Starring Peter Cushing and David Peel

Christopher Lee, well aware of what happened to Bela Lugosi`s career when he was typecast as Dracula, refused to star in a sequel to "Horror of Dracula". (He would eventually come back, but not until eight years later).

Cushing, who played Van Helding in "Horror" was game for a sequel. The film Hammer cranked out is potentially the very best movie the studio ever produced. Many consider it better than any of the other "Dracula" films, even though Dracula isn`t a character in this one.

A schoolteacher on the road in Transylvania, spends the night in an eerie castle and unshackles a charming blonde-haired baron (Peel), whose mother has kept locked up for years and years. Of course, it turns out the baron is actually a vampire that the mother decided to keep chained in his room, lest he run out and start killing women.

Of course, he does run out and kill some women--and he`s especially interested in getting his mits on the schoolteacher who set him free. Fortunately, Van Helsing (Cushing), the vampire hunter who killed Dracula in the previous film "Horror of Dracula", just happens to be in town.