The Brides of Dracula (1960)

Before Hammer Studios learned the valuable trick of reincarnating its marquee star for every sequel, they tried to follow-up their fine 1958 Dracula reboot, Horror of Dracula, with this half-ass vampire effort, sans Christopher Lee.

With Dracula himself still dead from the stake of Van Helsing, the famed Count's cult nevertheless still haunts the forests of Transylvania. In The Brides of Dracula, this cult appears to amount to little more than a dandy Baron (David Peel) whose mommy has chained him up in the castle to prevent him from spreading the vampire disease. It doesn't take long, however, for the Baron to escape, endangering the nubile student body of a nearby girls' academy, and requiring the cunning Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) to come to their rescue.

Aside from a couple of tasty fang reveals and rising-from-the-graves, The Brides of Dracula is a ton of interminable filler without any purpose. Cushing's Van Helsing is at his most fey and ineffectual, consistently unable to perform the simplest task (at least until his miraculous bite cure & ridiculous final move, which should never have worked). Peel's golden boy vampire is laughable, and only the wide-eyed but very stupid Marianne (Yvonne Monlaur) is worth watching.

Hammer vampire movies can be a lot of fun. This one was a bore sprinkled with neat scenes. They wisely waited 6 years and resurrected the count for the follow-up, Dracula: Prince of Darkness.