Good film, with a few frightening scenes, but what I did not find frightening was David Peel. Rather, I found the site of him with those teeth and that hair closer to comical, almost reminding me of Rowan Atkinson.
Am I alone in this view?
No you're not. While I certainly did not mind Peel as the main vampire in this film, he wasn't a particularly scary or menacing presence on screen. And compared to Chris Lee's presence as Dracula in both 'Horror'(1958) and 'Prince of Darkness'(1966), Peel's Baron was a complete pussycat in 'Brides'!
I personally would've loved to have seen the plot of 'Brides' center on Lee's Dracula and his now powerful host of vampire brides doing battle with Cushing's Van Helsing once again. Now THAT could have truly been a marvelous piece of horror/vampire cinema IMO!
:) I'm getting excited just at the thought of it. But, alas, Mr Lee did not want to be typecast.
sharePersonally I though Peel was great. No he wasn't as good as Lee but who was? What I can't believe is that Peel was 40 when he did the movie. He looks like he's in his 20s!
shareI'm sorry to say I didn't believe you so I went to check and sure enough it was true. I was shocked! I would've guessed him to be about 27 at the very oldest. I thought he was pretty good in the role as well.
shareNo, I thought Peel gave a great performance, especially in the earlier part of the film: his first meeting with Marianne, the fight with Van Helsing at the Château, the visit to the Lang school. In the scene where he seduces Gina, they lit him from below, to make him seem scarier, which perhaps has the opposite effect. But remember Meinster is a very different character to Dracula, so we can't judge David Peel by Christopher Lee's performance.
shareNo, you're not.
He kind of looked scary in his first scenes at the castle, but afterwards something happened to his looks besides the added fangs... I think that hairdo was a bit too much and looked like a wig, so it was impossible to take him seriously. I guess they wanted to make him look like a matinée idol instead of a frightening vampire. That's a pity, since the rest of the cast was awesome.
Animal crackers in my soup
Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop
I agree. He was kinda scary/tragic when we first saw him, but he just got campier as the film went on! Another thing that made me laugh was the line "Don't get impertinent with me or I'll be throwing you out of that window!"
shareIn part, I agree.
There were scenes where he acted great and with big presence, like when he meets Marian or when he visits Lang School, but in the scene where he shows his vampire teeth to Van Helsing for first time, I found him totally ridicolous with the eyes pointing to different sides, lol
Seriously, have a look at his eyes,he looked like a fool or something..That scene should have showed his face with a different look, much more agressive, dark and creepy and his eyes ruined the scene totally..
I think he was not a very good vampire,I found his character kind of weak and "gay" , even the guy in the beginning,the one who was hidden in the woods,with black hair, would have looked a more decent and better vampire.I felt he had more look for it.
David Peel was weird,I never thought of him as a vampire,it is like he looked too "pretty" and light..
He was wearing the huge, cupped, bloodshot contact lenses like the ones Christopher Lee wore in all the Hammer Dracula movies he did, and complained about at the time in some interviews.
waldolydecker
Agreed. His hair didn't help, he looked like Fred from Scooby-Doo. I didn't hate him in the role, he was a decent actor but not remotely scary or intimidating.
share'His hair didn't help, he looked like Fred from Scooby-Doo.'
I liked Peel's performance, but damn now you mention it he did look like Fred! 😂