Dracula as a character has been done to death. There are hundreds upon hundreds of different takes on the character throughout literature, movies, television, and beyond. And yet, the story and character himself endure through the generations. Why is this? He’s an icon of horror undoubtedly, but an under-sung element at play in the legacy of Dracula as a character is the fact that Bram Stoker’s infamous tale of terror has ignited a very unique kind of passion in some of the most talented filmmakers of the past century. To this end, there have been numerous truly phenomenal takes on the story over the years, and one of the best is, without a doubt, Hammer’s original 1958 take on the story, Terence Fisher’s Horror of Dracula.
Simply known as Dracula internationally, Fisher’s film starred Christopher Lee as the titular count and posited Peter Cushing as his arch nemesis, Van Helsing. For decades, the film has served as a high-water mark when it comes to Hammer horror releases, and now, it is finally getting the kind of renewed attention it so justly deserves, in the form of a new 4K restoration. The first trailer for the restoration and re-release of the film, simply titled Dracula Everywhere Now, just dropped and it is fantastic.
First and foremost, the restoration looks incredible. The distinct Technicolor look of Fisher and DP Jack Asher’s visual language has not only been preserved, but elevated in careful and distinct ways here. The ultimate goal for such restoration jobs is to ultimately heighten the film’s fidelity while preserving all of the artistic choices as much as possible, and that very much looks like what modern-day Hammer has accomplished with this new release.
On top of that, the trailer promises a version of the film that audiences have not ever actually seen before. This is what the promo touts as a “director’s cut,” featuring several minutes of footage that were excised from the theatrical release of the film to help preserve its rating at the time. Now, however, that footage has been restored in the way that Terence Fisher had originally sequenced the film, and audiences will get to see it both in theaters and on 4K disc.
It also bears mentioning that whoever is doing the trailer editing over there at Hammer these days is doing a bang-up job. Their previous restoration re-release, The Abominable Snowman, got a trailer that was so good that I went out and bought that film sight-unseen because the trailer was so good. With Dracula, I know precisely how great it is, and this trailer does a stellar job of selling why modern audiences should treat themselves to it.
This is one of the great cinematic Dracula incarnations of all time, and I am beyond jazzed to see it getting this kind of love and attention decades on.
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