Bram Stoker's Dracula 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Bram Stoker's Dracula 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 1, 2022

Sony has re-released the classic 1992 Vampire film 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' to the UHD format. New specifications include Dolby Vision color grading. The film was previously released to the UHD format in 2017 with HDR color grading. This version also includes two new (or at least new Blu-ray/UHD) extras on the UHD disc. The Blu-ray disc features remastered video. Two new supplements are included on the UHD disc. Otherwise, the bundled Blu-ray carries over the legacy bonus material.

Young Solicitor Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) travels from London to Transylvania to facilitate a deal for an enigmatic Count, Dracula (Gary Oldman), who is purchasing land in London, including Carfax Abbey. Harker, who is replacing his predecessor R. M. Renfield (Tom Waits) who is wasting away in a London insane asylum, knows not that his visit will forever shape the destinies of all around him. He's set to be married to Mina (Winona Ryder), a London socialite whom Dracula learns bears a striking resemblance to his centuries-dead bride Elisabeta, who committed suicide when she feared Dracula dead in battle. Following her death, Dracula renounced God and vowed to avenge her, and his time, it seems, has arrived. After closing the deal, Dracula leaves Harker imprisoned in his castle while he travels to London to meet Mina. He attacks and infects Mina's friend Lucy (Sadie Frost). Her suitors -- Dr. Jack Seward (Richard E. Grant), Quincey Morris (Billy Campbell), and Arthur Holmwood (Cary Elwes) -- hire the vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) to destroy the creature that turned Lucy and threatens Mina.

For a full film review, please click here.

Bram Stoker's Dracula 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This is just a breathtakingly handsome UHD presentation. It appears that the same master has been used and that no major differences are in evidence comparing the raw textural presentation. There appears to be no more or no less detail, grain management and density appear the same, and so on and so forth. The review for the 2017 UHD certainly suffices for this portion of the review and it is reproduced here: the image is gorgeously filmic, boasting exemplary textural definition supported by a consistent, even grain structure that's nicely pronounced yet very organic. Textural delights abound. Even as much of the film is very dark, as Castle Dracula walls are a dead-gray color, there's no shortage of textural superiority on display. Those stones, period attire, iron bars at the asylum, the wooden crates in which Dracula transports his native earth to London, dense city streets, nothing is left wanting for increased detailing and stability. Facial textures are particularly impressive. Van Helsing's scars and stubble seen in close-up when he lectures before a class in one scene is perhaps the best example of the transfer's ability to reproduce textures with tactile ease. The image is naturally sharp, and clarity is striking in every frame.

The Dolby Vision grading offers a little more luminance and brightness overall, but it does so without rendering the film's atmosphere moot or lessened in any way. On the contrary, highlights are enhanced with elegant adjustments that offer more intense contrast to the darkness and general atmosphere. Bolder primaries, whether peering out of shadows or on full display in some of the film's brighter exteriors display a renewed sense of life, with the newly adjusted colors offering slightly more confidence and lifelike vividness. Grays are firmer and more lifelike, Blacks are deeper and more absorbing without falling into crush. To be sure these are minor tweaks, as they should be. The result is the movie looking absolutely stunning in every way.

The Blu-ray looks great and appears to be the same included with the 2017 UHD release (disc artwork is different, but the menu design, audio options, and extras are identical, and any extremely minor difference I perceived in the video can likely be attributed to slight playback variances between the two different devices used for the comparison). It's very fine and filmic but it lacks the more natural grain dominance and finer detail elements. Colors are somewhat more muted and less luminous. Look at the lantern Dracula holds at the 12:52 mark; the Blu-ray cannot produce the same light output or the vividness to the red and green highlights on the side. Detail is very strong but again lacks the significant depth and detail found on the UHD. If the Blu-ray is all that is available, then fans are going to get a perfectly strong filmic image that presents the film to the absolute best of the format's limits, but it is on UHD where the picture thrives.

Bram Stoker's Dracula 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

It appears that Sony has simply recycled the existing Dolby Atmos soundtrack for this release. For a full review, please click here.

Bram Stoker's Dracula 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Sony's new UHD release of Bram Stoker's Dracula ships exclusively in SteelBook packaging (review below). The UHD disc contains two extras which are new to Blu-ray/UHD but which are in fact old vintage pieces. They are reviewed below. The carryover content on the Blu-ray is listed below and full reviews can be found by clicking here. A digital copy code is included with purchase. UHD Disc:

• NEW! Music Video (1080p upscaled, 4x3, 4:24): "Love Song for a Vampire" by Annie Lennox.
• NEW! Blood Lines: Dracula -- The Man, The Myth, The Movies (1080p upscaled, 4x3, 28:22): A terrific piece exploring the history of Dracula, the purpose behind the film, influences, cast and characters, making key scenes, story themes and dramatic arcs, production design, Coppola's work on the film, and much more.

Blu-ray:

• Audio Commentary: Director Francis Ford Coppola, Visual Effects Director Roman Coppola, and Makeup Supervisor Greg Cannom.
• Audio Commentary: Director Francis Ford Coppola.
• Francis Ford Coppola Introduction
• Reflections in Blood: Francis Ford Coppola and Bram Stoker's Dracula
• Practical Magicians: A Collaboration Between Father and Son
• The Blood Is the Life: The Making of Bram Stoker's Dracula
• The Costumes Are the Sets: The Design of Eiko Ishioka
• In Camera: Naïve Visual Effects
• Method and Madness: Visualizing Dracula
• Deleted & Extended Scenes
• Bram Stoker's Dracula "Beware" Trailer
• Bram Stoker's Dracula Theatrical Trailer

The SteelBook is smooth and will show some handling fingerprints in the black areas. The front image is identical to the cover artwork used for the last UHD disc release, but here it is given a nice reflective quality. Dracula is holding a passed-out Mina with his long fingers hovering over her heart. the characters are bathed in blue. The are within a blackened "archway" with a collage of grayscale character images around them and a demonic figure at the top. The film's title appears in bold, blood red, reflective color center bottom. The rear panel has a lighter metallic silver coloring with some signs of wear and scuffing on it. Center is the same demonic image seen at the top of the front, here larger and in a lighter gray. All of the usual text is found on the SteelBook's bottom rather than on the back panel bottom. The spine is black with the film's title in the same blood red, center. A Sony pictures logo appears at the bottom in white.

Inside, the digital copy code is tucked underneath the left-hand-side tabs. The two discs, one UHD and one Blu-ray, are situated on the right in staggered-stacked formation. The inner print is a two-panel spread that features nothing but a blue metallic color uniform across both panels.

Bram Stoker's Dracula 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The question is whether this new release offers enough for the double dip. In isolation, just considering the video, the answer is probably no for anyone on a Blu-ray budget, simply because the 2017 disc is fantastic in its own right. The Dolby Vision grading does offer a good upgrade that is certainly more subtle than it is dramatic, but the end result is the best image on the market today. However, add in the attractive SteelBook and a couple of new extras, and Sony has done just enough to entice buyers into that double dip. Obviously, for those buying the film for the first time on UHD, this is the way to go. This release earns my highest recommendation.