DRACULA

 

It is hard to belive but a few years ago i was complaining the Universal Monsters were fading away, with no merch or anything related to them and now, we got lots of stuff based on them and even badly and deficient remakes that, as bas as they are, keep theyr names afloat. Its a great moment to be an Universal Monster fan but other versions of the characters dont have that luck. Like for example, the remakes made in the 50s-70s from Hammer Studio. 

The Hammer versions are soo far the only succesfull ramakes of the Monsters that managed to leave a mark in history and generactions of movie goers, but merch about them has been extremelly rare. A couple of years ago Numskull released duck version of this Hammer Monsters in theyr Tubbz series, but aside of that theres only been a handfull of very expensive statues but never action figures, until now.

Once they release all the Universal Monsters, NECA started to release the Hammer Monsters!! Or at least a single one soo far: Dracula from 1959 Horror of Dracula movie portrayed by Christopher Lee. This figure matches the scale of all other NECA figures of course and can stand on his own with no problem (this has to be noted because sometimes NECA figures refuse to stand for no aparent reason).

He is articulated on the neck, waist, shoulders, elbows, wrists, legs, knees and ankles. Bll joints all around and with no problem for been moved. His jacket is amde with soft plastic soo it dosnt block his legs or waist movement too much tough he cant achive extreme poses deffinetly but thats not a problem for this particular character. 

This is Dracula, soo he is extremelly simple looking, and unlike Bela Lugosi´s version, this one have a full jacket closed in front soo theres no white shirt underneat or vest, and this make this figure like...90% blackness. Then again this isnt a bad thing since this Dracula have quiet a presence.

His entire suit have very natural looking wrinkles in the rigth places to make the fabric look like it flows along his body underneath and while the jacket and pants are made of mate black, the shoes are made in shiny black. He is using a shiny purple handkerchief on his neck along side a red jewell, but this is completelly blocked by the cape.

The sculpt and paint of the face is extremelly good loking!! the long shape of the face, the round eyes, the lips, this is completelly faithfull to Christopher Lee face features  but the paint is also extremelly good looking with a very natural skin color as well as color on the lips, very VERY subtle beard shadow, eye bags and the eyeballs shine and sparks with life despite the serious expresion. The hair is black but it also have a little bit of silver in front that mix with the rest of the hair perfectly, this make it shine and put in evidence this Dracula is a mature man with some grey on his hair.

His cape is made with fabric, a very thin and soft material that flows extremelly well with this scale. The lenght is the rigth one and it joins to the collar of the cape that is amde with soft plastic as well as a sculpted cord around the neck. To remove or add the cape back his head must be removed but this makes the cape stay in place all the time. Its a shame tough the cape is completelly black since in the movie the inside is crimson red, but i guess add a secon layer to it would make the cape more stiff and thick.

He comes with a pair of hands in a claw shape, ready to pounce on his victims as well as asecond pair designed to hold items and an extra left hand with a pinty finger. All of them can be swaped really easy and they helps a lot to changue his look.

Aside of the basic serious looking head sculpt, he comes with two extra heads: one with his mouth open and showing his fangs, his eyes all bloody red, and another one in a fierce animalistic roar, with his eyes wide open and his hair all messed up. I LOVE this heads, i really doo!! The red veins on the eyes looks fantastic, the yellow teeth and fangs are soo perfect as well as the inside of the mouth and both heads have blood splated around his mouth as well.

The blood shines soo much!!! The messy hair is such a subtle touch and attetion to detail and the overall effect is really shocking!! This version of Dracula was the very first one to have fangs and also it was the very frst one to show the count with blood all around since this was also the very first Dracula in Technicolor soo this makes Chrstopher Lee version of the character pretty important for the development of the character.

He also comes with a shovel. Is pretty thin and it have dirt on the back side while is painted in metalic grey with some brown details and a ark wash to make it looks old and used. I find odd to see Dracula with a shovel tough, i am used to see Fritz or even Rendfield with an item like this but not the count himself, tough its pretty difficult to find accesorys for him.

The other item is a candelabra, just like all other Dracula figures. This is totally different to the Lugosi Dracula´s candelabra since it have a less gothic design and looks much more medieval, like the tower of a castle with the candle on top and a flame. The sculpt is really good as well as the texture of the candle, the body of the candelabra is metalic black while the flame have a very nice looking yellow mixed with orange.

There is a second candelabra tough this one is on flames,with a blaze of fire covering from the top to the handle, amde with softish plastic. A pretty cool looking item for a very action oreiented pose, rpetty rare for a character like this but in fact, Christopher Lee Dracula was extremelly violent and physical.

Its odd because this figure is super simple looking and in the end, is just another Dracula, but this is one of the most special versions of the character since it help add fangs, blood and violence to the character, while being less seductive and more savage sexual, this version help define the king of the vampire for many generations.

I really hope NECA wont stop here, because this particular version of the Monsters has been neglected a lot, for a horror fan, having a figure of this particular version is such a threat but having the Hammer version of the Frankenstein Creature, the Mummy and the Wolfman would be such a dream come true.