Dracula Prince of Darkness
by Terence Fisher
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Andrew Keir, Barbara Shelley, Christopher LeeDirector: Terence Fisher
Producer: Anthony Nelson Keys
Writer: Anthony Hinds
Writer: Jimmy Sangster
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: NTSC
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-03-09
Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Dracula Prince of Darkness
Movie Review: Welcome to Dracula's Castle
Summary: 5 Stars
Within the past year I have become quite a junkie of Hammer's horror movies. I have known of these films for years, but never really watched any of them, for one reason or another. However, after watching "Horror of Dracula" I was hooked. I have been slowly building my collection....
This leads me to "Dracula: Prince of Darkness", the third chapter in Hammer's Dracula saga. This film is very gothic in nature and really has this impressionistic/Victorian vibe going on. In other words, this film is dripping with mood. The story is about four people who end up spending the night in Dracula's castle. In contrast, Count Dracula has been dead for quite some time (reference "Horror of Dracula"). Nevertheless, Dracula still has a "servant" doing his bidding and taking care of the castle. Well it isn't long before Dracula is resurrected and releases his hate on the living.
There is a bit more to it, but other reviews have done a good job describing the film. Christopher Lee is awesome in this film, despite the fact he doesn't utter one word in the film. I read somewhere that Lee felt the dialogue written for him was ridiculous, which lead to the silent portrayal of the Count. I feel the lack of dialogue lead to a captivating performance. Yet I must advise that Dracula is only in the second half of the movie. It takes a bit before he is "brought back". This didn't bother me, it only added to the tension. The other actors/actress were very good. I felt Andrew Keir did an amazing job as "the expert in vampirism". It is pretty hard to top Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, but Keir did a fine job.
As for the DVD itself, this version of "Dracula: Prince of Darkness" is a DVD-R. This at first turned me off. I wasn't really into the idea of buying an "unofficial" version of a movie. Alternately, I found the price tags of the official DVD very distressing. Allow me to explain, this movie is "out of print". This leads to third party sellers raising the price in a ludicrous manner. So I decided to take a chance and buy the DVD-R version, which is still cheaper than the out of print copies.
This DVD-R version is really cool; it looks like an official DVD. It comes with a normal DVD case and art. The DVDs themselves look like normal DVDs, not burn ones. Some DVD-R or DVD-RWs have a purple or blue bottom; this version is the basic transparent silver (like a regular DVD). This is a two disk set. The first disk is the movie in widescreen format. The picture is pretty good, albeit dark and murky is some areas. The second disk is special features. Again this is a direct copy of Anchor Bay's version. Yet I believe the official version was a dual sided DVD, not my personal favorite. So this direct copy omits the dual sided business and makes it a two disk set.
Overall, I am very pleased I purchased this product and would by a DVD-R movie from Amazon again. If I had to complain, I would say that the picture of the film itself could be clearer in some areas. Yet this is a minor complaint. I am glad I was able to get my hands on this movie and add it to my Dracula collection.
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