The 10 Most Creative Ways to Destroy a Vampire According to the Movies

Sure, you can just drive a stake through a vampire's heart...but the movies have proven that there are far more creative ways. What better way to start Halloween month than to list ten memorable movie methods (with a nod to Sarkoffagus for his help):

The old "use a windmill to form the shadow of a crucifix" trick.

1. Trap the vampire in the shadow of a wind-mill, so it forms a cross on the ground. (Brides of Dracula)

2. Toss the vampire into a bathtub filled with holy water and garlic. (The Lost Boys)

One of the rather unattractive
golden vampires.

3. Using kung fu, punch the vampire in the heart. (The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires)

4. Shoot the vampire in the heart with a spear gun. (The Last Man on Earth)

5. While the vampire is standing on a frozen lake, use a rifle and shoot the ice so it cracks and the vampire falls into the water. This one is tricky because vampires aren't particularly fond of winter sports like ice skating. (Dracula, Prince of Darkness)

"I spy a big cross on the ground
down there."

6. Knock the vampire off a cliff onto a big cross protruding from the ground. Another tricky one 'cause the vampire must land precisely so that the cross impales him. (Dracula Has Risen from His Grave)

7. Shoot the vampire with a crossbow and drag him into the sunlight. (John Carpenter's Vampires)

8. Lure the vampire onto a roof during a thunderstorm, and maneuver him so he's adjacent to a tall metal object so he can be struck by lightning. Visually interesting, to be sure, but one of the most difficult to accomplish. Not recommended. (Scars of Dracula)

Not all bats like vampires!

9. Call on the powers of evil to defeat evil by sending a big swarm of bats to circle the vampire's castle. (The Kiss of the Vampire)

10. If you're sure it's near dawn, you can hop on a sturdy long table, run down it, jump on the drapes, and rip them down. The sunlight will disintegrate the vampire. If he tries to crawl out of the sunlight, use some candle sticks to form a cross and keep him from moving into the safety of shadows. (Horror of Dracula)

Honorable mentions:

- Defeat the vampire in a swordfight (Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter), though this is very similar to stabbing him with a stake.

- Trap the vampire in the thorns of a Hawthorne tree. Actually, this won't kill the vampire, but it will keep him from going anywhere. You can then dispose of him using the traditional stake or just let sunlight finish the job. (The Satanic Rites of Dracula)

OK, I'm sure I've left some very memorable methods...so I'd appreciate the insight of other vampire movie watchers!

Hammer's Dracula Films Ranked from Best to Worst

David Peel as Baron Meinster.

1. The Brides of Dracula (1960). This should be no surprise to readers of this blog. Indeed, I recently ranked Brides among my top five choices for the greatest horror films of all time. It's a first-rate affair from start to finish with strong performances, interesting themes, and an exciting, inventive climax. The only thing it's missing is Count Dracula--but David Peel's Baron Meinster is a worthy substitute. Less physically threatening than Christopher Lee's vampire, the charming, handsome Meinster may be a more dangerous adversary. One of the film's best scenes is when the sweet Marianne introduces her paternal friend Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) to her new boyfriend.

Dracula is staked--but not for long.

2. Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968). Vastly underrated, this lively tale has a revived Dracula (Lee) seeking revenge against a Monsignor who has "desecrated" his ancestral home by performing an exorcism. The theme of religion combating the evil of vampirism is not an uncommon one, but rarely has it received such a rich treatment. The film also benefits from director Freddie Francis' brilliant cinematography, some fabulous rooftop sets, and a solid cast. Veronica Carlson may be the most fetching of all Hammer heroines (well, let's call it a tie with Caroline Munro..and Valerie Leon).

Van Helsing's makeshift crucifix.

3. Horror of Dracula (aka Dracula) (1958). The one that started it all is an effective adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel. The opening scenes with Jonathan Harker at Castle Dracula and the climatic confrontation between Dracula and Van Helsing are marvelous. My only complaint is that the pacing drags in the middle when the action shifts to England. Still, it set the standard not only for the rest of the Dracula series, but for all the Hammer vampire films that followed it. James Bernard's exceptional score would become very familiar to Hammer fans.

John Forbes Robertson as Dracula.

4. The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974). Who would have thought that a mashup of vampires, kung fu, and The Seven Samurai would be so much fun? When Dracula and some unconventional vampires take over a small Chinese village, its residents send for visiting lecturer Van Helsing (Cushing). The journey to the village, punctuated by some well-staged fight scenes, sets the table for an all-out climax that ends with another Dracula-Van Helsing face-off. Be sure to skip the heavily re-edited version called The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula.

Barbara Shelley as a vampire.

5. Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1964). Although well-made and sporting an impressive cast, the direct sequel to Horror of Dracula lacks inspiration. Christopher Lee seldom has much dialogue in the Dracula films, but, in this one, he has none! The premise, which injects attractive English tourists into the Transylvanian landscape, seems recycled from the previous year's superior Kiss of the Vampire. Still, there are some nice touches, such as how Barbara Shelley goes from a dull lass to a smoking-hot vampire.

Lee strikes an imposing pose.

6. Scars of Dracula (1970). An improvement over the same year's Taste the Blood of Dracula, the sixth film in the series offers little of interest other than a flashy finale and a creepy shot of Dracula climbing down a castle wall, face first, as he did in Bram Stoker's novel. In The Films of Christopher Lee, the actor said: "Instead of writing a story around the character (Dracula), they wrote a story and fit the character into it."

Count Dracula--corporate CEO.

7. The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973). As modern-day variations go, I like the idea of Count Dracula as a businessman who recruits four influential blokes to help him take over the world. I don't like the idea of Drac releasing a strain of bubonic plague as some kind of revenge on mankind. The resulting film reminds me of a lesser episode of The Avengers that sorely needs Steed and Mrs. Peel.

Cushing as a Van Helsing descendant.

8. Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972). My main problem with this entry is that it came two years too late. The 1970 Count Yorga, Vampire had already mixed vampires and contemporary youths. Hence, there was nothing jarring about seeing Count Dracula in modern-day London. The film does get credit for pairing Lee's Dracula and Cushing's Van Helsing (a Van Helsing descendant actually) for the first time since the 1958 original.

Dracula on the verge of being destroyed.

9. Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970). There was no Dracula in the original film treatment for this fifth series installment. The intention was for Ralph Bates' character to be killed and then resurrected as a vampire to avenge his death. However, when Christopher Lee agreed to appear in the film, the script was rewritten and Bates' character stayed dead--with Dracula avenging him. The premise, which revolves around a sort of Hellfire Club, is initially interesting. However, it soon evolves into a straight revenge tale and ties Satanic Rites for the worst climax in the series.

My 100 Favorite Films: From 30 to 21

This month’s countdown list features my favorite Hammer horror film and my favorite Disney animated movie. As always, please keep in mind that these films are not what I'd consider the best 100 movies ever made. They are simply one classic fan's favorites. (An underlined title means there's a hyperlink to a full review at the Cafe.)

David Peel, who looks rather pleasant
here, with Yvonne Monlaur.

30. Brides of Dracula – How can Chris Lee be absent in Hammer Films’ best movie—a Dracula entry, no less? It seems downright peculiar, but, regardless, Brides of Dracula is an exciting, intelligent film with surprising depth, a showcase role for Peter Cushing, and a stylish vampire villain. Yvonne Monlaur plays Marianne, a young French woman on her way to a new teaching position in a boarding school. When a coachman abandons her along the way, she accepts an invitation by the elderly Baroness Meinster (the superb Martita Hunt) to spend the night in a nearby castle. She soon meets young, handsome Baron Meinster (David Peel). His mother keeps him in shackles and you can guess why—but Marianne doesn’t. Pretty soon, there’s an outbreak of vampirism at the boarding school and it’s Van Helsing to the rescue. His climatic confrontation with Meinster in a dilapidated windmill sets the stage for the most ingenious ending of all vampire films.

29. Beach Blanket Bingo – I ignored the Beach Party movies for most of my life…but finally realized what I was missing about 15 years ago. Maybe it’s the nostalgia factor, the portrait of an innocent age that never existed except on celluloid. Regardless, I now always enjoy an annual trip to the beach with Frankie, Annette, and the gang. The best of the series is easily Bingo. Donna Loren sings her best song. Frankie tries to make Annette jealous with Deborah Walley, while Annette tries to make Frankie jealous with John Ashley. Bonehead dates a pretty mermaid while Linda Evans’s Sugar Kane calls him Boney. Paul Lynde cracks jokes while South Dakota Slim just acts creepy. And, best of all, there’s Eric Von Zipper, who tells Sugar that he likes her—and when Eric Von Zipper likes someone, they stay liked!



Diane McBain as the "bad girl"
in Parrish.

28. Parrish – Delmer Daves wrote and directed three big screen soaps circa the early sixties, all starring Troy Donahue: A Summer Place, Parrish, and Susan Slade. These films have their detractors, but I don’t even feel obligated to defend them. The first two are exceedingly well made, with engrossing plots, plush scenery, and sumptuous Max Steiner music. Yes, Troy wasn’t a great actor—I get that, but he was a likable, good-looking chap. In Parrish, he and his mother (Claudette Colbert) move to Connecticut to work for tobacco farmer Dean Jagger. While Parrish (Troy) tries to figure out what to do with his life, he romances a sharecropper’s daughter (Connie Stevens), a rich bad girl (Diane McBain), and a richer good girl (Sharon Hugueny). He also has to cope with a villainous tobacco magnate (delightfully overplayed by Karl Malden), who has eyes for Parrish’s mother. It’s such fun that just writing about it puts me in the mood to watch it again.

27. The List of Adrian Messenger – John Huston’s 1963 mystery is best known for its gimmick: several famous stars make cameos in heavy make-up. While trying to spot the stars is undeniably fun, the gimmick disguises the fact that The List of Adrian Messenger is a highly-entertaining, crafty film that starts as a mystery and evolves into a suspenseful cat-and-mouse game. In the opening scenes, author Adrian Messenger provides a list of ten names to his friend Anthony Gethryn (George C. Scott), a former MI5 operative, and asks him to quietly find out if the ten people on the list are still alive. Gethryn agrees to undertake the assignment. A few days later, a bomb explodes aboard a plane carrying Adrian as a passenger. Based on a 1959 novel by mystery author and screenwriter Philip MacDonald, The List of Adrian Messenger borrows the killer’s motive from another famous detective novel (no spoilers here!). But the “why” is only part of the fun in The List of Adrian Messenger. It’s the “how” that differentiates it from other mysteries. Among his many skills, the murderer, played delightfully by Kirk Douglas, is also a master of disguises. That provides the opportunity for Douglas to don a number of incredible “looks” designed by make-up master Bud Westmore. Thus, the killer appears as a pointy-chinned priest, a short mousey man, a white-haired elderly villager, and others.

James Stewart learns a little detail
he wishes he hadn't learned.

26. The Flight of the Phoenix – Director Robert Aldrich bookends The Flight of the Phoenix with a wild airplane crash and an exhilarating climax. But it’s the drama in-between that makes the film so fascinating: the friction among the survivors; their audacious plan to reach civilization again; and a brilliant plot twist that comes out of nowhere. Despite the presence of stars James Stewart, Peter Finch, and supporting actor Oscar nominee Ian Bannen, the cast standouts are Hardy Kruger and Richard Attenborough. Kruger creates an unforgettable character as a quiet, bespeckled German who proposes an incredible plan to save the plane crash survivors—he's irritating, childish, determined, and innovative. It’s a well-rounded performance matched by Attenborough’s wonderfully understated turn. As the unassuming man who holds everyone together, Attenborough’s character soothes egos and forges unlikely alliances in the best interests of the group.

25. The Magnificent Seven – At the risk of offending Kurosawa fans, I’ll confide that I prefer this Western remake of The Seven Samurai to the original film. Don’t get me wrong—The Seven Samurai is an impressive cinematic achievement and certainly the more important of the two films. I just don’t find it as entertaining as John Sturges’s crisp, energetic Western. Yul Brynner stars as the down-on-his-luck gunfighter hired by a small, poor Mexican village to defend it from bandits. My favorite part of the film (no surprise to Café regulars) is when Yul recruits the rest of the reluctant heroes—played by the likes of Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, and James Coburn. Toss in Eli Wallach as the despicable outlaw and Horst Buchholz as a young whippersnapper and you’ve got one of the all-time great casts. As an added bonus, Elmer Bernstein provides an incredible music score, capped with the rousing title theme.

24. Enter the Dragon – In the early 1970s, Bruce Lee, frustrated with the lack of decent roles, decided to take the “Clint Eastwood path” to Hollywood stardom. He left the U.S. and returned to Hong Kong to make a couple of inexpensive martial arts films. Two worldwide smashes later, Hollywood came calling—offering the lead in a James Bond-style martial arts adventure. Warner Bros. hedged its bets by casting a well-known American actor (John Saxon) and an African American real-life karate champ (Jim Kelly). Still, Enter the Dragon was clearly tailored for Lee, who plays a martial artist hired to infiltrate a super villain’s island fortress by participating in a fight tournament. A near-perfect action film, Enter the Dragon never takes itself too seriously and showcases Lee’s natural charisma and humor. It’s interesting to ponder Lee’s career arc had he lived longer--would he have alternated polished films like this with his own more personal pictures (e.g., Way of the Dragon)?

The bell tower climax--yes, it was
filmed indoors.

23. Black Narcissus – Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger’s masterpiece follows a group of nuns who are sent to a remote Himalayan village to establish a school and hospital. These new surroundings stir repressed emotions in several of the nuns, ultimately leading to tragedy. Powerful and understated, Black Narcissus is anchored by a brilliant performance by Deborah Kerr and a compelling one from Kathleen Byron (whose acting career petered out all too quickly). Technically, the film is an incredible achievement. Many of the outdoor scenes, to include the stunning tower climax, were filmed inside a studio using “glass shots” and miniatures designed by Alfred Junge. Jack Cardiff’s color cinematography is often touted as the best example of the Technicolor process. Both Junge and Cardiff earned well-deserved Oscars.

22. The Long, Hot Summer – This engrossing trip into William Faulkner's South stars Paul Newman as drifter Ben Quick, the son of a barn burner (which makes one instantly unpopular). Ben arrives in the small hamlet of Frenchman's Bend, Mississippi, where bigger-than-life Will Varner (Orson Welles) owns just about everything. Varner, who recently recovered from a heart attack, is obsessed with getting "some more Varners" in the way of grandchildren. His weak-willed son Jody (Tony Franciosa) isn't making much progress with his pretty, but somewhat flighty wife Eula (Lee Remick). So, Varner is determined that his smart, headstrong daughter Clara (Woodward) get married. And if it's not to her long time, would-be suitor Alan (Richard Anderson)...than it may as well be to that ambitious "big stud horse" Ben Quick. The near-perfect cast brings these colorful characters to life, to include Angela Lansbury as Varner's mistress. The lively exchanges between Newman and Welles are a joy to behold (Varner to Ben: "I've been watching you. I like your push, yes. I like your style. I like your brass. It ain't too dissimilar from the way I operate.") But the heart of the film is the sparkling chemistry between Newman and Woodward; they were married the same year the movie was released. My favorite scene is an exchange between them in a general store, which goes from playful to surprisingly enlightening.

Pongo and Perdy get married with
their owners (in background).

21. 101 Dalmatians – Easily my favorite Disney animated feature, it puzzles me that 101 Dalmatians is rarely mentioned among the Disney “classics” like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Bambi, and Pinocchio. Set in London, the well-known plot traces the courtship and marriage of Dalmatians Pongo and Perdy (and their human “pets” Roger and Anita). It’s a happy home until Anita’s wealthy “friend” Cruella De Vil pays a visit and decides that Perdita’s puppies would make “such perfectly beautiful coats.” When Roger and Anita rebuff Cruella’s offer to buy the puppies, her bumbling goons Horace and Jasper kidnap the pups. It’s a well-paced, entertaining story rich with fully developed characters. Even the puppies get memorable personalities, with my favorite of the litter being the plump Rollie who spouts classic lines like: “I’m so hungry I could eat an elephant” and (a few minutes later) “I’m hungry, Mother…I really am.” Anyone who has loved a dog will appreciate the care with which the animators have captured canine traits. Pongo drags Roger mercilessly on walks, shakes off water vigorously when wet, and sticks his butt in the air when getting playful.

Next month, we reach the Top 20 as this countdown nears its conclusion. The next ten movies will include appearances by Gene Tierney (but not Laura), Cary Grant (in a non-Hitchcock role), an eccentric Scotland Yard inspector, and perhaps the longest sword fight on film.

3 on 3: Hammer Films

All this month, the Cafe has presented "3 on 3 panels" in which three experts answered three questions on a single classic film topic. For this final week, the Cafe poses three questions on Hammer Films, Britain's "House of Horror" to: Kevin from Kevin's Movie Corner; Alex from Korova Theatre Presents; and Sarkoffagus, the Cafe's resident authority on Hammer.

1. What is your favorite of the Hammer Frankenstein films and why?

Sark: Frankenstein Must be Destroyed. It's one of the few Frankenstein films I've seen (from any country or studio) that has a completely unsympathetic doctor, in lieu of the man simply being a misunderstood genius. This allows the character to revel in corruption and manipulation, and the more often he crosses the boundaries of good taste, the more he becomes the "monster" of the film. As his severity escalates, so, too, does the intrigue in watching him. Best of all, it's a showcase for Peter Cushing, whose energetic performance makes a lingering impression.

Kevin: Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. Probably Peter Cushing’s best and most ferocious performance in the series, a haunting turn by Freddie Jones as the creature, one of the greatest shock scenes in Hammer’s filmography (the burst pipe), an intelligent and adult screenplay and a devastating ending. Not one to send the audience out with a smile on their faces. Oh yeah, and Veronica Carlson too. Runner-up: Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), one of the saddest horror movies ever made. Yes, saddest. Just heart-wrenching in parts.

Victor Frankenstein confronts his
creature in The Curse of Frankenstein.

Alex: The Curse of Frankenstein is the first of seven films and is undeniably my favorite, though this series is more consistent in quality than Dracula. I like this film for many reasons, specifically the (unintentional?) subtext: "The story becomes a pretext for mankind’s toying in the clockwork of heavenly conception, unwinding the springs of electric impulse and restarting of tick-tock hearts. But it can also be seen as a Cold War parable of unleashing the atom, a power now beyond control, feared knowledge now spread like a virus among political psychopaths."

I don't quite believe it coincidence that the creature resembles a horridly burned victim of radiation, much like those poor souls who perished at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Christopher Lee imbues the creature with a sublime gentleness, mostly reflected in those sad eyes, a victim himself of science gone mad. To hide its face in shame, to be self-aware of its deformity is a pity...and Victor Frankenstein is to blame! He and his Promethean ego.

Terence Fisher's direction is wonderful, structuring the film in flashback and never shying away from the Technicolor gore (though tame by modern standards). I also like the tracking shot when the creature is first revealed, and compare it to John Ford's famous close-up in Stagecoach when he introduces John Wayne! Though Victor's head is eventually placed on the chopping block, nothing in the Hammer universe is ever what it seems.


2. What is your favorite of the Hammer Dracula films and why?

Sark: Brides of Dracula. It takes a consummate film to make viewers forget that the imposing Christopher Lee as Dracula is nowhere to be found. Hammer has always been known for methodically paced, gothic period pieces, but this movie is, at its very basic, a romantic action film. Cushing shines the brightest as Van Helsing, and Yvonne Monlaur is an appealing love interest. Drop in some vampires, and you've got first-class cinema!

Christopher Lee surveys a victim in
runner-up Taste the Blood of Dracula.

Kevin: Have to go with the first, Horror of Dracula (aka Dracula). Not exactly Stoker, but full of unforgettable scenes. In the last 50 years we’ve been inundated with vampires, but I can only imagine what audiences felt when they first saw this in 1958. Even today the close-up of Lee’s shocked face as he opens his eyes and his blood stained lips as he hears his vampire wife being staked is spine chilling. James Bernard’s landmark score, Hammer’s ace production design and that unforgettable climax make this a true classic. Seeing Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee go at it at the end is one of my all time favorite sequences. Runner-up: Taste the Blood of Dracula.

Alex: The first of a series is once again my favorite: Dracula. Though director Terence Fisher cuts Stoker's narrative to the bone, excising exposition and Victorian misogyny, Fisher does create a wonderful action film that is well paced and well bled. I prefer Hammer's version to the classic Universal which is well shot, I've always like Tod Browning's work, but it's too meek and visually reserved. Stoker’s text is rich with sensual delights underscored by some dreaded Freudian fear of women empowered by liberation from chaste cultural mores.

Fisher’s mise-en-scene conveys information so the story can jump cut quickly to the next setup. For example, as Van Helsing searches the castle for his cohort Jonathan Harker, he discovers a shattered picture frame. In one shot we learn the who, what, when, why, and where, of Dracula’s next appearance: he’s in search of the beautiful Lucy and her precious bodily fluids. This is compact storytelling that wastes little time with lengthy establishing shots or obtuse dialogue, and propels the journey towards its candelabra climax!


3. Although Hammer is most famous for its two series above, the studio made plenty of other quality movies...some with monsters and some without. What are some of your other favorite Hammer films and why do they appeal?

Oliver Reed, filmed from underneath
the water, in Paranoiac.

Sark: Paranoiac -- My favorite of Hammer's superb black-and-white thrillers. Thoroughly captivating, plus an exceptionally creepy mask. Blood from the Mummy's Tomb -- Easily the strangest and most unsettling mummy film I've ever seen, the movie is rich in atmosphere and an overall sense of doom. Countess Dracula -- She's no vampire, but Countess Elizabeth Nádasdy craves blood just as much as a fanged creature of the night. Bolstered by a remarkable and tragically underrated performance by Ingrid Pitt, this film is vintage Hammer: gloriously bizarre and undeniably mesmerizing.

Charles Gray as the dapper villain
of The Devil Rides Out.

Kevin: The Devil Rides Out. Probably my all-time favorite Hammer horror film, despite the embarrassingly bad special effects at the end. (It’s almost like they ran out of money.) But the 1920s atmosphere, a standout performance by Charles Gray, Christopher Lee in heroic mode and a genuine aura of creepiness make this one a winner for me. Never Take Candy From a Stranger (1960): This uncompromising look at the town’s refusal to accept there is a child molester living in their midst is the bravest film Hammer ever made. Scream of Fear (1961): My favorite Hammer mystery thriller with twists I never saw coming. Marvelous lead performance by Susan Strasberg.

Alex: My favorite Hammer film is Roy Ward Baker’s Quatermass and the Pit (aka Five Million Years to Earth), the third in the BBC series of Professor Quatermass productions. Director Roy Ward Baker films in mostly medium shot and close-up, with urgent dialogue and few establishing shots which create a made-for-television style narrative: most likely because this is an adaptation from a BBC series. A thinking fan’s science fiction film, how delightful!

But there are other standouts that are often overlooked because of the Hammer label, yet have little to do with horror or science fiction. Two great War films Yesterday’s Enemy and The Camp on Blood Island make David Lean’s epic look like melodramatic kids playing at war. Director Val Guest imbues these films with brutal honesty, never shying away from the tough (and unfair) responsibilities that men face during wartime. The Nanny is a great thriller with Bette Davis, owing as much to Hitchcock as to director Robert Aldrich. And it has one of the creepiest kids since Jack Clayton’s The Innocents or Mervyn Leroy’s The Bad Seed!

Underrated Performer of the Month: Peter Cushing

Peter Wilton Cushing finally achieved fame as an actor at the age of 44. Alas, his big break came in a horror film at a time when that genre was largely ignored by mainstream film critics. Hammer Films' Curse of Frankenstein, which is now regarded as a genre classic, was largely dismissed by critics when it was released. Britain's The Daily Telegraph stated simply: "For sadists only." What they missed was that the role of Victor Frankenstein was played superbly by Peter Cushing, a classically trained actor who once performed alongside Laurence Olivier.

His acting arc followed that of many of his British peers. He studied drama (at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama), performed in repertory theater, and tried his hand at Hollywood (with small roles in The Man in the Iron Mask and Laurel & Hardy's A Chump at Oxford). In 1948, he landed his best role to date as Osric in Olivier's Hamlet (1948), which featured another future Hammer star, Christopher Lee, in a bit part.

That didn't lead to bigger film roles, but did result in steady work in radio and early television. He achieved small screen success in fare such as a six-part Pride and Prejudice (as Mr. Darcy) and The Creature, an episode of the BBC Sunday-Night Theatre written by Nigel Kneale (and eventually adapted for the screen as The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas starring Cushing). When Hammer's producers decided to make a Frankenstein film--which focused on the doctor, not the monster--they knew who they wanted.

Perhaps critics didn't fully appreciate his Hammer debut, but audiences did and he subsequently landed the plum role of Van Helsing in Hammer's next film, 1958's Dracula (US: Horror of Dracula). It was a bigger smash than Curse of Frankenstein and for the next two decades, Peter Cushing would remain a Hammer Films fixture in quality fare such as Brides of Dracula, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, and The Hound of Baskervilles. Indeed, his memorable turn as A. Conan Doyle's sleuth eventually led to a 1968 television series.

Cushing never talked down to horror film fans. In an interview with the magazine L'Incroyable Cinema, he said: "I don't mind at all that people may refer to me as a 'horror actor' because in this unpredictable profession, actors are awfully lucky."

In addition to his Hammer roles, Cushing also played Dr. Who in two big screen adaptations and was introduced to a whole new generation of moviegoers as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars (aka Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope).

His wife of 27 years, Helen Cushing, died in 1971, causing Cushing to withdraw from Blood from the Mummy's Tomb. He eventually returned to acting and was awarded the Order of the Britisth Empire in 1989. When he died five years later, colleagues and critics sang his praises as a fine gentleman, a loyal friend, and an underrated, exceptional actor.

The Brides of Dracula May Be Hammer's Best

Hammer Films, the British studio that revived the gothic horror movie in the late 1950s, launched its signature series with 1958's Dracula (US: Horror of Dracula). The studio's colorful reworking of Bram Stoker's vampire novel made genre stars of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Lee chose not to appear as Count Dracula in the immediate sequel and Hammer dared not to replace him after his popular portrayal. The studio's solution was to make a Dracula film without Dracula, with most of the focus shifting to Cushing's energetic and intellectual vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing.

Due to Lee's absence, The Brides of Dracula never achieved the popular and critical success it deserved. It is not only Hammer's best Dracula entry, but it may also be the studio's best film. Regular Hammer scripter Jimmy Sangster and his co-writers seemed to have compensated for the loss of Lee by making Brides more of an ensemble film with Cushing providing the star wattage. The result is a horror film with surprising depth and a vampire villain who has some juicy dialogue to go along with the neck-biting.

The film opens with Marianne (Yvonne Monlaur), a young French woman traveling to a girls academy to accept a teaching position. When a coach driver abandons Marianne in a small Transylvanian village, she accepts an invitation by the elderly Baroness Meinster (Martita Hunt) to spend the night in a nearby castle. She soon meets young, handsome Baron Meinster (David Peel). His mother keeps him in shackles and you can guess why—but Marianne doesn’t. Pretty soon, there’s an outbreak of vampirism at the boarding school and it’s Van Helsing to the rescue. His climatic encounter with Meinster in a dilapidated windmill sets the stage for one of the most ingenious endings of all vampire films.

As in the earlier Dracula, Cushing's Van Helsing may be an intellectual, but he is also a man of action. He is not afraid to physically confront vampires--given the proper weapons--even though he knows they possess superior strength. In Brides, Van Helsing's zeal gets the better of him and he winds with teeth marks on his neck. The result is a marvelous scene in which he demonstrates what to do when bitten by a vampire.

Though Cushing's performance centers the film, Peel exudes evil as Meinster. His vampire may not be as physically imposing as Lee's Dracula, but he comes across as almost more threatening because he is devious and intelligent. Let's face it: the idea of spreading vampirism by means of a girls' boarding school is pretty crafty (i.e., when each girl goes home, she infects others). Meinster is also incredibily cruel--heck, he bites his own mother (marvelously played as a reluctant vampire by Hunt).

Director Terence Fisher propels the proceedings at such a lively pace that one barely notices the screenplay's obvious flaws. For example, if Meinster can transform into bat, as he does at one point, then how can shackles hold him? Also, the relationship between Marianne and Meinster is poorly developed. They meet at the castle and then they become engaged when Meinster visits Marianne for the first time at the school.

Sadly, The Brides of Dracula marked Peel's only appearance as Meinster. Christopher Lee returned as the bloodthirsty Count in Hammer's 1964 series entry Dracula, Prince of Darkness. Cushing would not return as Van Helsing until Hammer made an unwise decision to update the vampire saga to modern times with Dracula A.D. 1972. Hammer eventually made eight Dracula films, but the only subsequent entry to compare favorably with Brides was 1968’s Dracula Has Risen from the Grave.