Dracula: Prince of Darkness

Christopher Lee - Dracula
Barbara Shelley - Helen Kent
Andrew Keir - Father Sandor
Francis Matthews - Charles Kent
Suzan Farmer - Diana Kent
Charles Tingwell - Alan Kent
Thorley Walters - Ludwig
Philip Latham - Klove
Peter Cushing - Doctor Van Helsing

Dracula - Prince of Darkness began by repeating the ending of the original Hammer Dracula, with the Count (Christopher Lee) being reduced to a pile of ashes. It is not long, however, before one of the Count's faithful assistants, Klove (Philip Latham), has ensnared two unwary English couples, Alan and Helen (Charles Tingwell and Barbara Shelley) and Charles and Diana (Francis Matthews and Suzan Farmer), who are travelling in the Carpathians and lose their way, and spying Castle Dracula, decide to call in. Naturally, the two couples accept the offer to stay the night, during which one of them meets with a grisly end; suspended dead over the ashes of the Count, Klove slits the corpses stomach open so that the blood pours over the Count’s remains, restoring him to his old form.

The Count’s new adventures in vampirism begin with Helen, a middle-aged frump, who once bitten by Dracula is transformed into a sensual vampire. After Helen the Count focuses his attentions firmly on Diana, whom he wishes to make his new bride. To save her from this fate, her husband Charles enlists the help of vampire-hunter Father Sandor (Andrew Keir), who finally corners Dracula on the frozen moat of his castle, where a few well-aimed bullets crack the ice, causing it to break around the Count’s feet and submerge him in running water that has a destructive effect on him.