Just finished watching “Dracula, the 35mm Silver Screen Edition” in a 3 meters white wall at home using a digital projector and the Oppo 203 UHD-BD player plus a home theater audio system and the movie looks and sounds magnificent, especially compared with the crappy regular BD, dvd, and Laserdisc previous versions.
The picture looks clean, sharp, vibrant and powerful. It made me remember how beautifully shot this film was. I can’t believe it was considered “too gory and modern” when it was premiered. I even enjoy that seduction red laser dream sequence that all the people trashing the movie seem to hate, problably only because it comes from the director of “Saturday Night Fever” . In my opinion its totally fitting for a dreamlike sequence the same way Roger Corman used blurry colorful filters making dreams look like LSD trips in some of its classic Edgar Allan Poe adaptations.
In my opinion Langella’s Dracula had the bad luck of being released at the same time with spoof “Love at First Bite” and Werner Herzog’s “Nosferatu” (which in my opinion is highly inferior not only to Murnau’s masterpiece but also to Badham’s Dracula) So, almost nobody took the film seriously.
As I see it, the test of time has been kindest to this version than the celebrated Coppola version or even the usually OTT Hammer Films starring Christopher Lee. Watching it nowadays feels like seeing a Merchant/Ivory horror film, especially compared with some of the latest crap about the inmortal Count and other vampires. I’m talking about that ‘thing’ called “Dracula Untold” of course.
So, If you’re a fan like me or want to see the movie for the first time I totally recommend you to ask ITHoTMK the link and enjoy “Dracula” (1979) the closest way it was conceived.
And let’s all cross our fingers to see a “40th Anniversary Edition” on 4k or Blu ray next year with a theatrical version scanned from the original negatives or the best print available. If its happening with the soundtrack, why not with the film?
Thanks again and awesome work, ITHoTMK