Dracula Double Play (Blu-ray + DVD)

Two weeks ago this was the only Dracula film I had never had the pleasure of sinking my teeth in to, although I've craved it for quite some time now. For a newbie such as myself without the nostalgia goggles, I truly believe that this is the best Dracula film I've ever seen. I've seen Universal's original Dracula many times, always assuming it could never be surpassed, the atmosphere, music, the set design, the performances, it was just too 'classic'. Or so I thought. If you're familiar with the story of Dracula, Hammers version will play with your expectations, and to great effect, these unexpected twists and turns brought out the giddy little kid in me, it was fresh, and like I was experiencing the story for the first time again. Peter Cushing is absolutely astonishing as Van Helsing, this is a 10/10 performance in my opinion and Christopher Lee makes for one awesome Dracula, he's like an angry animal but certainly not 'one note', there is depth here. I've never seen it done quite like this. There are some genuinely creepy moments in this film, even for a hardened horror-nut like myself, and here's a compliment- it achieves this without gore, I cannot remember the last time a movie creeped me out this much actually, which is always a good sign. That said, there is gore in this movie, some of witch has been recut into this edition after being lost for 50+ years and I must say, for the 1950s the effects are spectacular. This must have been extremely hardcore in 50's, its no wonder it was cut! Regardless, knowing this lost footage is on this Blu-Ray, it just makes this already above-par package even more special. Picture quality and Sound quality both surpassed my expectations, a few seconds here and there are damaged though, these are the parts which have been recut back into the film, it really doesn't detract from the experience though and the picture and sound are readable at all times. According to the special features, the lost scenes were damaged in a fire but I'm sure long-time fans will just appreciate that we finally have these scenes. You can watch the special features and find out how bad these scenes looked before they cleaned them up, geesh! So yes, this has hours of special features that will potentially keep you busy for multiple sittings, overall I always felt like what I was watching was the definitive edition of this film, if you're an old-time fan, or a lover of horror or vampire movies I highly recommend this Blu-Ray for your collection, Hammer, Vlad would be proud! *wipes tear from eye* lol :-)

This film was first released in 1958. It was the first of Hammer's Dracula series and the second Hammer film to feature Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee together, though Cushing gets top billing here. I have always loved this film, it is a true horror classic and one of the greatest Hammer Horrors, if not the greatest. This edition is in my mind the best version of this film released to date in this country and features two different versions of the film - the earlier BFI restored version of the film and the 2013 version. The BFI version features no extra footage, whereas the 2013 version includes extra footage in the seduction of Mina and the death of Dracula scenes, both of which are of reasonable quality. This footage was originally censored by the BBFC in 1958 and was thought to be lost forever, until it appeared in a fire-damaged Japanese print recently. Despite the damage to this footage, the restoration has eliminated most of this and so it is now quite watchable. However, I do disagree with some of the other reviews, who claim the 2013 version is inferior, because of the new blue-tinting that has been added to some of the darker scenes. This is not distracting too much to the film, though some of the detail and brightness is lost in these scenes, but I do not believe that the overall picture quality of the new version is any better or any worse than any other version of this film. I still think this is a pretty much definitive edition of the film and probably the best that we will ever see here and it is the most complete that it has ever been. So, if you love Hammer, or classic horror in general, then this is a must-buy. An almost perfect DVD/Blu-Ray set and no Hammer collection would be complete without it. A true, all-time classic. Buy it now!

Dracula is a 1958 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher and written by Jimmy Sangster based on Bram Stoker's novel of the same name. The first in the series of Hammer Horror films starring Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, this original also features Peter Cushing as Doctor Van Helsing, along with Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling, Carol Marsh, and John Van Eyssen. In the U.S. the film was retitled Horror of Dracula to avoid confusion with the earlier Dracula (1931) starring Bela Lugosi, and the film was released in the U.S. in 1958 on a double feature with the Universal film The Thing That Couldn't Die. Production began at Bray Studios on 17 November 1957 with an investment of £81,000. As Count Dracula, Lee fixed the image of the fanged vampire in popular culture. Christopher Frayling writes, “Dracula introduced fangs, red contact lenses, décolletage, ready-prepared wooden stakes and – in the celebrated credits sequence – blood being spattered from off-screen over the Count's coffin.” Lee also introduced dark, brooding sexuality to the character, with Tim Stanley stating, “Lee’s sensuality was subversive in that it hinted that women might quite like having their neck chewed on by a stud”. In 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine saw Dracula ranked the 65th best British film ever. Empire magazine ranked Lee's portrayal as Count Dracula the 7th Greatest Horror Movie Character of All Time. This is the updated BFI version which contains the remasted 2007/ 2012 version of the film with the 2012 version containing missing footage that was removed for British censors when it was first released back in 1958. I enjoyed this Hammer classic horror and for me one of the better version of the Count Dracula storey unless you have read Bram Stoker novel.

At last, a quality British release of this quality British horror! Do I need to say how good this film is? The positives far out weigh the negatives in this release but, there are some things I'd like to point out. This BD/DVD combo is pretty good stuff. I got a bit muddled as to what version I was accessing on the BluRay, as both versions have a BFI Restoration notice at the very beginning, when I was expecting one to say Hammer Restoration. So to clarify the actual BFI 2007 version has the Universal Pictures logo at the start and the Hammer Restoration does not. I'm sure we all would like to think we know Stokers Dracula story. But, like almost every adaptation, this version is merely inspired by his book, more Jimmy Sangsters Dracula than Stokers. The main similarity between Lee's Dracula and this, is that the count tends to spend about the same time in the both story's, i.e. not often. I am also not sure if it was my eyes, but the first act, with Jonathan Harker and Dracula, looks rather average in quality but, the rest of the film scrubs up pretty well. I did find the occasional couple of hammy comedy moments a bit of a wired blend. Never really took noticed before, but it could do without the bad comedy scenes if I'm honest. The BFI's colourist was happy to make the tones of this movie 'more natural' (and rather blue'ish) than they would have been in 1958. Eastman has, as did Hammers films, a reputation for its vivid colours. I actually find that some BluRay restorations can have very unnatural gaudy colours which irks me at times, but, if the original film had vivid colour then restore it as it was intended please! Or at least make the 2013 Hammer restoration match that of 1958 original. Packed with great bonus features, the newly made documentary's must have cost a bit. Maybe I'm being greedy but there are only 3 things this disc set seems to lack. Firstly, the presents of the late great Christopher Lee being interviewed or adding to the commentary which should have been essential, but maybe he just didn't want to get involved or he was too costly? Secondly, the movie trailers. Are they lost? There is one on the older Horror of Dracula, Warner Bros. DVD, for the US version of the film, but I'm not sure if its totally original? It seems to have genuine cut footage and voice over but, the typesetting looks so new and fresh and says a Warner Bros. Film, when it's obvious from the BFI 2007 restoration, which uses the American print with restored UK title, that it was released by Universal Pictures, in America, back in the day, so I'm not sure? ... Ah, I just found the original US trailer on Youtube, and yeah it's Universal, so Warner have faked the one on the DVD somewhat! There is also a 2007 BFI trailer which could have been used too. And finally, on the DVD only, along with the original production script, a PDF file of a nicely coloured booklet, by archivist Robert Simpson. Just a shame it was not actually in printed form and slotted into inside of the BluRay case. BTW, I have always thought the original UK poster for this film was cool, so, good to see it splashed across the DVD case. The menu, however, done in the same style, looks like a 16 year old has done it! I didn't want to make this sound like I'm complaining, just would have been a very thorough package had it had a few more things added to it, but, hey. It is still a great set!

This is not a review for the actual film, if you don't know what this 1958 film is about already you wouldn't be on here. No this is a review about Lionsgate 3 disc set of 2013. I was uming and aring as to whether to invest in this or not as I already owned "Horror of Dracula" in Warner Brothers Hammer Horror Originals 3 box film set. But having read other reviews and the fact this promised some missing scenes I bit the bullet and bought it the other week. WOW was I glad I did, firstly and this is a very minor BUT important thing the title IS Dracula and not the Americanised Horror of.... Then you get 2 versions (well 3 but more on that in a moment) theirs the 2007 Bfi Restoration (that Restoration NOT Remastering) for the purists out there this is as good as it gets the whole film has been cleaned up. So you get no scratches nor distortions in the picture or sound from age. Then you get the 2012 Hammer restoration, this is the one we all wanted the one with the missing scenes in sourced from a Japanese release master copy. Now Hammer have mucked about with the colour palet a tad but IMO unlike some other reviewers I don't actually mind this it didn't upset my viewing pleasure at all. (they probably had to fiddle a bit to get as seamless insertion of the missing footage as possible) That's the 3rd version I was on about earlier if you go on the bonus disc you will find the unrestored footage of the 4 remaining reels of the Japanese footage (its interesting to see just how bad a condition these were so as to fully appreciate the work done in the restoration) other than that its not really worth watching (unless your a film academic) as the first 5 reels are sadly missing, destroyed by fire, this does pose an interesting question however......Was there any other cut scenes available on those missing reels, tantalising if you look at the featurettes and interviews on the extras disc they do mention 3 cut scenes ( we have the seduction of Mina and the Dracula disintegration scene from the end ) but they also mention about the staking of the Vampire "bride" by Jonathan Harker now as no-one has ever seen this missing footage in living memory it is just a tantalising thought that it may have been there, sadly unless other original reels turn up from somewhere else in the world we will never definitively know the answer. All in all this was so worth me getting I may even consider upgrading some of my other DVD Hammer collection, something I had not previously even considered bothering with.

The Curse of Frankenstein was coining it in at the box office, so Hammer Films were quick to negotiate a deal to reinvent Dracula on the big screen. Certain agreements were made as per distribution rights for Universal, who owned the rights via a deal that was struck decades earlier with the Bram Stoker estate. Once all the dots were dotted and the t's were crossed, Dracula hit the screens in a whirl of sensual Technicolor bliss, where the trajectory of horror film history was shunted upwards to the point that the legacy still lives on today. Directed by Terence Fisher and adapted to screenplay by Jimmy Sangster, Dracula (AKA: Horror of Dracula) is a compact piece of horror. The Hammer team condense Stoker's novel down to an 80 minute film, quickly placing Jonathan Harker (John Van Eyssen) at Castle Dracula and establishing the vampire legend courtesy of the slick and sexy Count Dracula himself (Christopher Lee). There's no changing into bats or scaling of walls here, in fact Dracula's dialogue is very minimalist, instead he permeates the film with sexual menace, horrific suggestion and an obvious disregard for humanity, with Lee in the role simply terrific. Then it's time for Doctor Van Helsing to bring his cunning whiles to the party, which is the signal for Peter Cushing to enter the fray, who adds class and elegance to a classic role. James Bernard provides a dual score of erotic swirls and thunderous scares, while the cast play out the story in front of some impressively constructed Gothic sets, courtesy of Bernard Robinson, who like the rest of the team were working with a budget under six figures! Some nifty effects work cement the pic's status, other little touches - such as Dracula having no audible footsteps - also ensure that Hammer's Dracula remains a key vampire movie of note. A number of interesting tid-bids sit in the film's back history. How it fell into the public domain, complaints about blood transfusion advertisements in theatre foyers during its first run! Censorship and the "X" Certification afforded it in the UK, and that some of the first wave of critic reviews were positively barbed and indignant. In truth Hammer would produce far better horror films post Dracula's release, in fact this is not even the best of the Hammer Dracula movies. Yet in the pantheon of Hammer film, and horror film in general, it's a 10/10 movie. Terence Fisher deserves the final word, he would say that the shoot and production for Dracula just clicked, it all worked and everyone was in sync. 8/10

Jonathan Harker goes to Transylvania where he is turned into a vampire by Count Dracula. Doctor Van Helsing follows to find out what has happened to his friend and finds himself facing the evil vampire Dracula. One of the very best and most famous of the Hammer horror films and one of the best Dracula movies of all time, with excellent performances from Peter Cushing in the lead as Van Helsing and despite a surprisingly small amount of screen time, a very menacing performance from Christopher Lee in the recently sadly late actor's most famous performance. It looks superb on bluray in an excellent 3 disc set. If you are new to Hammer horror or at least the earlier films as the studio have now made a comeback, then this is the perfect place to start. 2 fully restored versions of the films are included in the set.

For several decades, we had the original Dracula with Bela Lugosi. Hammer did the story well when they created the Horror of Dracula in 1958 with Peter Cushing & Christopher. Great cast, good story and fun to watch!

I had already made a comment about that movie but I wanted to buy this excellent Blu-ray of it with its flaming colors. At last! It is such a pleasure watching the complete version of this wonderful masterpiece through that Blu-ray quality, plus the DVD version and what a lot of special features you are going to find inside it! (three-disc set). As a symbol 'Dracula' is not some foolishness's symbol, if the novel of Bram Stoker is one of the most beautiful novels it is just because the allegory of the vampire is one of the most intelligent allegories through the ages, actually we always find so many very bad people who could have a hold over the others and then they could turn good people into monsters, that is reality in that kind of world. Damn the crazy censors in nineteen hundred fifty-eight, damn those ideas from the Middle Ages for they had censored in these times some sequences, they had impeded Terence Fisher's progress and yet they were not able to destroy the beauty of this masterpiece, this timeless gem! Terence Fisher had really surpassed himself directing 'Dracula'. And now enjoy yourself just like me! Language: English. Subtitles (for the movie): English for the Hearing Impaired. Billy.

I have always thought the HAMMER 'Horror of Dracula' one of the best 'Monster' movies ever made. Great performances by Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee enhanced by the solid direction of Terry Fisher and the wonderful production work of Bernard Robinson make it a must see. This version, however, has been cleaned and remastered by the BBC and has the surviving footage, long thought lost, from the Japanese release (with extra disintegration!) to make it that much better. This is the british release--Warners has still not seen fit to give us the entire movie. Buy this version--it has it all including some wonderful extras!

Ich denke, Ich gehe nicht zu weit, wenn Ich sage, dass der vorliegende Dracula aus dem Jahre 1958, damals produziert von den Hammer Film Studios, ein nahezu zeitloser Klassiker ist, der zwar der literarischen Vorlage auf dem ersten Blick nicht zu 100% treu bleibt, die Kern-DNA der Dracula-Erzählung jedoch gut beibejält und vor Allem auf atmosphärischer Ebene Das etabliert, was wir heute als Blaupause für jeden großartigen Vampirmythos kennen und lieben. Terence Fisher und sein Team haben, zusammen mit Peter Cushing und Christopher Lee, eine regelrechte Legende der Film- und Kulturgeschichte geschaffen, die sich bis heute behaupten kann und nicht umsonst zuletzt von Netflix in ihrer BBC-getragenen Dracula-Produktion vielfach rezitiert wurde. Lees Dracula und Cushings Van Helsing sind lebendiger denn je in unser aller Herzen. Und das will was heißen. Wer diesen vorliegenden Film noch nie gesehen hat, sollte es UNBEDINGT nachholen. Ein Klassiker des 50er Jahre Horrors und der künstlerischen Kulturhistorie schlechthin, der für Jeden Pflicht sein sollte. 💯🔥❤😎✌🏻

This Blu-Ray is an improvement over the US DVD (where is the US Blu-Ray?). The movie is absolutely one of the best entries in the Hammer horror movies. The second restoration gives us the COMPLETE original version. Buy it!! (of course if you can read Region B materuial.)

Carino