Dracula: Prince of Darkness Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.0

Dracula: Prince of Darkness Blu-ray Movie Review

Two prior Blu-ray editions of Terence Fisher's Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) were covered by my colleagues Dr. Svet Atanasov and Brian Orndorf in 2012 and 2014. Svet reviewed Studio Canal's dual-format edition from the UK and Brian critiqued the US Collector's Edition courtesy of Millennium Media. You can read their detailed analyses of the film and discs in the hyperlinked reviews.

The Count has risen!

Dracula: Prince of Darkness Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For the first time anywhere on home video, Scream Factory has included both the UK and US versions of Dracula: Prince of Darkness in a single package. Each cut is encoded on a separate layer of the disc's BD-50, which uses the MPEG-4 AVC encode. The movie was released on LaserDisc in the mid-1990s by Anchor Bay through its then-distribution arm, Elite Entertainment. It was presented uncut in a letterboxed (2.35:1) presentation from the original 35mm interpositive. Scream commissioned a new 4K scan of an interpositive from the vaults of 20th Century Fox. The darker and more desaturated appearance of the US cut hasn't been widely available on high-def before so it's inclusion here is welcome although the transfer is far from perfect. While this is a new scan, the image hasn't been completely restored as dirt, speckles, jitter, and telecine wobble are visible in the frame and in motion. It's pretty competently transferred to Blu-ray but more work could be done. The UK transfer is quite similar to the VC-1 and MPEG-4 that Svet and Brian examined. It has the same instances of denoising that Svet mentioned. Compared to the US, it looks smoother but has more DNR applied. Blood has a ketchup red and the lighting looks either yellow or amber. My research suggests that the UK picture is representative of what a Hammer Horror film should like. Studio Canal's transfer of the UK version is a notch brighter than the image on Scream's UK. However, grain is more prominent on the SC. The US run time is 1:30:14, which is about twelve seconds longer than the UK. Both transfers sport average video bitrates of 28000 kbps. I've interspersed frame grabs from both versions throughout. For corresponding shot comparisons (Screenshot #s 6-21), UK is on top and US on bottom.

Screenshot #s 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, & 20 = UK Version
Screenshot #s 2, 4, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, & 21 = US Version

Each cut comes with a dozen scene selections.

Dracula: Prince of Darkness Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Scream Factory has supplied an English DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono (1567 kbps, 24-bit) for the US and the same lossless codec for the UK (1581 kbps, 24-bit). (SC employs LPCM while MM only delivers lossy Dolby Digital.) I didn't detect any of the sync issues that Svet initially reported on SC's first set of pressings. The birds chirping and ambience of the forest carry a viable presence. Dialogue is relatively clean and pitch levels vary somewhat in the scenes in the forest, inn, and Dracula's castle. James Bernard's string-laden score fits the film like a glove and creates a menacing atmosphere along the front channels.

Optional English SDH are available for both cuts.

Dracula: Prince of Darkness Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• NEW Audio Commentary with Author Troy Howarth (both versions) - Howarth is a wellspring of knowledge on Fisher, Hammer, and the actors as he provides lots of tidbits and nuggests on the participants' careers.

• NEW Audio Commentary with Filmmaker Constantine Nasr and Writer/Producer Steve Haberman (both versions) - Nasr and Haberman each deliver valuable historical facts and observations about the film's production history. They play off each other very well, which makes for an enlightening and entertaining listen. In English, not subtitled.

• Audio Commentary with Cast Members Christopher Lee, Suzan Farmer, Francis Matthews, and Barbara Shelley (both versions) - a recycled group track that was initially recorded for AB/Elite's LD in the 90s. It was retained on AB's non-anamorphic DVD and the two other Blu-rays. In English, not subtitled.

• World of Hammer Episode Dracula and the Undead (24:53, 480i) - an archival program from Studio Canal's earlier DVD and BD. In English, not subtitled.

• Back to Black – The Making of Dracula: Prince of Darkness (30:34, 1080p) - this was produced for SC's Blu-ray and contains interviews with Hammer Horror historians and surviving actors. It also features remarks about the restoration undertook about seven years ago. In English, not subtitled.

• Super 8mm Behind-the-Scenes Footage (4:38, 480i) - another LD holdover.

• Theatrical Trailers (6:10, 1080i) - a collection of trailers for Dracula: Prince of Darkness.

• Still Gallery (7:05, 1080p) - the first eighty-nine images comprise black-and-white glossy photos from Fox's press kit and ad campaign. They're in high-res and include many publicity shots of Mr. Lee. The last six images are the only pictures in color.

• Poster Gallery (4:50, 1080p) - a slide show boasting sixty-four separate images of great diversity. A variety of posters and lobby cards promoting Dracula: Prince of Darkness grace the gallery. There are several one-sheets that pair it with The Plague of the Zombies and those are featured here. Scream has even included all the pages from an exhibitor's official manual.

Dracula: Prince of Darkness Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dracula: Prince of Darkness plods along for its first couple of reels establishing characters and atmosphere but then grows incrementally creepy with the resurrection of its titular vampire. Quality-wise, it isn't the cream of Hammer's crop but it has the inimitable Sir Christopher Lee doing what he does best in what is akin to a silent film for the screen legend. And how can one go wrong with a leading lady so aptly named Barbara Shelley appearing in a classic horror pic? The movie may not be the best in Hammer's canon but it serves as an excellent introduction to the studio's fare. Scream Factory's Collector's Edition includes a pretty solid but imperfect 4K scan of the US version and a slightly dimmer-looking transfer of the UK version. Several extras from the DVD/BDs have been ported over along with two recently recorded audio commentaries that are most informative. Because each transfer leaves room for improvement, this isn't quite the definitive package of the film but still earns a STRONG RECOMMENDATION.