History Film / HorrorOfDracula

** As the film was made on the cheap, a good chunk of characters from the book were cut, most notably Quincy Morris and Renfield. Likewise, Dracula's three vampires brides are reduced to only one in this film.

** In this film, Lucy and Mina's relationships from the original novel are swapped, with Lucy being engaged to Jonathan Harker and sister of Arthur Holmwood, while Mina is married to Arthur.

* YouMustBeCold: Played innocently when Van Helsing gives his coat to a scared little girl, and then tells her "You look like a teddy bear."

** Dracula doesn't have ability here to transform into wolf, bat, mist, or anything, because the scriptwriter decided those elements made the story seem more like a fairy tale and wanted to ground the film in realism. (And, if ''Film/ScarsOfDracula'' was any indication, Hammer couldn't pull the effects off anyway.) In comparison with his [[Film/Dracula1931 counterpart from Universal]], Hammer's Dracula he didn't possesed superhuman strength, as even a normal human as Van Helsing can fight directly against him. Compare this with Dracula killing easily the super strong Renfield in ''Film/Dracula1931''.

->''You can have no idea what an evil man he is, or of the terrible things he does!''

* InformedAbility: Dracula is touted as a nigh-unstoppable force of evil that is a threat to the entire planet's safety. [[spoiler:Killing him turns out to be a rather simple matter. One man is able to chase him down and forces him into the sunlight with minimal assistance.]]

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Downplayed. Van Helsing, an elderly man in the novel and [[Film/Dracula1931 1931 film]], is played by the dashing and energetic (even at forty-five years old) Creator/PeterCushing here.

** Dracula himself is this. In the novel is described (when Harker first encounters him, anyway) as a sinister-looking, very old man with creepy long fingers. Here he's portrayed by the handsome Creator/ChristopherLee.

** Dracula himself is this. In the novel is descripted as a sinister-looking old man with creepy long fingers. Here he's portrayed by the handsome Creator/ChristopherLee.

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Little Tania is rescued just before she becomes the vampirized Lucy's victim. Oddly, this ends up happening ''twice'', with the first instance coming before the characters are even aware of Lucy's having risen as a vampire. The only reason she doesn't bite Tania that time is because she gets scared off by a passing policeman. This leads to Tania being brought home and dropping Lucy's name to Arthur, who proceeds to check out the crypt – luckily being right where he needed to be when Lucy managed to bring Tania to the graveyard to feed on her on the second go-round.

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Little Tania is rescued just before she becomes vampirized Lucy's victim. Oddly, this ends up happening ''twice'', with the first time the having the characters unaware of Lucy's having risen as a vampire. The only reason she doesn't bite Tania that time is because she got scared off by a passing cop, causing Tania to name drop her to Arthur who proceeds to check out the crypt. Luckily being right where he needed to be when Lucy managed to bring Tania to the graveyard to feed on her on the second go around.

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Little Tania is rescued just before she becomes vampirized Lucy's victim. Oddly, this ends up happening ''twice'', with the first time the characters even unaware of Lucy having risen as a vampire. The only reason she doesn't bite Tania that time is because she got scared off by a passing cop, causing Tania to name drop her to Arthur who proceeds to check out the crypt. Luckily being right where he needed to be when Lucy managed to bring Tania to the graveyard to feed on her on the second go around.

** Harker should have known better than to trust a woman living in Dracula's castle, especially considering [[spoiler: that he knew about vampires. Not surprisingly, the woman turns out to be undead and bites him when his guard is down. He does it again when he finds Dracula and the bride's sleeping quarters and doesn't keep an eye on Dracula as he stakes the bride first nor how much sunlight he has left. Dracula revives once the sunlight leaves the chambers and proceeds to kill Harker.]]

''Horror of Dracula'' is a 1958 Film/HammerHorror film directed by Terence Fisher. Its official British title is simply ''Dracula'', but to avoid [[Film/{{Dracula 1931}} confusion]], we'll be using the title that it was released under in the U.S. It stars Creator/ChristopherLee as [[{{Dracula}} the eponymous Count]] and Creator/PeterCushing as Van Helsing, roles for which both actors would be remembered forever afterward (though Lee eventually would become disenchanted with his role due to [[{{Sequelitis}} increasingly inferior sequels]] and {{typecasting}}).

''Horror of Dracula'' is a 1958 Film/HammerHorror film directed by Terence Fisher. Its official British title is simply ''Dracula'', but to avoid [[Film/{{Dracula 1931}} confusion]], we'll be using the title that it was released under in the U.S. It stars Creator/ChristopherLee as [[{{Dracula}} the eponymous Count]] and Creator/PeterCushing as Van Helsing, roles for which both actors would be remembered forever afterward (though Lee would eventually become disenchanted with his role due to [[{{Sequelitis}} increasingly inferior sequels]] and {{typecasting}}).

''Horror of Dracula'' is a 1958 Film/HammerHorror film directed by Terence Fisher. Its official British title is simply ''Dracula'', but to avoid [[Film/{{Dracula 1931}} confusion]], we'll be using the title that it was released under in the U.S. It stars Creator/ChristopherLee as [[{{Dracula}} the eponymous Count]] and Creator/PeterCushing as Van Helsing, roles for which both actors would be remembered forever afterward. Lee would later come to resent his role because of increasingly inferior [[{{Sequelitis}} sequels]] and typecasting.

A very loose adaptation of [[Literature/{{Dracula}} Bram Stoker's novel]], the film opens with Jonathan Harker (John Van Eyssen) arriving at Castle Dracula, ostensibly to begin work as a librarian. In fact, he has come to destroy Dracula, but the plan falls through and he becomes a victim of the Count. Shortly thereafter, Van Helsing arrives to investigate, quickly discovering that Harker has been turned into a vampire and that the Count has moved out from his castle in search of more prey – which he soon finds, in the person of Harker's fiancée, Lucy Holmwood (Carol Marsh). Can Van Helsing, with the help of Lucy's brother Arthur (Creator/MichaelGough), track Dracula down and bring an end to his reign of terror?

** Harker should've known better than to trust a woman within Dracula's castle, especially considering [[spoiler: that he knew about vampires. Not surprisingly, the woman turns out to be undead and bites him when his guard is down. He does it again when he finds Dracula and the bride's sleeping quarters and doesn't keep an eye on Dracula as he stakes the bride first nor how much sunlight he has left. Dracula revives once the sunlight leaves the chambers and proceeds to kill Harker.]]

** Tania when she goes to meet up with Lucy. Despite knowing she died not too long ago, she doesn't find it odd that Lucy is clearly walking around, has a pale complexion, two fangs sticking out of her mouth, not talking like the Lucy she should know, and wants to "play" with her in the ''middle of the night''. The most Tania notices is that Lucy's touch is very cold, but doesn't question it further.

* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Van Helsing has to give a slap to a [[HystericalWoman hysterical]] Gerda at one point.

A very loose adaptation of [[Literature/{{Dracula}} Bram Stoker's novel]], the film opens with Jonathan Harker (John Van Eyssen) arriving at Castle Dracula, ostensibly to begin work as a librarian. In fact, he has come to destroy Dracula, but the plan falls through and he becomes a victim of the Count. Shortly thereafter, Van Helsing arrives to investigate, quickly discovering that Harker has been turned into a vampire and that the Count has moved out from his castle in search of more prey--which he soon finds, in the person of Harker's fiancée, Lucy Holmwood (Carol Marsh). Can Van Helsing, with the help of Lucy's brother Arthur (Creator/MichaelGough), track Dracula down and bring an end to his reign of terror?

A very loose adaptation of [[Literature/{{Dracula}} Bram Stoker's novel]], the film opens with Jonathan Harker (John Van Eyssen) arriving at Castle Dracula, ostensibly to begin work as a librarian. In fact, he has come to destroy Dracula, but the plan falls through and he becomes a victim of the Count. Shortly thereafter, Van Helsing arrives to investigate, quickly learning that Harker has been turned into a vampire and that the Count has moved out from his castle in search of more prey--which he soon finds, in the person of Harker's fiancée, Lucy Holmwood (Carol Marsh). Can Van Helsing, with the help of Lucy's brother Arthur (Creator/MichaelGough), track Dracula down and bring an end to his reign of terror?

* SiblingSwitchSquick: Lucy and Arthur are usually engaged in ''Dracula'', but here, they're brother and sister (as Arthur and [[DeathByAdaptation Jonathan]] swapped spouses).

** Subverted with Jonathan Harker. In the novel, Harker was a lawyer who Dracula used to secure a London property and, over the course of the story, took a level in badass and helped to slay Dracula in the climax. Here, he's an apprentice vampire hunter to Van Helsing who specifically comes to slay Dracula but fails.

* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul:
** In this film, Lucy and Mina's relationships from the original novel are swapped, with Lucy being engaged to Jonathan Harker and sister of Arthur Holmwood, while Mina is married to Arthur.
** Van Helsing and Harker never met each other before in the novel. In the film, they're old friends.
** Dr. Seward was Van Helsing's student and friend and personally called him in to investigate Lucy's illness. Here they don't seem to know each other.