Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		2.5

Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 19, 2024

When even the venerable Stephen Thrower warns against trying too hard to make even one iota of sense out of Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein, while also overtly mentioning what might be called the directorial "sloppiness" of Jess Franco at this point in his long career, expectations had probably best be set accordingly. Thrower smartly compares Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein to Universal's House of Frankenstein, at least insofar as both films offer a "who's who(m)" of "all time monster greats". That said, the Universal films for all their cheesiness could be models of narrative clarity, a quality that Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein most definitely does not share. The film is almost willfully nonsensical a lot (all?) of the time, and as Thrower also gets into in his really interesting analysis of the film included on this disc as a bonus feature, Franco tends to subvert "accepted canon" at least on occasion with regard to Dracula (Howard Vernon).

Thrower kind of comically offers any number of questions which might occur to inquiring minds as this film unspools, including when exactly is it taking place (it initially seems like it's the 19th century until a car magically turns up in just one of several potential "LOL" moments). A more pressing question may be what exactly is going on with regard to Dracula, who is quite explicitly shown being "staked" through the heart and turned into a dead bat, before Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price) shows up to magically resurrect him. There's supposedly an aspect of mind control which ensues, something that Thrower suggests may have led to Vernon's bizarre decision to play Dracula as a slack jawed quasi-idiot. Vernon's characterization pales, however, when compared to even more gonzo takes by the likes of Luis Barboo as this film's version of Igor, here named Morpho. There are also frequent cutaways to a damsel in distress who may or may not be a resident of a mental institution. By the time a gypsy woman and her pet werewolf (?) along with Frankenstein's monster show up for a calamitous third act, narrative cohesion has long since been completely abandoned, and the film coasts on what is arguably its strongest (sole?) asset, a rather potent Gothic mood.

As Thrower also gets into in his discussion, whatever the film's probably inarguable deficits may be, it does offer some rather interesting casting, including both Howard Vernon and Dennis Price. Thrower gives some background on Price's kind of sad life in particular, though Thrower avers that despite the perception that Price was so down on his luck that he had to accept less than stellar assignments like this, Price evidently had a rather good time making this film.

Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.51:1. The back cover of this release states this was "scanned in 4K from Spanish, French and German release prints to create the longest and most comprehensive version known to exist". That variety of elements may be one early indication of how variant this presentation can be. There's manifest damage to be seen throughout, though it's probably most noticeable in the early going, with abundant scratching, noticeable vertical wobble during the credits, and an obviously faded palette. Things improve as the film progresses, and some of the last half in particular can show marked improvement in densities and accuracy of things like flesh tones. Detail levels are all over the place, and are perhaps at least intermittently subject to some of Franco's own failings in the technical department vis a vis "little" things like focus pulling and lighting regimens. Grain is also noticeably variant, but does give the presentation a decently organic look.

Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track in English, along with several foreign language tracks in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. The English track is decently balanced and offers a relatively full bodied rendering of a rather well crafted score from Bruno Nicolai, but the entire track sounds just a tad muffled on the high end, especially when toggling over to one of the arguably brighter sounding lossy tracks (notably especially the French and German). Dialogue and sound effects can come off as slightly boxy at times, but there are no major issues in terms of being able to hear everything clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Prisoner of Franco-Stein (HD; 42:12) is an outstanding analysis by Stephen Thrower, who is typically informative about both Jess Franco in general and this film in particular. Thrower's undeniable knowledge of Franco and Franco's oeuvre (and, yes, using that highfalutin' term may be unavoidably comical in this context) perhaps makes some of Thrower's unapologetically scabrous comments about the film even funnier.


• In the Land of Franco Part 10 (HD; 18:26) may beg the question, "hey, what happened to the first nine parts?", but otherwise is a really engaging tour of some locations Franco utilized.


• Spanish Opening Credit Sequence (HD; 2:10)


• Deleted Scene from English Language Version (HD; 1:12) may just slightly hilariously put the lie to Stephen Thrower's assertion in his supplement that even a lit bit of narration might have helped this effort. Just pay attention to how the narration differs from the onscreen text in this snippet (the conceit is that a diary entry is being read, but someone didn't think to match up what's being said to what the text on the screen says).


• Trailer (HD; 3:20)

Additionally, packaging features a doubleweight slipbox.

Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is one of those gonzo Jess Franco outings that may not even totally appeal to his diehard fanbase due to some inherent issues in clarity and even technical precision, as Stephen Thrower isn't especially shy about mentioning. But as a Blu-ray release, Severin may have done fans a favor by offering the Thrower supplement, which may in fact be enough to warrant checking this disc out, despite some technical limitations of the video presentation in particular.