince of Darkness - is that the bloodthirsty Count should have drowned in the icy waters of the castle river ten years ago. (However, since Gisela Heinz's coffin is better evidence than the schizophrenic ravings of Father Sandor, we stick to the year 1905 and the narration by the Monsignor). The vampire lord is gone for good, but his spirit is definitely still alive - as felt by the people of the village. The Monsignor makes a grievous mistake by performing an exorcism at the castle entrance, while the village priest accidentally provides the needed blood to resurrect the drowned, frozen body of the Count. While the Monsignor returns to the "big apple" (the town of Kleinenburg), the village priest falls under the spell of Dracula. Since a huge crucifix prevents Dracula to enter his home castle, he aims revenge on the Monsignor. In the village graveyard the priest exhumes the coffin of Gisela Heinz to provide an obscene but very necessary resting place for Dracula outside the vampire's own dominion. Off they go to Kleinenburg where Dracula abducts the Monsignor's niece Maria and brings her to his Castle to remove the crucifix.

1906, Carpathia
(Dracula Has Risen from the Grave)
(Taste the Blood of Dracula)
While travelling through the area of Karlsberg (?) or Carlsbad (?), an English entrepreneur Weller stumbles upon the climax (of Dracula Has Risen from the Grave) - of Dracula getting impaled by the huge - and sharp - crucifix. Witnessing Dracula's disintegration, Weller eventually understands what kind of treasure lies among those ashes. The disintegration is not actually shown in either versions of this Dracula Has Risen from the Grave climax, although some of Dracula's blood does turn to dust in the extended Taste the Blood of Dracula version of the scene. Intriguing detail: this time Dracula's clothes seem to disintegrate with the exception of the new cape (that was provided by Klove in Dracula - Prince of Darkness). The famous ring and clasp survive the disintegration, and Weller takes them.

*A year or another later,
London, England
(Taste the Blood of Dracula)
Count Dracula is resurrected for the first time via a Black Mass - in London, of all places! (Taste the Blood of Dracula doesn't mention any particular year; some reviewers claim that this is Victorian London, which means that this adventure should have taken place before 1901, before King Edward's reign; however, since this movie features a prologue straight from Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, the action should take place in Edwardian era, 1901-1919). Among the tombs and crypts of an ominous graveyard, in a deconsecrated church, the young and arrogant Lord Courtley arranges a dark ceremony for three shocked hedonists who beat him to death when the mass seems to go awry. Enter Dracula (via resurrection) who revenges his servant's death. Dracula's later destruction is the most bizarre in the Hammer series: it seems to initiate when Dracula smashes a stained glass window above the altar, in the church which has apparently transformed from deconsecrated to holy, thanks to a quick exorcism by our hero Paul Paxton). Dracula falls on the altar and once again disintegrates to dust.

The decade of 1900,
Bavaria, unknown city
(The Kiss of the Vampire)
Doctor Ravna conducts a series of "scientific experiments" which are the reason he has to leave "the city of his birth". His elegant vampire family moves into an identical castle to Castle Dracula (as seen in Dracula - Prince of Darkness, although actually the gorgeous castle miniature in The Kiss of the Vampire was produced and shot in 1962, before the first official Dracula sequel was produced in 1965). While there is no mention of Count Dracula in the Ravna residence - and Bavaria in only mentioned in the script - the timeline actually allows the castle to be actual Castle Dracula in Carpathians (which has been deserted by Klove and Dracula by 1906)! Since the Ravna vampires are not "ordinary" vampires, they could easily live in a castle that has been exorcised. (The decade is supposition based on Ravna mentioning in The Kiss of the Vampire about the experiments he did "a few years ago").

1910, Bavaria
(The Kiss of the Vampire)
A honeymooning couple gets tangled in a great mystery of an elegant vampire cult occupying the great castle nearby. Living in the Ravna family's residence, the breathtakingly beautiful vampiress Tania could quite easily be the same little-Tania of the Holmwood household of Horror of Dracula (she would be maximum 26 years old if she had transformed into a vampire, let's say, in 1905 at the latest; alternately she could have been a vampire much longer time). A fact remains that Tania's alleged mother Gerda (the actress Olga Dickie) is among the funeral guests in the prologue of The Kiss of the Vampire - and the movie does not give any hint how many years Tania has been a vampire. (However, producer-writer Anthony Hinds, under the pseudonym John Elder, was quite fond of re-using names such as Marianne, Anna, Lucy, Paul, etc. in his screenplays - and Tania is actually not an exception, as the next entry shows). The vampire cult led by Dr. Ravna is destroyed by a swarm of bats. (Intriguing detail: In the village graveyard, very near to the new vampire's grave, there is Dracula's stone coffin from the 1958 original movie's prologue).

No time particular,
in and out of Kleinenburg
(Scars of Dracula)
The remains of Count Dracula have been moved from the English graveyard (of Taste the Blood of Dracula) into a gloomy castle nowhere in particular (Scars of Dracula). The vampire lord's loyal servant Klove has returned to take care of his master - but this time the obligatory resurrection is handled by a huge bat who dribbles blood on the dusty remains. Thus follows a huge body count with an endless amount of horrifying scars, while several people run back and forth between the castle and an unnamed tiny village. (Kleinenburg is the "big apple" featured only in the beginning of the movie). Worth of mentioning is that Dracula's new (but quite unattractive) vampire lady is called Tania. In the thunderous climax at the castle courtyard, Dracula is electrocuted by a flash of lightning. Bursting into flames, the vampire lord takes a deep plunge down from the castle wall - and thus disintegration is not certain.

September 1972, London
(Dracula A.D. 1972)
Occult expert Lorrimer Van Helsing meets his grandfather's immortal nemesis anno domini 1972. Count Dracula's ashes at St. Bartolph's church have finally been used in a obscene ceremony by Johnny Alucard. Dracula is resurrected via a Black Mass in which Lorrimer's granddaughter Jessica also takes part - albeit quite reluctantly. Lorrimer destroys the fresh vampire Johnny Alucard in a very modern way: by the running waters of a shower and bathtub. In the climax Count Dracula falls into a grave filled with sharp-pointed wooden stakes, a trap prepared by Lorrimer in a succesful attempt to save Jessica from the vampire lord's clutches. Once more Dracula disintegrates to dust.

*Late 1972, London
(The Satanic Rites of Dracula)
Another disciple, Chin Yang (maybe a descendant of the covenant of the 7 Golden Vampires?) resurrects Dracula via unexplained method. Dracula assumes the persona of "comic strip supervillain" under the name D.D. Denham and builds a tall, modern building on the site of the demolished St. Bartolph's church. Dracula lives the next two years happily without any interruptions.

*November 21, 1974, London
(The Satanic Rites of Dracula)
Lorrimer Van Helsing puts together the puzzle of another satanic mass and is convinced that Count Dracula is alive, and well, and living in London - and planning to destroy all life on earth, including himself. Knowing that the 23rd of the 11th month - which happens to be "the day after tomorrow" in the movie - is the "Sabbath of the Undead", Lorrimer becomes afraid that Dracula's ultimate revenge will take place on that date. (However, since the date is not specifically specified in the movie, we must emphasize that the exact date given above is pure supposition by KenNetti).

*November 23, 1974, London
(The Satanic Rites of Dracula)
The ultimate destruction of Count Dracula. Lorrimer Van Helsing confronts D.D. Denham and exposes him as Dracula. Lorrimer is taken to Pelham House, where Dracula is preparing the ultimate mass - and to vampirize Jessica Van Helsing once and for all. Heroic Special Branch officer Murray saves the day. After the fiery climax Dracula gets snared in hawthorn bushes - a religious symbol connected with Christ - and Lorrimer terminates the vampire lord's existence by plunging another stake through the evil heart. Dracula disintegrates for the last time and Van Helsing picks up the Count's silver ring. Murray and Jessica live happily ever after. (However, since the date is not specifically specified in the movie, we must emphasize that the exact date given above is pure supposition by KenNetti).

K e n N e t t i ' s
The Hammer Dracula
IMAGE GALLERY

Patience please: Opening soon!
This gallery will include original posters
and quite rare photos, including the
enlargement copies (to the small
framed images on this page).

Dracula (aka Horror of Dracula, 1958)

The Brides of Dracula (1960)

The Kiss of the Vampire (1964)

Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966)

Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)

Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)

Scars of Dracula (1970)

Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)

The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1974)

The Legend of the
7 Golden Vampires (1974)

* * *

The KenNetti Main Page

The Dracula Tribute Main Page

KenNetti Presents
THE LIVES AND DEATHS
OF HAMMER'S DRACULA
A Little Tribute

Research, analyse, text,
and image processing by
Kenneth Sundberg

P r i n c i p a l
information & image sources
Peter Haining: The Dracula Centenary Book
(Souvenir Press Ltd, 1987)
Dracula: the comic book (Magazine Management,
Marvel Comics Group / published in Finland
by Semic Press Oy, 1974)
Michael R. Pitts: Horror Film Stars
(McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 1991)
Marcus Hearn & Alan Barnes: The Hammer Story -
The Authorised History of Hammer Films (Titan Books
/ Titan Publishing Group Ltd, 1997, 2007)
David Miller: The Complete Peter Cushing
(2000, 2005 Reynolds & Hearn Ltd)
Legrand, Karney, etc: Chronicle of the Cinema
(1995, Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc.
/ Chronik Verlag)
Music from the Hammer Films
(1989, Silva Screen Records Ltd /
Liner notes by unknown writer)
Hammer Presents Dracula with Christopher Lee
(1974, Hammer City Records, EMI Records Ltd
/ 1994 re-release by BGO Records /
Liner notes by Basil Copper)
The Horror of Dracula (a 1992 re-release /
1974, Hammer City Records, EMI Records Ltd /
Silva Screen Records Ltd, 1992,
liner notes by James Bernard)
The Best of Hammer Horror (2001,
GDI Records / Demon Music Group Ltd /
Music Collection International)
The Hammer Vampire Film Music Collection
(2001, GDI Records, RMG/Universal /
Liner notes by John Mansell & Marcus Hearn)
Taste the Blood of Dracula - Soundtrack
(2000, GDI Records, RMG/Universal /
Liner notes by Marcus Hearn & John Mansell)
Nigel Andrews: Horror Films (1985,
Multimedia Publications [UK] Ltd)
Cinema / Kino magazines (Kino Verlag GmbH)
Shivers magazine (Visual Imagination Limited)
Cinefantastique magazine
Fangoria magazine
Starlog magazine
Maple, Humberstone & Myring: Supernatural World
(Usborne Publishing Ltd, 1979 / Published in
Finland as "Noidan käsikirja" by
Kustannusosakeyhtiö Tammi, 1983)
The Usborne Book of the Haunted World (1995,
Usborne Publishing Ltd / Published in Finland
as "Aaveiden Atlas: Opaskirja yliluonnolliseen" by
Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava, 1997)
Joules Taylor: Vampires (Hamlyn, Octopus
Publishing Group Limited /
Published in Finland as "Vampyyrit" by
Kustannusosakeyhtiö Nemo, 2009)
www.imdb.com / wikipedia.org
and Kenneth Sundberg

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KenNetti is a totally non-commercial website by Kenneth Sundberg to pay tribute and to honour the work of the talented people behind some of the most wonderful things found on this planet. All the material is gathered here only to inform, to promote things that need to be noticed, and to entertain people all over the world. KenNetti and Kenneth Sundberg are not affiliated to any of the companies, theme parks, movies, people, ghosts or other things appearing on this site. No rights of reproduction have been granted to KenNetti or Kenneth Sundberg, except where indicated. If You feel that some image or material whatsoever should not appear on this site, please CONTACT Kenneth Sundberg so that we can quickly resolve the problem.