Next to Universal, most horror fans remember the Hammer films most fondly. They weren't big budget, with few effects and gore, and at times they were downright cheesy. But they also had a lot of heart and spirit, fueled by excellent performances by actors like Lee and Peter Cushing. Fans have been clamoring for sixth scale figures of the films, and now Product Enterprise's has answered the call with the release of Christopher Lee as Dracula.

Product Enterprises is a small U.K firm, specializing in U.K. licenses like Dr. Who, Red Dwarf and the Avengers. While there was originally talks of them doing additionally Hammer characters, that's still appears to be all up in the air. Perhaps we'll know more after next week's U.S. Toy Fair.

There aren't a ton of retailers carrying these, and online specialty shops are your best bet. You can expect to pay around $50, but might get lucky and find him cheaper, at least for a little while. I've seen him as cheap as $48 at some retailers, and as expensive as $60 at others.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can always reach me at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you enjoy this review, take a minute to check out my other site at Michael's Review of the Week, and let me know what you think. Now on to the review!

"Christopher Lee as Dracula"

Lee's Dracula was quite a bit different than Lugosi's. They both had that slightly weird charisma going for them, but Lee had a more raw edge, and seemed crueler and more evil. If you haven't watched the films, I suggest you start with the first and best, Dracula, done in 1958. This film had Lee as Dracula and the excellent Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. I don't know about you, but I always got Lee and Cushing confused.

Packaging - ***1/2
For a company just getting started in the sixth scale world (they did a set of Avengers figures earlier, but that's been about it so far), the packaging is surprisingly good. The front has the trademark Hammer Films insignia, and the overall presentation matches up with the old films well. There's a decent amount of text, although I could always use more, and the figure is well presented inside.

It's pretty collector friendly too, and if you feel the need to put him back in his plastic prison, you should be able to do it relatively painlessly. For me, I had to have him up on the shelf with all his Universal cousins.

Sculpting - ****
I'm going to be honest - I didn't have particularly high hopes for this figure. I figured it would be decent, but I hadn't heard many great things about the Avengers, and I suspected the quality would be well below the asking price, particularly in the head sculpt. The prototypes looked good, but we all know how drastically things can change by the time actual product comes rolling off the line.

I'm very surprised and happy to report that this is not the case at all. This is one of the best likenesses on a sixth scale figure I've seen in some time, even beating out some of Sideshow's recent releases. The detail is excellent, and they've captured Lee's appearance perfectly. Not only that, but they selected an excellent facial expression, just before the bite, and it looks neither constipated nor annoyed, but rather pure evil.

The hand sculpts work well with the accessories, and the work extremely well with the cape and the necessary Dracula-like poses. His ring is included on his left hand, proving they are stepping up to the appropriate level of detail for this price point.

This version is well in scale with the Sideshow figures, fitting in nicely on the shelf with the others. His own internal scale, like the size of his head to the body, is also very good, and his overall proportions look realistic.

Paint - ***1/2
Critical to making the head sculpt look great are the paint ops. Here we get clean lines, no slop, and consistency in the colors. The majority of the paint ops are on the face of course, and the fine detail work is excellent.

I'm particularly impressed with the eyes. When Lee's Dracula got himself all worked up, you could see the blood rising in his eyes. They've even managed to capture that here, and it looks amazingly accurate.

The hair is a tad grayer than I expected, and than I remember in the old films, but many were black and white. Okay, so the only reason they were in black and white is because the little television I had in my bedroom when I was a kid was black and white, but hey, that's my reference point. I can live with the slightly lighter hair color since it's so well done, and the hair line is so clean and accurate, yet realistic appearing.

Articulation - ***1/2
The body is highly articulated, as much as any high end sixth scale body.  There's all the double jointed elbows and knees, along with ankles, wrists, ball jointed shoulders and hips, cut thigh and bicep joints, waist and chest, and of course, neck.  The neck isn't a ball joint though, which was really the only disappointment.

The ball jointed shoulders have the cut fronts to allow the arms to bend completely across the chest, similar to the newer bodies from Sideshow and bbi.  This is a nice touch, particularly for this figure, but will work with other characters that have to hold weapons in two hands.

Accessories - ***1/2
Dracula comes with four accessories - a burning candle, crucifix, Harker's diary, and a display stand. That's a decent number, and most are fairly fitting for the character and the films.

Of course it's not Dracula that actually wants the crucifix, but it does work well with the character and is an excellent sculpt. It's actually more of a rosary than a crucifix - actually, while the Product Enterprises site and package call it a crucifix, it's not at all. A crucifix has the actual Christ figure on it, while a cross is simply a cross. A cross or crucifix with the arrangement of beads for saying the Rosary is itself called a Rosary, and that's what this really is. Hey, I didn't spend all those years in catechism for nothing.

Harker's diary is a tad small in scale, but diaries tend to be smaller books, easily concealed and carried. The burning candle looks great, particularly the base, but it does have this stream of flame running down the side, which seems a bit out of the ordinary, if not impossible. Finally, there is the display stand, which has a thicker base than most, and includes the Hammer insignia.

It's worth noting that the display base has its own oddities. Turn it over and you'll see a sticker that says "Not a talking unit???". Why have such a sticker? Because clearly the base was designed for talking - there's a battery compartment and switch area, that are simply not cut out. Obviously they held down costs by going with this base, and it must have been something that the actual manufacturing plant had available. Or maybe they initially planned for the figure to speak, but couldn't finalize the voice rights or the cost got to be too prohibitive.

Outfit - ***1/2
Product Enterprise proves that the new guys on the block can produce decent costumes as well. The tailoring is excellent, and the cloak has a rich, soft feel. The cloak is made from a very thin material to appear more in scale, and can be used with the hand sculpts to create a variety of classic poses.

The rest of the outfit includes the shoes, pants, coat, full sleeved shirt and huge, funky tie, reminiscent of by gone days. The tailoring and materials are all top notch, and he'll go toe to toe with any of the other monsters on your shelf in terms of quality.  There's lots of nice little touches as well, including the cuff links and tie pin.

The only addition I would have liked to have seen would have been a second snap on the front of the jacket, near the bottom.  With only one, up at the top, the coat wants to open up further down his body.  It's not a huge deal though, and you'll manage to keep it in a nice position for display with a little work.

Value - **
I paid $50 for mine, which is about $10 more than I feel happy with. Of course, the run on these is probably fairly limited, and even fewer are getting across the ocean and into U.S. retailers. A small company is always going to have to charge more, and while the value isn't perfect, there's something to be said for getting such a high quality figure of a classic monster/actor, even at this price.

Things to Watch Out For
No problems in this department. Everything was nice and sturdy, and the plastic used for the various accessories is strong and high quality, so breakage is an unlikely if not impossible issue.

Overall - ***1/2
My expectations were pretty low for this figure, which is somewhat unfair. I hadn't had a lot of experience with Product Enterprise prior to this figure, and I've seen enough great prototypes turn into awful production figures that I tend to be a bit jaded. But perhaps because of those low expectations, I was all the more blown away by the figure that hit my doorstep, and now has a place on my monster shelf.

If you're a big fan of the old Hammer movies, you won't be disappointed with this figure. The sculpting and paint are excellent, with a solid costume, articulation and accessories. The price is a tad steep, and if they release additional characters I'm hoping they can do it at a slightly lower price point (without sacrificing anything of course!), but I was so happy with the final product that the price tag stung far less.

Where to Buy -
Online options are really your only bet, and those seem fairly limited. Try searching the usual sixth scale and import dealers, and expect to pay around $50 - $60.