SCARS OF DRACULA (1970)
Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 95 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional english Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1) & (1.85:1)
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Cast: Christopher Lee, Dennis Waterman, Jenny Hanley, Christopher Matthews, Patrick Troughton, Michael Gwynn, Michael Ripper, Wendy Hamilton, Anouska Hempel, Delia Lindsay,
Hammer horror Scars of Dracula (1970) opens with a shaky looking bat flying into the window of a hidden room located high up on a castle wall, where it drools a bit of blood onto the remains of what turns out to be of the bloodsucker Dracula (Christoper Lee, Lord of the Rings. The reconstituted vampire wastes no time draining a local girl, inspiring the locals to storm the castle and set fire to it. Failing to kill the vampire they return to the village, only to discover that Dracula has sent his bats to murder every woman and child in town during their absence.
After these events we follow a young man named Paul (Christopher Matthews, Scream And Scream Again) who is fleeing a false rape charge, after jumping out of window into a passing stagecoach he winds up at the castle, falling victim to the vampire and his creepy assistant Klove (Patrick Troughton, The Gorgon). Eventually Paul's older brother Simon (Dennis Waterman, Fright) and and his fiance Sarah (Jenny Hanley, The Flesh and Blood Show) travel to the castle in search of his brother along with a doomed local priest (Michael Gwynn, The Deadly Bees) and much Hammer horror ensues.
This entry often critiqued as being a lesser Hammer entry that was cheaply made and for not tying into the previous films, but I still get a kick out this entry. Christopher Lee still knocks it out of the park as usual, though I do think it's strange that his Dracula brandished a knife and a sword as a weapon throughout the film, stabbing one of his vampire bride's to death after she betrays him in one scene, and then torturing his servant Klove fire-heated cutlass in another!
The film borrows also quite a bit from Bram Stoker's source novel this time around, we get a variation on the Jonathan Harker story here, and there's a cool scene of Lee's bloodsucker crawling along the exterior walls of the castle which I don't think happened before or after in a Hammer vampire film. The film is stylishly directed by Roy Ward Baker (The Vault of Horror) who imbues the film with more violence and grue than we'd seen before in a hammer film, including a dismemberment scene with Klove disposing of body parts into a vat of acid!
Audio/Video: Scars of Dracula (1970) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory in 1080p HD, offering both 1.66:1 and 1.85:1 widescreen. There's a appreciable level of fine film grain throughout, colors are nicely saturated with pleasing black levels, this is another winner from the distributor who have done great work with these Hammer horror titles.
Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono track with optional English subtitles. Dialogue is nicely crisp and clean, with the score from James Bernard (The Quatermass Xperimant) having some nice life in the mix.
The single-disc release arrives in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of artwork featuring an original vintage illustrated movie poster image, the reverse side featuring a scene from the film, the disc itself also featuring an excerpt the same illustrated artwork.
Extras include the excellent vintage audio commentary with Star Christopher Lee And Director Roy Ward Baker, Moderated By Hammer Film Historian Marcus Hearn, that appeared on the Anchor Bay DVD, plus a new commentary with Filmmaker/Film Historian Constantine Nasr And Film Historian Randall Larson, who have regularly been appearing on these Sctram Factory Hammer releases, and again they do a bang-up job.
We also get the 18-min 'Blood Rites: Inside Scars Of Dracula' with Kevin Lyons, Jonathan Rigby, Alan Barnes, John J. Johnston and actress Jenny Hanley from the UK Blu-ray release. the disc s buttoned-up with a 2-min double-bill trailer with Horror of Frankenstein, plus a 10-min gallery of vintage posters, various format home video releases, stills, lobby cards and print ads.
Special Features:
- Presented In Two Aspect Ratios – 1.66:1 And 1.85:1
- NEW Audio Commentary With Filmmaker/Film Historian Constantine Nasr And Film Historian Randall Larson
- Blood Rites: Inside Scars Of Dracula (18 min)
- Audio Commentary With Star Christopher Lee And Director Roy Ward Baker, Moderated By Hammer Film Historian Marcus Hearn
- Theatrical Trailers (5 min)
- Still Gallery (10 min)
Scars of Dracula (1970) is ripe for reappraisal, I found it rather striking, and while some of the side characters needlessly get a bit too much of the spotlight the film is still wildly entertaining and features Christopher Lee in top bloodsucking form with a mesmerizing performance in a film with a surprising amount of viscera.
