There have been so many adaptations of Bram Stoker’s classic Dracula that it’s hard to keep track of the modifications to the storyline in each one. But in 1970 Jess Franco took his turn as director of Count Dracula starring Christopher Lee in the title role, stepping out of the Hammer niche for a film that sounds like it could be a wild ride. With Franco at the helm, there’s the possibility for a devolution into surrealism, ample amounts of sex and nudity, a complete twist on Stoker’s staid Victorian narrative. Instead, Franco turns in a pretty faithful adaptation of Stoker’s work, eschewing the more experimental elements of his work in favor of the general Dracula story, for better or worse.
Mostly, Count Dracula is something of a misstep for Franco. In attempting to capture all of the elements of Stoker’s novel, the film often stagnates under the weight of its many dialogue-heavy sequences and its somewhat buttoned-up nature. There’s a semblance of atmosphere, but Franco struggles to find the key elements that make their way into the Gothic-laced period pieces of Hammer’s filmography. Here everything comes off looking fairly cheap, from the sparse set design to the poorly-done practical effects. These moments, while remaining true to Stoker’s work, actually sap the realism from Count Dracula.
And without that moodiness from the atmosphere, the viewer is left with not much else. Besides the drab sets, there’s not much of Franco’s cinematic panache here either. A few choice sequences are shot with some amount of tension – a sequence where Mina is kidnapped from the theater, for instance – but mostly each scene plods along in a rote retelling of Stoker’s narrative. Even Lee and Klaus Kinski can’t save the film with their presence; Lee is off-screen far too often for one thing, and there’s just not much for either of them to play off of here.
Unfortunately, most viewers will probably be left thinking Count Dracula is a lot less than the sum of its parts, and to use an age-old pun, it’s a rather bloodless affair from Franco. It probably doesn’t help that Vampir-Cuadecuc exposes a lot of the film’s “tricks,” but ultimately while Franco stays true to most of Stoker’s novel, it doesn’t make for a very interesting watch in his oeuvre.
4K UHD
Severin Films has released Count Dracula on 4K UHD and Blu-ray with a new 4K scan from a newly discovered uncut camera negative. Previously, the company had released a Blu-ray version of the film with a newly-restored HD scan that did not specify its source. While I don’t have the prior release, the new transfer is quite satisfying, offering up crisp visuals with a relatively medium-grained appearance which retains a nice filmic look while capturing some of the grit and gloom of Dracula’s sparse castle environments. Skin texture and clothing details are well-embodied even if there are at times a few soft shots due to Franco employing a zoomed-in technique. The negative is not entirely free of pockmarks and blemishes but it still does look quite remarkably preserved for its age. HDR 10 is also utilized on this release, though the use of exceptional color and even shadowy dark sequences is minimal; it’s not as noticeable, but there is some nice shadow delineation and a few uses of red-toned hues for candelight and flames. Ultimately, Severin’s restoration of Count Dracula should satisfy Franco fans and certainly looks like an upgrade from what I’ve seen of the previous Blu-ray.
Audio is presented with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono English or Spanish track. Both utilize the same provided subtitles. Most will obviously gravitate to the English for Lee, and it is unequivocally the better option here as well; its dialogue is strong and while it does have a moderate amount of audible hiss, the Spanish track has even more of it and dialogue is less robust.
Almost all of the extras included in this package were previously available on Severin’s original release. An audio commentary with David Del Valle and Maria Rohm is featured on both the UHD and Blu-ray discs. The rest of the extras are interspersed between the Blu-ray version of the film and bonus features disc, including a few interviews with Franco, actors Fred Williams and Jack Taylor, and an appreciation from filmmaker Christophe Gans; a 1973 Christopher Lee interview; alternate title sequences featuring the various title cards; and the full-length documentary Dracula Barcelona (for this release taking the place of Vampir-Cuadecuc, which was included on the previous Blu-ray but now gets a standalone release). A new offering on the extras disc is an interview with Franco aficionado Stephen Thrower, who provides about 45 minutes of commentary about the film including its lack of budget, the potential for Franco’s growing dissatisfaction as the shoot went on, and more. Also included is a short bonus featurette with Thrower and Alain Petit during the shooting of In the Land of Franco.
A new CD soundtrack is provided as the fourth disc in this set, along with a pullout card detailing the track listing. A beautiful slipcover adorns this release as well.
Extra Features
Disc 1: 4K UHD (Feature + Special Features)
- NEW scanned in 4K
- Audio Commentary With Horror Historian David Del Valle And Actress Maria Rohm
- Trailer (2160p; 3:19)
Disc 2: Blu-ray (Feature + Special Features)
- NEW scanned in 4K
- Audio Commentary With Horror Historian David Del Valle And Actress Maria Rohm
- Illustrated 1973 Christopher Lee Audio Interview With Filmmaker Donald Glut (1080p; 19:50)
- Beloved Count – Interview With Director Jess Franco (1080i; 26:35)
- Handsome Harker – Interview With Actor Fred Williams (1080p; 26:14)
- An Interview With Actor Jack Taylor (1080i; 10:00)
- Stake Holders – An Appreciation By Filmmaker Christophe Gans (1080p; 7:32)
- Trailer (1080p; 3:19)
Disc 3: Blu-ray (Special Features)
- DRÁCULA BARCELONA – 2017 Documentary (1080p; 1:30:24)
- NEW Jess Franco’s BRAM STOKER’S COUNT DRACULA – Stephen Thrower On COUNT DRACULA (1080p; 45:21)
- In The Land Of Franco Bonus Sequence With Alain Petit And Stephen Thrower (1080p; 6:07)
- Alternate Title Sequences
- Spanish (1080p; 1:40)
- German (1080p; 1:36)
- French (1080p; 1:23)
- Italian (1080p; 1:35)
Disc 4: NEW Soundtrack CD
Verdict
While Franco’s adaptation of Count Dracula does not hit the highs of cinema’s other iterations of the vampire, this 4K UHD release from Severin shines with a great transfer and a four-disc set full of extras, both from previous releases and new to this package. With both physical and visual special features, this is a great set to have in one’s collection.
