One year after destroying Dracula (Christopher Lee), Monsignor (Rupert Davies) returns to his castle in the mountains with the local priest (Ewan Hooper) to exorcise his castle. However, the priest accidentally resurrects Dracula and becomes his slave. Meanwhile Monsignor returns home in Keinenberg on the day of the birthday of his niece Maria (Veronica Carlson), who lives with her mother Anna (Marion Mathie) in his house. Maria is in love with the atheist Paul (Barry Andrews), who works with the waitress Zena (Barbara Ewing) in the bar owned by his friend Max (Michael Ripper) where he also lives. Dracula decides to revenge on Monsignor and travels with the priest to Keinenberg. What will Dracula do next?"Dracula Has Risen from the Grave" is the third film by Hammer featuring Christopher Lee in the role of Dracula. The film is still interesting almost fifty years later for fans of Dracula, but there are better ones. Paul staking Dracula that does not die because Paul does not pray is totally weird. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Drácula, o Perfil do Diabo" ("Dracula, The Profile of the Devil")

Dracula Has Risen from the Grave is the fourth film in Hammer Films' Dracula series. It is directed by Freddie Francis and written by Anthony Hinds (under his alias John Elder). It stars Christopher Lee, Rupert Davies, Veronica Carlson, Barry Andrews and Barbara Ewing. Music is by James Bernard and cinematography by Arthur Grant.Very much a case of style over substance, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave is still very much a top line Hammer Dracula pic. Story sees the famous Count accidentally revived and embark upon a mission of revenge, which spells trouble for the inhabitants of the village that sits in the shadow of his castle. Enter a scenario where Dracula is very much on the periphery as he tracks Carlson's sultry babe for his nefarious ends. Lust, blood, breasts and religious zeal does follow.That's about it as story goes, but even though strands such as religious beliefs - or otherwise - are dangled but not pulled hard enough, the screenplay is not without interesting merit. A number of great scenes lift the pic out of the ordinary, from a terrific "body in a bell" opening, to the grandiose splendour of a crucifix blood splatter, the craft on show engages and thrills. The middle section slow moves as we are party to young lovers under duress via Drac, but Drac pops up from time to time to menace humans and horses alike.The super craft doesn't stop there, the costuming and sets are ornate and very appealing, with the various colour lens choices also superb. Standing out are the roof top sequences, we get high level views of an angular landscape, with jutted slates, odd chimney tops (one even looking like a magic mushroom), all of which is shrouded in mist. There's even green smoke coming out of some stacks, just what are the villagers burning on their fires?! While Bernard scores it with menacing relish, some of the title music having shades of Berlioz at his most unnerving.Competently acted and directed with a keen eye for detail, this is one of the better Hammer Dracula sequels. 7/10

As the third in the series of the Christopher Lee Draculas from Hammer horror, I wasn't sure what to expect, and after Prince of Darkness (66) it was possible this one could've slipped farther into territory that was cheesy and unbelievable and all that. What's surprising is that director Freddie Francis and his collaborators and writer Hinds get more than you could bargain for. This especially after one sees how Dracula comes back, from an accident where a Monsognor and a fellow priest are up at Dracula's castle to fortify it with Christian barriers and the priest has a tumble and cuts himself... with the blood trickling down to Dracula, who has been frozen in ice (remember last time he fell to an icy would-be grave), and it reaches his mouth. ZANG, he's back again.What surprised me also was how the characters in this one has a bit more, well, character to them. I liked Barry Andrews and his character very much in this film, and there's actually some, if not development, at least time to see him and other characters in this village nearby the Count's a castle. One memorable moment is when Paul is over for dinner at Maria's place, and her father being a religious man asks Paul what his denomination is. He responds he's an atheist, which causes an uproar for a few minutes. That was certainly unexpected, and the scene where Paul gets super drunk and Zena (Barbara Ewing) tries to get 'cozy' with him, is funny and adds some depth to the proceedings. Not a lot, sure, but more than you might expect from a story that is summed up on the TV summary as: "Count bites women, falls on something sharp."What that 'sharp' thing is I dare not say, but suffice it to say Lee's Dracula gets a lot of time here - or more than I remember from Horror of Dracula - and even has some lines this time (not a lot, but enough, mostly commands). Francis' direction and the Hammer-studio sets are magnificent, you get absorbed into the horror every time Lee comes on because nothing is rushed for a moment - even when Dracula has to get away when another mortal enters (because, you know, he can't just keep doing what he's about to with his female victims), there's a grace to it. It's also interesting to see a little experimentation, as in one sequence where the sides of the frame have a kind of blood-red gauze that makes things even more eerie. You can feel the dread mounting even more with that there, and it stays on for a good couple of minutes before leaving the film.Dracula Has Risen from the Grave has a lot of personality to its characters, great camera-work, and another masterpiece turn from Lee in the role that made him a household name (for most households, preferably the ones with good taste). Most of all the sensual power of Dracula over his women is felt and seen palpably, with the character Maria especially who is seduced, tries to fight it, and is brought back again into the aura that is the Count of Transylvania (if that's where this is this time). Though not all perfect, and certain shots made me wonder where the budget went, there's a lot of fun and thrills to be had with this one, and it has more to offer than one might expect from the third film in a Dracula series; ironically Lee didn't care for the script much, though he did show up to work.

Fearful that Dracula's reign of terror will continue, the efforts of a local monsignor to rid a town of the fearful creature launch a flurry of activity on his daughter and forces her boyfriend to finally stop him.Frankly, this is one of the best in the series and one of Hammer's better-crafted efforts here. Among the many good points in this is that the pace of this one is just a lot livelier than the majority of their other films, settling into a pace that is quite a bit of fun to behold. The opening scene is a great highlight, as it's the sequence where Dracula is revived with the fury of the oncoming storm, the howling wind, and the fevered attempt to complete the ceremony combine together with a perfectly timed jump that still gets many viewers into a pretty creepy, nicely atmospheric setting. Even in the rest of the film, there are some good moments. The numerous attacks throughout the village are quite well, a ghastly staking sequence near the end is handled expertly, full of the traditional Hammer blood and color, and in general this one tends to utilize the pace better than many of their peers which is one of the greatest parts here. This leads to the film's embracing of traditional Gothic overtones mixed in with the rest of the action, getting the genuine sense of classic Hammer through and through in the film from costumes to camera angles to setting, with the scenes at the castle being undoubtedly the most fervent example of classic Gothic setting while the shots in the village manage to contain the same overall feeling. This also has the best bedroom-romancing sequence in the series, lushly erotic and quite sensual that is largely influenced by other films. This version of the bite, though, has the advantage of a great bloodsucker paired with one of Hammer's better-looking leading ladies. Here, it's absolutely certain we properly associate the bite with sexual deflowering, throwing in a shot of her hand pushing her baby doll from the edge of the bed as she's being sucked which is quiet beautifully filmed that leads even more to the erotic quality of the scene. The shots in here are marvelous in the grand overall design of Hammer films, and it certainly ranks as among the best from the time period. There is a continuous use of overhead shots in here that don't look like anything else at the time, and are a joy to behold. Watching the town from overhead while trying to center on the action in the middle of the screen are some of the greatest compositions in the genre, and give the film a higher appeal. While the film may not have much for Dracula to do like always since he basically just seems to be there in the periphery of the story and never really has much of anything to do here, these other factors make it that much more enjoyable.Today's Rating/PG-13: Violence and some sexual themes.