The greatest movie ever made..!

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Lack of good storyline.

Good concept, poorly executed.

Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula" is a rich text, which has retained interest even in a bare-bones adaptation such as Hammer's 1958 film, which succeeds largely because it cuts so much from the long book to create an exciting pacing. Plus, it had red blood and sex appeal--two things lacking from prior Dracula films. So, at least, it was a well-paced action shocker. That's not the case with this, the misnamed "The Brides of Dracula," the first of what would be eight sequels to the '58 "Dracula." Like Universal before them, which released the dull "Dracula's Daughter" (1936) after its successful 1931 adaptation, Hammer follows up its own success with a dud. In both cases, the studio writers weren't up to the task of following in the footsteps of Stoker.There's no sex appeal here despite the hints of incest and homosexuality offered by the vampires' victims. Even "Dracula's Daughter" did better in this regard. There's little blood and, for most of the runtime, no action. There's also no Dracula, nor brides of him. It's over half an hour into the film before Peter Cushing's Van Helsing appears; in the meantime, we're left with an uninteresting, unknowing female lead. There's some mystery in the beginning as to who's a vampire. There's a man who steals a ride on a carriage whose character is never adequately explained; supposedly, he hunted victims for the vampire. We later find out the second and younger of the two mystery men is the main antagonist and vampire of the story--a boyish and entirely lackluster heir to Christopher Lee. Also unlike the '58 original, which was somewhat ambiguous as to its location, "The Brides of Dracula" is firmly set in Transylvania, which is unfortunate because most of the cast is populated with Brits, including some stupid comic relief that exemplifies that British strand of humor based on class and regional accents.Cushing's Sherlock Holmes-type Van Helsing lacks his Watson (the Arthur character in the '58 film) this outing, which might be part of the reason his process of vampire hunting seems much duller than before. A local priest briefly fills this void, though. Plus, it's nearly 50 minutes into the thing before Van Helsing encounters any danger--a female vampire raising a hand from the grave despite an obvious continuity error where she opens her unbroken coffin afterwards and from a laughably shallow burial (it takes a very weak person, let alone a vampire, to struggle to emerge from that dust heap). There are a couple more action bits after this between Van Helsing and kid-vamp Baron Meinster. In these incidents, this sequel adds a bunch of new vampiric folklore to the series. Apparently, one can burn off the bite marks of vampires, thus avoiding turning into one themselves. Holy water is like acid to vampire faces. Vampire brides stand by mute and motionless when their master is getting his butt kicked by a vampire slayer and, presumably, helplessly burn to death in a windmill while humans have the gumption to make an exit. And, you can create a makeshift cross out of just about anything--even the shadow of a windmill turned at just the right angle can do the job. Hammer's vampires are wimps.(Mirror Note: On the plus side, this film does have the best mirror shot in Hammer's Dracula series: an unbroken moving-camera mirror shot not revealing the Baron's entrance through the mirror due to his lack of reflection, but behind the Gina character, as the camera moves away from the mirror.)

The Brides of Dracula, it may surprise first time viewers to know, is notable for the absence of Christopher Lee, and much speculation has ensued as to why he didn't recreate his most famous role. Lee himself always claimed he was never offered a chance to appear; but it's possible that Hammer, having focused on the Baron in their Frankenstein pictures, decided to focus on Van Helsing in its vampire ones - a perfectly logical choice as they considered Peter Cushing their star name.Whatever the reason, this is a terrific movie, with only its episodic script reducing its effectiveness. Beautifully photographed by Jack Asher in his last Hammer Horror movie; superbly directed by Terence Fisher. And of course, Peter Cushing himself on top form.David Peel makes an excellent vampire nemesis for Cushing's Helsing, and in an opening prologue is set free by Marianne Daniel (Yvonne Monlaur) - a finishing school teacher on her way to a new job. It's strongly implied that the Baroness Meinster (a wonderfully icy yet ultimately sympathetic Martita Hunt) has offered her shelter merely in order to satisfy her son's blood-lust. In a rather kinky touch once loose Peel's first victim is his own mother!Enter Van Helsing, and from here Peter Cushing's authoritative performance totally dominates the movie. We get a stylish fight between Van Helsing and Meinster, a brilliant sequence where faithful servant Greta (Freda Jackson) coaxes a new-born vampire from the grave, and the classic scene where the locks fall off a coffin as Marianne watches over it. Only the rather comical bat disrupts enjoyment, prompting laughs rather than terror.All told, this is brilliant Hammer Horror, Cushing himself is vampirised towards the end and in a gruelling sequence, burns the bite from his neck with a red hot branding iron. Startling stuff at the time and still effective today.

This movie starts out really good... enter Van Helsing and it stays a good movie for awhile then somewhat goes down hill. The ending was OK - I liked the idea of the windmill - in fact that is very creepy! To me the movie hits a lull around 50 min to an hour into the film but does pick back up in the end.David Peel was pretty good as Baron Meinster but just not very convincing as a vampire IMO. Martita Hunt is ideal for the role of Baroness Meinster - she is quite good in this movie. Yvonne Monlaur was very pleasing to watch as Marianne. And Peter Cushing is, once again, smashing as Doctor Van Helsing.Just some random thoughts on the title of the film because the title is a bit disappointing - yes The Brides of Dracula does fit it to a degree because as they basically said in the beginning narration that Dracula is dead but his brood is still around but maybe a title like "Meinster Manor", "Castle Meinster" or even "The Baron" would have fit the film better. But I guess they needed "Dracula" in the title to help tie in Dr. Van Helsing's part. Hummm... why does a film that surrounds Dracula have to have his name in the title? Personally I would have liked to see this title reserved for Dracula's 3 brides.Anyway, I would have rated the film higher except for the fact there was a bit of a 30 minute lull.6.5/10

In Transylvania, the teacher Marianne Danielle (Yvonne Monlaur) is heading to a small village where she will teach French and etiquette for teenage girls. The stagecoach stops at a village and when Marianne is preparing to eat dinner, the coachman goes away and leaves her in the inn. Out of the blue, Baroness Meinster (Martita Hunt) comes to the place and invites Marianne to spend the night in her castle, where she lives with her servant Greta (Freda Jackson). During the night, Marianne sees a man in a balcony and she learns that he is Baron Meinster (David Peel), the insane son of the Baroness. Later Marianne believes that he will jump off the balcony and she goes to his room and finds that he is chained by his mother. Marianne decides to help him to escape and steals the key from the Baroness' room. Then she leaves the castle and is found by Dr. J. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing), who has been invited by the local priest to treat a disease. Soon Van Helsing learns that Marianne has unleashed a vampire that is murdering the dwellers of the village. "The Brides of Dracula" is a typical vampire movie by Hammer, highly entertaining, with beautiful actresses but also with many flaws. Marianne is a silly woman that makes the movie happens with her stupid attitudes. The ham David Peel is awfully ridiculous in the role of the blonde vampire. It is not explained why the Baron Meinster does not turn into a bat to release from the chains. Who is the creepy man in the beginning of the movie that leaves a log on the road? Why people are so scared of the Baroness if they believe that her son is dead? Why the vampire did not kill Van Helsing and how a red-hot iron together with holy water avoids the victim to turn into a vampire? And the mysterious luggage of Marianne that is never seen? But the secret for enjoying movies from Hammer is to ignore the plot holes and have a good time with the silliness of the story. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "As Noivas do Vampiro" ("The Brides of the Vampire")