This month, one of the great icons of British cinema passed away. Christopher Lee gave over seventy years of his life to cinema and played some truly great roles along the way. His more recent roles as Saruman in Lord of the Rings and Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels sealed his name into the history books as one of the greats, but his earlier roles in gothic cinema paved the road to his later endeavours.

Lee worked with Hammer horror in various roles for almost twenty years. His first major role for them was as Frankenstein’s Monster in The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957. This then led on to possibly his most famous role as Dracula in a series of films released by Hammer horror throughout the 60’s and early 70’s. The first being The Horror of Dracula in 1958. With his domineering physical presence and powerfully imposing voice, Lee brought a new edge to the role.  He showed a generation that the novel Dracula was not just about vampires it was also sex and the beauty of a monster.

His naturally aristocratic demeanour lulled the audience into a false sense of security before he transformed into a pale-faced monster, with terrifying fangs and blood dripping from his lips and chin. This new way of acting allowed modern audiences to see that a monster could be multi-faceted, and do more than just scream or growl to inspire fear into their victims. Film critic Matthew Sweet wrote “Lee brought a sensuality to the role to fit with new permissive times.”

Lee starred in six Dracula films, before finally giving the role up as he felt that they were becoming progressively worse both in how they were written and directed.  He also starred as Kharis in The Mummy in 1959. However the earlier films helped to define modern gothic cinema and character acting as a whole. His demonic performance defined future perceptions of how Dracula and vampires should be interpreted in modern writing about this legendary monster; a sensuous villain that causes the audience to fall in love with him before he turns into his second self and destroys them in a fit of passion and blood. This legacy that he has left will continue to influence gothic writing and cinema alike.

 

 

 

Alchemy have a range of jewellery befitting any vampire enthusiast. Our Bitten Choker [P558] has a soft, velvet band and two red Swarovski crystal bite marks with cascades of Swarovski crystal droplets to tumble down your neck. A perfect conversation starter at any dinner party. Other vampiric pieces include our Vampretta Necklace [P439] and matching ear studs  [E275]. These paired  with the Vamp Bangle [A76] and ring [R152] would ooze vampiric charm and bewitch any onlooker with their deep red Swarovski crystals.

 

 

This entry was posted on Friday, June 19th, 2015 in Uncategorized.