Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

Tender Dracula Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 28, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Severin Films' Cushing Curiosities set.

Severin has celebrated arguably lesser known efforts featuring one of the more legendary horror actors often associated with Hammer Studios with both The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection and The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection 2. Now they're doing similar service for that other legendary horror actor often associated with Hammer Studios, and one who of course famously co-starred with Lee in any number of films. As the title of this collection may suggest, the offerings in Cushing Curiosities are a bit peculiar at times, but that perhaps only gives them added allure for a certain demographic. Severin has assembled an impressive array of supplements, including some excellent commentaries by Jonathan Rigby, who also contributes an incredibly thorough overview of Cushing's career in a perfect bound booklet included with this set. Adding to the allure here are some generally solid technical merits (with perhaps one notable exception).

This particular film may have a more direct tether to The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection 2 than even the above introduction might suggest, courtesy of the fact that the second volume of Lee "curiosities" included Dracula and Son, which might make for an interesting "double feature" pairing with this outing. Both films kind of toy with the idea of an actor pretending to be a vampire, or perhaps a vampire pretending to be an actor. Lee probably has a more inherently menacing presence than Cushing, but what's kind of interesting about the "compare and contrast" between these two outings is how the Lee film is arguably a bit more "sitcom"-ish, while this effort may be a "cousin" of sorts to French farce.

MacGregor (Peter Cushing) is a legendary star who has built his career out of playing vampires, but he wants to establish himself (rather improbably it might seem from both an inherent story element as well as Cushing's general middle aged demeanor) as a romantic star. An early cutaway to a poster of MacGregor which bleeds when it's penetrated by a blade hints that maybe the "actor" has a secret or two up his caped sleeve. Despite this being a French production, there's a very old school Hollywood-esque sleazeball producer (Julien Guiomar) who sends two clueless screenwriters Boris (Stephen Shandor) and Alfred (Vernard Menez, who kind of interestingly was also in Dracula and Son) to pitch a romantic film that the producer may in fact have other plans for.

For seemingly no other reason than to provide a kind of R-rated prurient interest, two nubile young women Marie (Miou-Miou) and Madeleine (Nathalie Courval) are pretty much injected willy nilly into what passes for a plot, and the film occasionally tips over into slightly "naughty" territory that certainly was very much au courant in French cinema of that period. While the above performers are often notable in their own ways, the film's coolest piece of "stunt casting" may be Alida Valli as MacGregor's possibly magically endowed spouse.

Tender Dracula Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Tender Dracula is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. The back cover of this release states the has been "restored by Pathe, scanned in 2K from the original negative and authorized by the director". I frankly can't even remember the last time I saw this strange film, but it may have even been a bootleg VHS copy, but one way or the other, this is a surprisingly ravishing looking presentation of a lesser known cult item. The palette is really nicely suffused for the most part, though there's a certain gray undertone to the castle sequences in particular. Detail levels are typically excellent, especially in close-ups where textures on costume fabrics or even highly detailed background wallpapers or headboards are offered with considerable precision. Grain is tightly resolved throughout.

Tender Dracula Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Tender Dracula features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono options in either English or French. Both tracks can show a very slight phased quality to some of the piano cues in particular, though that said, it sounds like a prepared piano in any case, which may suggest some of the effect was intentional. Other underscore sounds nicely clear and full bodied. The French track arguably has a very slightly muffled sound when compared to the English track, but that difference is incremental. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Tender Dracula Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Jonathan Rigby, Author of English Gothic, and Horror Historian Kevin Lyons


• Love Me Tender, Dracula (HD; 15:44) is an interview with Director Pierre Grunstein, who might be better remembered as the executive producer of any number of notable films, including Tess, Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring . Subtitled in English.


• Menez of Speaking (HD; 21:10) is an interview with Actor Bernard Menez. Subtitled in English.


• Trailer (HD; 2:37)

Tender Dracula Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Some curmudgeons may want to argue that Boris and Alfred weren't the only addled screenwriters involved with this film, and indeed there's a weird slapdash quality to things that obstructs coherence on more than one occasion, and which perhaps even more saliently deprives the film of what was evidently intended to be a certain farcical humor. Technical merits are solid and the supplements quite interesting, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.