5/5 Can't beat them old dracula movies
  by Y2bjs Reviews (Melbourne Australia)
Yeah look if its Christopher Lee as Dracula you can't go wrong.But in this one they tried a then modern style to it which realy didn't work too well.Some parts were kind of embarassing if anything with the carryings on.Good old Dracula livens things up.I just love old Dracula movies.

3/5 Cushing and Lee make this a worthwhile watch.
  by z hayes (plano,texas)
Dracula A.D. 1972 is a campy instalment in the Dracula series made by Hammer Films. The gist of the movie is that Dracula gets resurrected in 1972 by a young acolyte, Johnny Alucard and seeks to destroy the remaining Van Helsings, i.e. Dr Van Helsing [Peter Cushing] and his beautiful, hippie granddaughter Jessica [Stephanie Beacham].

Though Christopher Lee reprises his role as the malevolent count, his screen time is quite limited and I felt too much screen time was wasted on portraying the debauchery and free-swinging lifestyle of 70s Hippie culture - drugs, sex and rock n roll. But, when he does appear, Lee is magnetic as the count and doesn't disappoint in his performance.

But the best performance in this movie is Peter Cushing's 20th century Van Helsing - he is assured, intelligent and above-all single-minded in his determination to save his granddaughter Jessica from the vampire's clutches. Stephanie Beacham is luscious to look at and feisty in her portrayal as the strong-willed Jessica.

The rest of the actors were ho-hum - a bit overdone in some instances [the guy who played Johnny Alucard for example].

All in all, this isn't a great Dracula movie, but it isn't the worst either.

3/5 More hip than horror
  by - Durrkk (Ohio/PA border USA)
England's Hammer Studios did 8 Dracula films from 1958-1973:

Horror of Dracula (1958)
Brides of Dracula (1960)
Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966)
Dracula has Risen from the Grave (1968)
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
Scars of Dracula (1970)
Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)

Christopher Lee plays the Count in all but the second one, "Brides of Dracula;" in fact, Dracula doesn't even appear in this film, which explains why some consider it non-canonical. Peter Cushing also stars in four entries as Van Helsing.

By the time of the seventh film the creative well was apparently running dry and Hammer decided to spice up the series by bringing the Count to present-day London (which was 1972, of course). A group of hip counter-culture youths perform a black mass in an abandoned church for kicks (although the ringleader takes it all serious) and rivive the blood-sucking prince of darkness. Havok ensues.

Peter Cushing appears as Van Helsing's descendant. Christopher Neame plays the nutjob who performs the black mass with utter relish. Also on hand are the stunning beauties Stephanie Beacham and Caroline Munro. Stephanie plays Van Helsing's daughter and Caroline has a small but significant role. There are a couple of other early-70s hippie babes as well.

The first half of the film borrows heavily from the previous "Taste the Blood of Dracula" in that the Count is resurrected in roughly the same manner, although "Taste" is much more effective in this regard.

Which isn't to say that "Dracula A.D. 1972" isn't a decent, albeit bizarre, entry in the series. The main problem with the film is that the story doesn't seem to know what to do once Dracula is resurrected. For instance, Cushing's final battle with the Count is fairly lame for various reasons (I don't want to give anything away), not to mention Lee only appears for about 10 minute in the entire film, which is usual for the series, of course.

Another problem is the score heard throughout. It screams "early 70s" but doesn't mesh with what is essentially a serious horror flick (yes, I said serious; this is not a goofy or campy flick despite the colorful hippie elements). But then some would cite that as part of its charm.

What works best is that the film is a great period piece. You'll get a groovy glimpse of England's counter-culture, including the hippie girls and a live performance by the band Stoneground (who didn't go anywhere beyond this movie likely because their sound & style was already passe by 1972). So, the first half is fun and compelling, whereas the second half just sort of goes through the motions and peters out.

BOTTOM LINE: "Dracula A.D. 1972" is hard to rate because, despite the mediocre-ness of the story's second half, the film is a fun experience with numerous highlights. Hence, as a Dracula story I give it a C (or 3/5 Stars), but for entertainment value I give it a solid B or B+ (4/5 Stars).

OVERALL RATING: C+

3/5 Like, Taste the Blood of Dracula, kids!
  by Trevor Willsmer (London, England)
For reasons known only to the author, Bram Stoker's Dracula never included the line "Sergeant, I'll bet you a pound to a pinch of s**t that there's a little piece of hash at that party, and if there is, I've got them.", but the early 70s saw that particular oversight put right. Dracula A.D. 1972 saw Hammer trying to pump new life into the old Count with a new creative team whose big idea was basically to rehash the plot of Taste the Blood of Dracula in the 1970s with Christopher Neame in the Ralph Bates role as Johnny Alucard, here conning a thrill-seeking group of with it kids (Michael Kitchen and Caroline Munro among them) into making a date with the Devil with a Black Mass at the deconsecrated church that not only holds Lawrence Van Helsing's body (Lawrence? Whatever happened to Abraham?) and Dracula's ashes. "Okay, okay. But if we do get to summon up the big daddy with the horns and the tail, he gets to bring his own liquor, his own bird and his own pot."

As with the Godzilla films, the main attraction is kept off the screen for most of the running time - top-billed Christopher Lee's role is probably smaller in this than any other in the series, four brief scenes probably totalling no more than ten minutes. Worse still, looking more like Peter Sellers than Transylvanian aristocracy, he brings nothing except continuity to the part: he does what is asked of him with professionalism, but that's about it. Instead the bulk of the film is carried by Neame's Malcolm McDowell wannabe, second-billed Peter Cushing as Van Helsing's grandson Lorimar, Stephanie Beacham and Michael Coles' open-minded cop ("There is a Satan." "Of course. Otherwise we wouldn't need a police force, would we?"). Yet despite the clumsily handled prologue and finale it's fairly entertaining even if it is completely derivative, perhaps even more entertaining now than when it was released because its hip and happening trappings are far funnier than the intentional comic relief - not least Johnny Alucard urging "Dig the music, kids!" during the black mass - and it's a lot better than Dracula 2000.

The DVD also includes the wonderfully over the top trailer - "Are you ready? He's ready. He's waiting to freak you out - right out of this world!" - but not the short making of documentary from when the picture was still called Dracula Today (other rejected titles included Dracula Chases the Mini Girls and Dracula Chelsea '72!).

3/5 Hammer's Misguided Idea of Dracula in Swinging London: Still Enjoyable (Not as a Horror, Though)
  by Tsuyoshi (Kyoto, Japan)
Christopher Lee's Dracula comes back again, this time in Swingin' London of the early 70s. It is a misguided idea of Hammer still trying to cash in on the name of the Count. Considering Hammer's "Dracula" saga started back in 1958, it is obvious that they should have stopped by the late 60s when things changed drastically in pop culture. But they did make this one, which turned out an unintentional comedy (sort of) with blood-sucking vampires and "funky" rock music.

Once again Dracula returns. The man responsible for his resurrection is named "Johnny Alucard" (Christopher Neame) - yes, "Alucard" - and there is a young beautiful woman named Jessica Van Helsing (Stephanie Beacham), niece of Peter Cushing's Professor Van Helsing. So now you know the rest of the story. In short, Dracula seeks the blood of her.

Though the film is not scary and its plot is very thin, "Dracula 72" is full of overacting and silly dialogues that are not boring to see. Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing do their best, and their performances surely raise the level of this film one notch higher. Lee's screen time is limited, but it is amazing to see dead serious Peter Cushing doing a great job (as he always does) in this otherwise delightfully messy film. Oh, and don't forget Caroline Munro and her character "Laura" screaming.