Episode 224

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Published on:

10th Aug 2026

Episode 223 - Dracula (1958)

Christopher Lee. Peter Cushing. Hammer Horror. Blood. Fangs. And one of the most influential vampire films ever made.

This week on 100 Things We Learned From Film, we're sinking our teeth into Terence Fisher's 1958 classic Dracula — the film that transformed Christopher Lee into one of cinema's definitive monsters and helped turn Hammer Films into the undisputed kings of Gothic horror.

But there's much more to Dracula than capes and cobwebs.

We uncover the bizarre behind-the-scenes stories, Hammer's ingenious low-budget filmmaking tricks, Christopher Lee's extraordinary life and wartime service, Peter Cushing's energetic take on Van Helsing, those famously painful contact lenses, the film's battle with the censors, and how Hammer managed to make a tiny budget look like a lavish Gothic nightmare.

So lock the doors, close the curtains and keep an eye on your neck...

This is 100 Things We Learned From Dracula (1958).

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About the Podcast

100 Things we learned from film
Two friends take a light hearted deep dive in to film in an attempt to learn 100 things from a different movie each week. Expect trivia to impress your friends and nonsense from the start.

About your host

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Mark Plant