Nachts, wenn Dracula erwacht

Everyone looking for the usual Jess Franco sex horror will be , and has been, let down by this movie. I myself have been kind of meh about it over the years. But a recent late night rewatch put it in a new light. Sure it's slow and a bit static but Franco captures a sense of dread that most Dracula movies can't manage. No wonder Lee said this was his favorite portrayal of the count. Plus that Nicolai music is incredible. Not perfect but it has something strong going for it.

Some of the best things about this version: Basically all the actors, Bruno Nicolai's score, and the fact that this Dracula appeared as Stoker describes him, which is a first.

Unfortunately, what I've heard about the production is that they changed producers in mid-shooting and he cut the budget back, so what could've been a fairly faithful rendition of the book now looks cheap and like the low-budget film it eventually became. This is no reflection of Jess Franco.

A really good Dracula adaptation indeed! I liked it even better than Francis Ford Coppola´s multi million Dollar version of Bram Stroker´s classic novel! Unimaginable what Franco had done if he would have had a higher budget... However, it doesn´t seem to need much money to create a gothic atmosphere, which is so creepy that you can feel a cold breeze in your neck. Once more horror legend Christoper Lee is giving the demonic vampire lord and he´s as perfect as usual in the role, but the most impressive part has Herbert Lom as Dr. Van Helsing, what even makes Hollywood superstar Sir Anthony Hopkins looking like an old fogey! But Franco, who directed such mini classics like "Vampyros Lesbos" as well as awful turkeys, wouldn´t be the same of there wasn´t a bundled load of camp: Especially, I liked the plastic bats where you can clearly see the strings they were fixed on. Another problem is the part of acting genius Klaus Kinski: it´s a total riddle to me why Franco hadn´t stretched his brilliance more, because Kinski´s sitting the whole time in a rubber room, eats flys and has no text to say... A real waste of talent!! Nevertheless an underrated horror gem!! Really worth to be seen, even if you hate Franco..!

This isn't a great movie, but probably the single most faithful screen adaptation of Bram Stoker's great story I've ever seen. It doesn't embellish or introduce a whole bunch of characters. It keeps the idea of Dracula being in an old man when we first meet him in Romania and getting younger as he drinks blood. I remember seeing it not too long after I had finished reading the book (the excellent annotated Dracula by Leonard Wolf (no relation)) and was hooked from start to finish. This is kind of an art house Dracula, faithful to story and spirit, short on special effect and expensive lighting. Kind of like Passolini's Gospel According to Matthew.

Filmed in Spain and Germany, Jess Franco's version of the Bram Stoker classic has Count Dracula as an old man who grows younger whenever he dines on the blood of young maidens. This movie is quite faithful to the novel, unlike so many other Dracula films of the period. Starring screen legend Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, it also features Franco regulars Soledad Miranda, Fred Williams, Maria Rohm, Jack Taylor, Klaus Kinski, and Paul Müller. Franco appears in the film (as he does in many of his movies) as a servant to Professor Van Helsing. Franco contributes great direction and a perfectly eerie atmosphere to this low-budget film, which was one of Soledad's most prominent international roles. The talented cast and direction, as well as a fantastic score by Bruno Nicolai, make this one of the best filmed versions of the Dracula story and a great companion to Francis Ford Coppola's version made decades later.