Director: Terence Fisher
Starring: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling, Carol Marsh, John Van Eyssen
Certificate: 15
Extras: New 30 min. featurette about the film’s creation and history, “Resurrecting Dracula”, New 20 min. featurette about the film’s restoration, “The Demon Lover: Christopher Frayling on Dracula”, “Censoring Dracula”. New 10 min. featurette on the original cuts, plus more listed below.
This Hammer Horror DRACULA (1958) is particularly special for this Blu-ray release but not only because it has been fully restored in High Definition but they’ve added the 2007 BFI restoration, alongside the 2012 Hammer restoration and the original censored scenes from the Japanese reels that include Dracula’s sunlight disintegration and his seductionof Mina.
The story of Count Dracula is undoubtedly famous across the world and from the pages of Bram Stoker’s original novel, there have been numerous adaptations. But no-one had done it with such a new twist and impact until Hammer applied their unique touch. The changes in this final production owed a lot to Jimmy Sangster’s screenplay, but also (as he admits in the Extras) it was down to Hammer’s budget restraints.
For those who don’t know, it’s slightly altered from the book by making Jonathan Harker (John Van Eyssen) a man who has seemingly just taken a job at Count Dracula’s (Christopher Lee) Castle to help catalogue his vast library. However, he’s truthfully there to kill him and Harker is in cahoots with Dr Van Helsing (Peter Cushing). Unfortunately, he hasn’t arrived yet and by unfortunate timing, Harker is caught by Dracula and turns him into one of his undead. From that point, Van Helsing is on pursuit of Dracula and is out to put that evil to rest.
The pure spirit of this 1958 version holds more understanding of Stoker’s novel than Bela Lugosi’s iconic Count, and this restored version plainly shows the brutal nature of death-after-death. There’s no sugar coating as it dives in repeatedly and highlights the great talent of Peter Cushing on absolute top form. When you throw in those pulsating, pounding scores over Christopher Lee’s Dracula, it also heightens the senses and exhilaration enormously. As Dracula becomes gradually more desperate, Lee’s performance against Cushing’s resolute Van Helsing builds up to an epic and visually shocking finale.
DRACULA is quite possibly Hammer at their finest as every element comes together perfectly in this sexually-charged Gothic classic. It confidently combines those horror stalwarts’ of sex and innocence effortlessly and, for me, stands the test of time and still retains tension, intrigue and invention throughout.
Check out more of those extras just below and DRACULA can be ordered via this link here!
Commentary:
New commentary by Hammer historian Marcus Hearn and author & critic Jonathan Rigby
Plus
- All 4 surviving “Japanese reels” (6 – 9) unrestored (40 mins
- The World Of Hammer episode: Dracula And The Undead
- Janina Faye reading a chapter of Stoker’s novel at the VAULT festival
- Stills Gallery of over 100 fully-restored and rare images
- Booklet by Hammer archivist Robert J. E. Simpson (PDF)
- Original shooting script (PDF)
