One year after the destruction of Dracula, Monsignor Ernest Mueller visits the village to ensure that all is well. He learns that the locals no longer attend mass because the shadow of Dracula's castle touches the church. They feel the castle still contains evil. To alleviate their fears, the Monsignor performs an exorcism of the castle to rid it of all evil. The local village priest, however, accidentally reawakens the frozen Dracula, who now seeks revenge on Monsignor Mueller, targeting his niece Maria. Risen from the Grave is the fourth instalment in the Hammer Dracula franchise, set a year after the events of
Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966). The movie begins, however, with a short segment acting as a flashback, although never actually put across as such. The scene shows one of Dracula's victims' fate, which plays heavily into the later reasoning for the villager's abandonment of the church. We are introduced to our semi-protagonist, the Monsignor, who is shocked to discover the attitude shared towards the church and the power the castle still holds over them. There are many parallels here with Prince of Darkness, even the part where he knows Dracula is no longer there despite everybody still believing so and he shames them all. The Monsignor puts in motion a plan to exorcise the castle in hopes of alleviating their fears, taking a large golden cross with him, accompanied by the local priest. Whilst the Monsignor performs the act, the priest (yes, that's all he's called) accidentally falls during an immense storm, where he comes face to face with the frozen Dracula. The resurrection scene is always a fascinating sequence, as we await to see how he will return, though I found this one to be somewhat far-fetched, personally. Nevertheless, our badly dubbed priest has unwillingly brought back Dracula, and Christopher Lee again but this time, with a new notable difference. He talks! Not only do we finally, get to hear the masterful voice of Lee, but it's the most he has spoken so far, even featuring some lines during his beast-like state. Taking hold of the priest, Dracula makes him his servant in a revenge-centered mission he hunts the man who barred him from his home. Whilst Dracula regains his strength, we meet our main protagonist, Paul, a baker at the pub who happens to be the boyfriend of Maria, the Monsignor's niece. The pair share some great chemistry and likely hold the place as one of my favourite couples we encounter in this series. It is this very night Maria plans to introduce Paul to her family, which doesn't go completely as planned as Paul's habit of telling the truth causes him to admit he is an atheist, displeasing the Monsignor. Whilst this could be overlooked as a throwaway scene, albeit a fantastic one, this plays well into the theme and focus of the film, religion. Dracula's existence has always been an attack on religion and this movie thoroughly explored this, especially on a physical level with him attacking the Monsignor, turning the priest into his servant, desecrating the church and so forth. It was equally fascinating to see his main adversary be an atheist who is sent into the turmoil of figuring out his own beliefs, shown tremendously in the staking sequence. It is a highly regarded scene among fans, where due to his lack of religion, the act doesn't quite go as you would expect, exploring a whole new aspect to the staking scenes. Dracula is phenomenal in this film, continuing to deliver an imposing presence aided by the creative lens shots of director Francis. There are a tons of brilliant moments from Dracula who leaps across rooftops and crashes through windows. Equally notable are his biting scenes, like his first victim and later follower, waitress Zena, to his attempts at getting Maria. However, Paul does all he can to prevent Maria's taking, culminating in a frantic battle, resulting in a truly astounding demise. Overall, Risen from the Grave is another superb sequel in the series that so aptly named, rises the Count once more for a frightful vengeance-driven endeavour, battling religion whilst being fought by a non-beliver. I truly loved how creative this film's story was, making for a notable entry. See the next production,
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970).
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