Why you can trust GamesRadar+
Previewing on Halloween ahead of its early November re-release, this restored version of the Hammer staple is as good an excuse as any to wallow in the Gothic grandeur and lusty camp of Terence Fisher's well-nigh definitive take on Bram Stoker's original. Streamlining the text to focus on Peter Cushing's driven Van Helsing and his obsessive quest to destroy Christopher Lee's suavely sinister Count, the movie makes a virtue of its modest means - just £1,000 for each minute of finished film - to create a gore-splattered melodrama steeped in menace, eroticism and repressed sexuality. The result, a monster hit on both sides of the Atlantic, casts such a spell you'd never guess Lee only had 13 lines of dialogue, or that he couldn't see a thing from behind those bloodshot contact lenses.
The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.
Heretic star Hugh Grant says he created a "full biography" for his horror movie villain and believes audiences love baddies as "it's a recognition of our true nature - selfish, evil, cruel, vicious"
Matthew Lillard says his Scream character is "definitely still alive" and that he'd "love" to play him again because "I'm very slutty"