The legendary actor played Dracula in seven Hammer films.
The Big Picture
- NECA’s new Ultimate Count Dracula figure captures Christopher Lee’s iconic portrayal with three interchangeable heads and blood-dripping fangs.
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Horror of Dracula
was revolutionary as the first Dracula film in color, showcasing Lee’s chilling presence and legendary blood-dripping fangs. - NECA’s release of the Ultimate Count Dracula is set for this fall.
Dracula has been getting new-found love over the last couple of years with Universal’s new wave of monster movies, which have included blood-soaked romps like Renfield, The Last Voyage of the Demeter, and Abigail. However, on the toy front, there has been no company as beloved in the horror community as NECA. This decade has seen the company make high-quality action figures based on the classic Universal Monster Movies that lasted through the 1950s. They’ve done almost every major monster to this point. However, there was another monster universe that picked up the torch in the late 50s with the Hammer Series. Now, NECA is producing their first Hammer figure based on Christopher Lee in the Horror of Dracula.
Like NECA’s “Ultimate” Universal Monsters line, their Ultimate Count Dracula is a seven-inch scale figure packed with a batty amount of scream-worthy accessories. This includes a removable fabric cape, a shovel, interchangeable hands, two candle stickers (one lit, one unlit), and three interchangeable heads. The latter of which perfectly captures Lee’s haunting likeness and two of the head sculpts bare the character’s nasty fangs with blood dripping down the monster’s face. The figure, like previous NECA releases on this scale, will be $34.99 USD.
There have been many actors that have played Dracula in the last century with countless beloved adaptations. Bela Lugosi will always be at the top of that list, but Lee’s version of Dracula is a close second. NECA have already released two versions of Lugosi’s Count (black and white, in color). With Lee now entering the ranks of NECA’s seven-inch figures, these two horror icons can finally battle it out in action figure form.
The ‘Horror of Dracula’ Was Bloody Historic
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Horror of Dracula was revolutionary for many reasons, but the Terence Fisher Classic is most known for being the first Dracula film in color. They didn’t waste that opportunity either, with blood being all over this adaptation. Lee didn’t need that extra bit to be scary. His screen presents and how he looked in costume was enough to send chills down any horror fan’s spine. However, the shots of the actor with blood coming off his fangs was what became legendary. The 1958 film was the second Hammer adaptation of the classic monsters after 1957’s The Curse of Frankenstein, and Lee would go on to play Dracula in six more films for Hammer. These included Dracula: Prince of Darkness, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Scars of Dracula, Dracula A.D. 1972 and The Satanic Rites of Dracula. Those sequels are very hit-and-miss, but that doesn’t taint the bloody brilliance of Horror of Dracula. It remains one of the best vampire films in history whose influence can still be seen today in films like Abigail.
Horror of Dracula is currently not available on any streaming service, but you can rent the film on all major VOD platforms, like Prime Video. It’s also available on Blu-ray via the Warner Brothers Archive Collection. As genre fans prepare for their next Hammer horror marathon, you can currently pre-order Lee’s Ultimate Count Dracula figure based on Horror of Dracula on NECA’s website. The figure is set to be released in September 2024. Just in time for Halloween and it appears we may be getting more Hammer horror figures from NECA in the near future.
This article was originally published on collider.com