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The Scars of Dracula

The Scars of Dracula

List Price: $24.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: better and much more scarier
Review: this was a very exciting and not to mention scary movie.chris lee or dracula was at his worst.a lot more action and suspence.the only thing that I didn't like about this movie was that it didn't begin at the part about dracula being killed......................

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Buy it for the extras
Review: This, ladies and gentlemen, is why God made DVDs. Though the film itself is one of Hammer's weaker efforts, SCARS OF DRACULA is very much worth buying, if only for the extras. For one thing, the commentary features director Roy Ward Baker and star Christopher Lee, and their reminiscences alone are worth the price of the DVD. Particularly amusing are Lee's veiled barbs at Baker's less-than-stellar direction, and the two aging gentlemen's blatant plugs for their (then recently published) books. Better still, the package includes a bonus DVD, THE MANY FACES OF CHRISTOPHER LEE, which includes some good clips, Lee's own always-interesting commentary, and a touching little tribute to his departed friends, "Peter and Vincent". The bonus disc is a must for any fan of this sadly underappreciated actor.

As for the film itself, we had a right to expect much better from Roy Ward Baker, who gave us the marvellous A NIGHT TO REMEMBER before his Hammer days. His best work for the studio (QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE, the opening sequence of THE VAMPIRE LOVERS) is on a level with their very finest films, but when he's bad - well, he's bad. (MOON ZERO TWO, anyone?) Baker isn't quite at his worst with this picture, but neither is he far from it.

Nearly everyone who discusses SCARS OF DRACULA feels the need to praise its famous "Dracula climbing up the wall" sequence. If you ask me, this bit is just plain silly. Lee's got his rear end sticking up in the air the whole time, and the director of photography didn't even bother turning his camera so that the wall looks vertical. Despite its fame, it's actually a pretty shoddy scene. Then again, this is overall a fairly shoddy movie...

Fortunately, however, Lee's customary professionalism, along with a couple of semi-interesting scenes, make SCARS OF DRACULA at least watchable. Don't expect too much from the movie, and make the most of the DVD extras, and you won't regret the purchase.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Still a Good Time
Review: Though not considered one of the best by Hammer fans, Scars of Dracula is still an enjoyable vampire film. It is dark and violent and at times twisted. Lee himself has said on more than one occasion that this was his least favorite in the series, because of the violent nature of the film, and the acts of torture his character was directed to perform. Yet, it is still very much the Hammer-style film, with luscious, colorful sets, ghothic atmoshere, and great performances by all the actors involved. And in a way, Lee's Dracula here is more frightening than some of his other incarnations, because of his twisted, satanic ways. He gives a feeling that Dracula could indeed originate from the lower regions of hell.

It would've been a better film with the reappearance of a Van Helsing type vampire hunter, like Cushing, or Andrew Keir (Dracula: Prince of Darkness), as the kill-scene is my least favorite of all the Lee/Dracula films. But the DVD itself is beautiful, the picture quality near perfect, the sound clear and crisp. And it is a well put together film.

The extras from Anchorbay, as usual, are far superior to anything anyone else (with the exception of Criterion, perhaps) includes with their DVDs. There's an audio commentary with Lee and director Roy Ward Baker. You get trailers, a poster gallery, and with the limited edition two disc set, you also get a neat and personal interview with Lee called "The Many Faces of Christopher Lee", and two totally cool music videos that Lee participated in. Anchorbay, as always, has treated the Hammer Horror fan with an exceptionally good product.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: One of the more disappointing entries in the series
Review: Two villagers go and search for a kidnapped friend of their's and meet up with the man who took him, guess who? Despite some original scenes (one of them is the door opening by itself for Christopher Lee) and Lee's dynamite performance this, along with DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE is not really as good as many of the other films in Hammer's series of DRACULA movies in fact, it's pretty dull.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dracula, we need to talk.
Review: Yet another scorching thriller where the lovely Christopher Lee is challenged with a complex and intricate script involving the most trying soliloquy since Hamlet. Yes, the Harpo Marx of horror films is back to gorge himself, through violent sucking action, the very last red blood cell from any scantilly clad female that the director sends his way. Despite the unforgivable spelling error in the closing credits( it's in the fine print, trust me), I regale this motion picture as absolutely and unequivocally the very best low-budget Hammer horror film released on November 12, 1971. With its sexual undertones and political overtones I was enthralled beyond words, thoughts, or conciousness and had to be carried out of my living room and into a crowded theater where I was promptly arrested then attacked by my own hand. The Scars of Dracula stands sentinel on my entertainment center. God bless the Prince of Darkness.


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