SPOILERS
| Added | Sun, 29/05/2022 |
| Release date | 06-07-1960
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| Original title | The Brides of Dracula
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| Феномены | |
| References |
"Brides of Dracula" (English: "The Brides of Dracula") is a horror film produced by Hammer Film Productions, released in 1960.
The film is a sequel to the 1958 film Dracula (also known as The Horror of Dracula), although the character of Count Dracula does not appear in the film, but is only indirectly mentioned twice.
The baroness in the film drinks Tokay wine, which can serve as a reference to the work "The Vampire" by Heinrich August Ossenfelder, published in 1748.
Young Marianne has to go to work as a teacher in Badstein. She stops at Meinster Castle, where an old baroness lives with her maid Greta and a handsome son, whom she keeps locked up. This arouses Marianne's interest. She visits the young Baron Meinster and learns that he is being held on a silver chain that restrains his movements. Driven by a sense of compassion, Marianne steals the key and frees the Baron.
At night, she wakes up from the terrible scream of the Baroness. Marianne finds the Baroness dead in a wheelchair, blood flowing from her neck. In a panic, Marianne runs into the forest. By chance, Dr. Van Helsing, who happened to be there, finds Marianne lifeless in the forest. He brings her to Badstein.
Soon a girl from the village is found dead. Dr. Van Helsing, after examining the wound, comes to the conclusion that she was killed by vampires. He hurries to the castle, where, in his opinion, evil spirits should dwell, but the castle is abandoned.
Meanwhile, the Baron visits Marianne and proposes to her. Since Marianne suspects Greta of the murder, she calmly accepts the offer.
The next morning, a second victim is found: Gina, Marianna's colleague. Van Helsing orders to isolate the coffin in the stable and keep an eye on it. When it's Marianne's turn to keep watch, the coffin lid suddenly opens and Gina gets out of it, baring her sharp fangs with wild laughter. Van Helsing appears and scares the ghoul away with the help of a crucifix. The Doctor tells Marianne about her lover: the baron is a ghoul. Marianne responds by talking about the place where the baron hid. Van Helsing hurries to the windmill, where the baron is with his dead brides. Van Helsing manages to deliver a crushing blow to the vampire by spraying him with Holy Water in the face. Crouching in pain, the Baron goes blind. Not seeing anything around him, he sets fire to the mill. Van Helsing and Marianne escape. When the shadow of the windmill's wings forms a cross and covers the baron, he dies.
Phenomena in artwork: A vampire
Despite the title of the film, it does not show or even mention Dracula.
The film takes place in Transylvania, in the vicinity of Meinster Castle. The son of the baroness had a violent temper, got carried away by bad company and as a result became a vampire.
Dr. van Helsing gives a whole lecture about vampires and their nature:
Vampirism is the revival of one of the oldest pagan religions to fight Christianity. Vampires are called Undead. Vampirism is contagious. A vampire takes blood from his victim with his kiss, turning her into another vampire. This is how the cult spreads – infinitely slowly, but it grows stronger.
During the day, a vampire lies dead, usually in his grave, becoming like a living one only at night. And this means that they need help, protection of living people in the daytime. A mother who hides an infected son or daughter, or a servant, either hypnotized or so devoted to his master that he is unable to realize what evil he is doing.
Without such protection, vampires can be tracked down and destroyed during the day – by driving a wooden stake into the heart or burning.
Vampires are afraid of consecrated things and Christian images. They are thin and look hungry. They have no reflections – neither in the water nor in the mirror. Some are capable of turning into bats.
Thus, in this film, almost for the first time, people appear, voluntarily or under hypnosis, helping vampires – familiars.
Vampires sleep in coffins and are active only at night. They look like ordinary people with long sharp fangs, red eyes and pale facial skin. They bite people in the neck, leaving two wounds. Vampires can transform into bats with red glowing eyes. They can hypnotize their victims, instilling in them not only the need for submission when being near a vampire, but also more complex images and feelings. So, a vampire can inspire a girl that she wants to marry him.
Wild garlic flowers help against vampires. A wreath of these flowers, being put on the neck of a vampire, prevents him from moving and attacking people. The vampire himself cannot remove this wreath. The same goes for silver: shackles made of this metal do not allow the vampire baron to attack people, hypnotize them and turn into a bat.
After a vampire bite, you can avoid transformation if you cauterize the wounds with hot metal and pour holy water. Soon after, both the bite mark and the burn disappear without a trace.
Vampires are aware of their nature and can even resist it, considering it disgusting. They are afraid of crucifixes (and crosses in general, even the cross-shaped shadow from the blades of the mill turns out to be deadly for the vampire on whom it falls). Holy water leaves deep healing wounds on the vampire's skin.
Vampires
A vampire
A vampire rises from the grave
A vampire in the guise of a bat
A vampire in the guise of a bat with burning eyes
A vampire bite mark
The face of a vampire doused with holy water
The body of a vampire who died under the shadow of a mill in the shape of a cross
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