Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1966
Running Time	86:32
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Terence Fisher
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Christopher Lee Andrew Kier Francis Mathews Barbara Shelley Charles Tingwell
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$19.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.40:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Two brothers, Charles (Francis Matthews) and Alan (Charles 'Bud' Tingwell), along with their wives are on holiday in Europe during the late 19th century. While visiting a village in the Carpathian Mountains they are warned by a priest (Andrew Kier) to stay away from the local castle. No reason for this caution is given to them. Enroute to a neighbouring town, the four English tourists are deserted by their coachman. This eventually leads them to the castle where they are mysteriously met by a servant called Klove (Philip Latham). What's more surprising is that they are expected. During the night, one of the party is killed and is used to resurrect Count Dracula (Christopher Lee). The surviving members of the group must team up with the local priest to stop Dracula's bloodlust. What follows is the traditional battle of good against evil

    This film is typical of the Hammer horror films of the mid to late sixties. As is standard for the studio, the film is afforded a lush production design and cinematography. The cast acquit themselves well enough, but unfortunately Christopher Lee doesn't have any lines other than to growl in the title role, which diminishes this great actor's impact. This is definitely one of the poorer Hammer films, with a mundane script and a story that offers nothing new. Many actors have portrayed Dracula over the years and Lee is definitely one of the more charismatic and imposing. Bela Lugosi, although famous for his performance as the signature blood sucker, is in my opinion somewhat campy and laughable (purists will lynch me). I believe that Gary Oldman's Dracula in Coppola's version is probably the best realised portrayal of the infamous count. Dracula: Prince Of Darkness is for fans of the Hammer series and is worth a look for the curious.

Video

    This is a delightful transfer only marred by not being 16x9 enhanced. Dracula: Prince Of Darkness is presented in an aspect ratio of 2:40:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The picture is sharp throughout, displaying good levels of detail even during the darker scenes. What is impressive is the lack of grain and low level noise. Considering the age of the material, a very strong looking picture is presented here.

    Colours are rich and true as is usual for Hammer productions.

    There are no MPEG artefacts apparent and film artefacts are minimal and unobtrusive. There is some minor aliasing at 35:04 and 51:42, but it is of such short duration that it is not distracting.

    Being a single-layered disc, there is no RSDL change.

    Simply put, this is a great looking transfer for a 40 year old film.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio is presented in English Dolby Digital 2.0.

    Dialogue is always clear and easy to understand. There are no audio sync problems apparent.

    The musical score is very ordinary and is somewhat distracting in places due to the distinct lack of any bass.

    There is no surround channel use by this totally frontal soundtrack. The subwoofer is also absent, with no deep bass at all in the soundtrack.

    All-in-all, this is a very mediocre soundtrack, albeit acceptable for its age.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    The Region 4 version of this DVD misses out on:

• French mono track
• Audio Commentary from Christopher Lee, Francis Matthews, Suzan Farmer and Barbara Shelley
• Behind the scenes home movies
• Documentary - `World Of Hammer Horror'

    The Region 1 version of this DVD misses out on:

• nothing

    The clear winner is Region 1.

    This film will attract fans of Hammer films but cannot be classed as one of their better productions, merely offering a predictable plot with nothing really different from previous films of this genre. The video transfer is very good with a mediocre audio track and no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall