As it's #WorldGothDay there's really only one tale to tell; a legendary Hammer Horror that mixed the groovy with the ghoulish.
This is the story of Dracula: 1972 A.D...
Peter Cushing had a long career in drama and horror. He played the lead in the BBC's 1954 adaptation of Orwell's 1984. Quatermass author Nigel Kneale wrote the screenplay and the Room 101 scene was apparently so horrific one viewer died of shock.
Christopher Lee had took a more unusual route into acting. He was (probably) a member of the SAS during WWll; he always declined to discuss this. He did fight at Monte Cassino and was a post-war Nazi hunter in Vienna.
Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing had previously appeared together in the 1958 film Dracula, based on the original Bram Stokes novel. The film was well received and set the template for future Dracula movies.
But it was the success of another vampire film, Count Yorga (1970), that prompted Warner Bros to commission a modern Dracula story from Hammer Films. The timing was fortuitous...
In 1970 Britain's tabloid press was full of tales about a sinister ghostly figure - 'The Highgate Vampire' - and bizarre occult rituals taking place at the famous North London cemetery. Two rival vampire hunters, Sean Manchester and David Farrant, fuelled the stories.
Writer Don Houghton used these ideas to bring the Dracula story up to date, and try to inject fresh blood into what was then seen as an old-fashioned and period story. Christopher Lee wasn't a fan of having a modern-day Count, but production went ahead.
The Dracula: 1972 A.D. story starts in 1872, as Count Dracula and vampire hunter Lawrence Van Helsing fight to the death atop a movie carriage. Both are later buried nearby by locals.
A century later a groovy gang of Chelsea hippies leaves their swinging party to take part in a black mass at an abandoned church, which brings Dracula back to life.
Leader of the satanic groovy gang is Johnny Alucard, the descendant of the man who originally buried Dracula. Johnny wants to bring Dracula back to life so that he can gain immortality himself.
Also in the group is Doctor Van Helsing’s great, great grand daughter, Jessica. Her grandfather Lorrimer Van Helsing is an occult expert, although Jessica refuses to believe in such nonsense!
In the end Johnny Alucard is killed by running water - he's pushed into a bathroom shower - and Dracula is finally finished off in a pit of sharpened stakes. "Rest in Final Peace" appears on screen as Van Helsing leads Jessica away.
Christopher Lee was cast as Dracula, with Peter Cushing playing both Laurence and Lorrimer Van Helsing. Stephanie Beecham took on the role of Jessica.
Dracula: 1972 A.D. was also Caroline Munro's Hammer debut, and convinced her to focus on a career in acting rather than modelling.
Location filming took place on the King's Road, Chelsea and in Notting Hill. Former Manfred Mann member Mike Vickers composed the rather funky soundtrack and early electronic group White Noise performed the main theme “Black Mass: An Electric Storm in Hell."
Critical reception for Dracula 1972 A.D. was not great: many saw it as the low-point of the Hammer Dracula series. Swinging hippies were also out of date by 1972, and the funk soundtrack seemed out of place.
However there are many great things about this film, not least the fight scenes between Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. It was a worthy attempt to update the Dracula story and it's also pretty fun to watch.
The 1973 follow-up movie The Satanic Rites of Dracula only happened due to contractual obligations. "I'm doing it under protest" said Christopher Lee, "I think it is fatuous!"
But that's a story for another time. Happy #WorldGothDay everybody...
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Today in pulp... let me introduce you to Mark Hardin: The Penetrator!
Mark Hardin is a one-man strike force against corruption. Orphaned at the age of four he was brought up mean and hungry. He learned his fighting skills in Vietnam before returning to an America gone bad.
Actually The Penetrator is one of a long list of vigilante pulp heroes thrown up in the 1970s counter-counterculture backlash, along with The Destroyer, The Executioner The Iceman and The Marksman to name but a few.
Today in pulp I'm mostly looking at Zebra Books, which weren't all bodice rippers and horror novels... although most of them were!
Zebra was sort of the successor to Lancer Books, which ceased publishing in 1973. Along with sister imprint Pinnacle, Zebra kept the pulp flame burning from 1975 onwards...
Good condition Zebras can still command a decent price online - sometimes upwards of fifty bucks - so if you have any in the loft you may want to check out the current market for these.
Georgii and Vladimir Stenberg were graphic designers from Moscow who produced a range of amazing constructivist film posters during the 1920s.
Let's look at some of their work...
Vladimir and Georgii Stenberg were born in Moscow in 1899 and 1900 respectively. Their father was a Swedish artist who encouraged their interest in both painting and graphic design.
The Stenberg brothers were students at the Stroganov School of Applied Art when they first started to design posters. They founded the Society of Young Artists in 1919 and held their own constructivist art exhibition in 1922.
Today in pulp I'm looking back at one of the best loved albums of the '70s.
What are the chances...
By 1976 Jeff Wayne was already a successful composer and musician, as well as a producer for David Essex. His next plan was to compose a concept album.
War Of The Worlds was already a well known story, notorious due to the Orson Wells radio play production. For Wayne it seemed like a great choice for a rock opera.