Count Dracula

Count Dracula as portrayed by Christopher Lee in Terence Fisher's 1958 film "Horror of Dracula"

In the late 1950s, the horror movie genre was in something of a state of decline. The genre really hadn’t been taken seriously since the early 1930s, when the classic Universal Monsters were in their heyday. However, that all changed when Hammer, a smaller English production company began a series of remakes of those classic Universal horror movies. Hammer’s first three productions were CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, HORROR OF DRACULA and THE MUMMY. The impact of these three movies was instant, and forever changed the face of the horror genre.

In the UK Hammer released the film simply as "Dracula" but In the United States the title was changed to "Horror of Dracula" to avoid confusion with the classic 1931 version. This was a real concern since the Bela Lugosi version was still being booked into theaters (through Realart) until the Shock Theatre package of classic Universal horror films was released to television.

On several occasions, Christopher Lee complained about the contact lenses he had to wear for the shock scenes. Not only they were quite painful, but he could not see a thing. While running towards the vampire woman for instance, he even ran too far past the camera on the first take.

The set that was Dracula's castle in this movie is now a hotel in the Scottish Highlands and the internal decor is still very much the same.

Horror of Dracula was shot in just 25 days for less than £100,000. Christopher Lee was paid just £750 for his role as Dracula.