Hammer Films Dracula Limited Collector's Edition [Blu-ray] [Region Free]

Smashing box office records with its trailblazing mix of sensual horror and bloody action, Dracula's worldwide success catapulted Hammer into the big leagues and turned both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee into global superstars. For many, Lee would turn in a feral performance of such intensity that he would become, and remain, the definitive Dracula. Making its worldwide debut on UHD, Dracula has been painstakingly restored by Hammer in 4K from the best existing film elements, reincorporating shots removed by the censors in 1958 to be seen in the way that director Terence Fisher always intended. However many times you've seen this classic British horror, you've never seen it like this. Jonathan Harker arrives in Klausenburg to take up his new post as librarian at the local castle. But Harker has a deadly secret – he is a vampire hunter and his deadly quarry is the castle's owner: Count Dracula. This Limited Collector's Edition comprises: • Seven discs in a stylish digipak: two UHDs and five Blu-rays, with the UHD content duplicated on Blu-ray. • Five iterations of Dracula: uncensored UK version, UK theatrical version, uncensored US version (Horror of Dracula), US theatrical version, editor's workprint. • Brand-new 5.1 mix for both sets of uncensored and theatrical versions of the film alongside the original mono film soundtrack. Packaged in a high-end, leather-feel slipcase with debossed foil titling. • Rigid inner box featuring new artwork by illustrator and artist Robert Sammelin. • Double-sided poster. • Eight art cards featuring facsimiles of the original cinema lobby cards.200-page book featuring new articles on the film, cast, and crew. • 60-page comic featuring a reprint of the comic strip from legendary 1970s magazine The House of Hammer. • English, French, Italian, Spanish, German and Japanese subtitles on each version of the film. The Disc content comprises: • Dracula workprint: A unique Hammer artefact, this rough, work-in-progress version of the film was the one assembled during post-production and is almost certainly the element that went back and forth between Hammer and the BBFC as they haggled over cuts. No other Hammer workprints are known to exist. • Proving Them Wrong: The Christopher Lee that people saw in interviews was what he wanted the public to see – but that was not the man himself. Dame Harriet Walter, actor and Lee's niece, in conversation with Lee's biographer Jonathan Rigby, discuss their own experiences of this complex man, his life and his ambitions. • The Road to Dracula: Tony Dalton, author of Terence Fisher: Master of Gothic Cinema, writer Stephen Laws, Hammer expert and writer Wayne Kinsey and Little Shoppe of Horrors publisher Dick Klemensen examine Terence Fisher's pre-1957 work and the path he trod that lead him inexorably to Castle Dracula. • The Sound of Dracula: James Bernard's biographer David Huckvale examines the man, his influences, his initial struggles and his relationship with both Hammer and the shadowy figure that followed him from childhood through to his final composed work: Dracula. • Victim of His Imagination: written in the early 1970s, this Hammer script treatment about Dracula creator Bram Stoker remained unfilmed – until now. Adapted by actor/writer James Swanton, this dramatised reading channels the blood-and-thunder melodrama of a Henry Irving performance, bringing to life a tantalising what-if from Hammer’s archive. • Gothic for Christians: Hellraiser star Doug Bradley narrates a brand-new video essay that considers Terence Fisher’s personal convictions, directorial style and Gothic body of work for Hammer as a foundational influence on cinematic horror. • You Look Like a Teddy Bear Now: Actor Janina Faye, in conversation with Wayne Kinsey, looks back at her career and work for Hammer. • Janina Faye reads Stoker: archive featurette from 2012. Bram, Dacre and Dracula: Dacre Stoker – best-selling author, teacher and Bram's great grand-nephew – discusses the ongoing relevance of Stoker's seminal novel and its many adaptations and reworkings. • James Bernard 1994 Interview: archive interview courtesy of Manchester’s Festival of Fantastic Films. • Liberated After Dark?: Lucy Bolton, writer and film historian Pamela Hutchinson and Stacey Abbot, Professor of Film, discuss the importance of the female characters in Hammer's Dracula, the actors who portrayed them and the performances they gave. • Of Mod(el)s and Monsters: The iconic shot of Dracula disintegrating – now to be seen uncensored on this set – was created by special effects wizard Sydney Pearson, a veteran of many Hammer and other British films. Wayne Kinsey and Dick Klemensen take a look at the man's work and his legacy. • The Measure of a Hero: A video essay by Heather Wixson, who examines Peter Cushing's nuanced performance as Van Helsing and how it set the pattern for everything that followed. • Blood, Bites and Boundaries: Dr Sian Barber, author and expert on cinema censorship, examines