Scars of Dracula 4K UHD (1970) (Kino Lorber Studio Classics)

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by fred25_Ca

I mean, of all the Hammer movies to choose, this is pretty bottom of the barrel. I'm surprised they went for that one. I guess they figured it's Dracula and it has Christopher Lee in it?

Yeah, seriously. This and Horror of Frankenstein are the worst of the worst. I hope they get to some actually good movies before giving up due to bad sales.

Originally Posted by DaylightsEnd

I hope this means we’ll be taking another trip down nostalgia lane sooner than later with other lesser but no-less-enjoyable Hammer treats like The Plague of the Zombies 4k and The Reptile 4k. Release the beasts!

Both of those, especially Plague of the Zombies, are actually good. Especially compared to this.

[MagellanvsHimself]

Ya'll are crazy - Scars of Dracula is great! This is a very very exciting announcement!

[tangerinewolf]

I will get any Hammer film that comes out in 4K. Although I never thought this would be the first one.

[DraculaHasRisen]

Absolutely wild that this is the start of Hammer in 4K. Sincerely hope more of the Dracula's follow sooner than later.

[brainofj72]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

Yeah, seriously. This and Horror of Frankenstein are the worst of the worst. I hope they get to some actually good movies before giving up due to bad sales.



Both of those, especially Plague of the Zombies, are actually good. Especially compared to this.

I think this is unduly harsh. Scars is by no means top shelf Hammer, but I would say it’s comfortably middle shelf. They certainly made much worse.

Also I unapologetically love Horror of Frankenstein.

[AKORIS]

my ranking....

Horror Of Dracula
Dracula, Prince Of Darkness
Dracula Has Risen From Thr Grave


Scars Of Dracula/Taste The Blood Of Dracula

Dracula AD 1972


Satanic Rites Of Dracula

*Scars and Taste are more or less tied for me...

[brainofj72]

Prince of Darkness
Horror of Dracula
Brides

Scars
AD 72
Taste
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave




Satanic Rites

[Shogun MacArthur]

I still haven't seen this one, but I greatly enjoyed AD 1972 and Satanic Rites so I bet I'd like this too even if it's considered lower-tier. And in 4K too! Definitely a must buy, hoping we can have it in time for Halloween viewing but that might be too soon.

[cakefactory]

Out of curiosity I looked at the full list of Hammer movies I'd rated (based on enjoyment, not objective quality - I know darn well The Mummy is objectively much better than To the Devil a Daughter) and Scars of Dracula was dead last. I guess I liked Horror of Frankenstein more than I remembered.

9/10
Brides of Dracula
Twins of Evil
Cash on Demand
(These are) The Damned
Plague of the Zombies

8/10
(Horror of) Dracula
The Gorgon
The Nanny
Hands of the Ripper
Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde
Never Take Sweets from a Stranger
Quatermass 2
Quatermass and the Pit
Paranoiac
One Million Years BC
Revenge of Frankenstein

7/10
Curse of Frankenstein
To the Devil a Daughter
Blood from the Mummy's Tomb
Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires
Taste of/Scream of Fear
Frankenstein Created Woman
The Reptile
Curse of the Werewolf
The Devil Rides Out
The Vampire Lovers

6/10
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth
Hound of the Baskervilles
Taste the Blood of Dracula
The Abominable Snowman
The Lost Continent
Devil Ship Pirates
Pirates of Blood River
Fanatic/Die Die My Darling
Fear in the Night
She
Stranglers of Bombay
Captain Kronos
Nightmare
Captain Clegg
Rasputin the Mad Monk
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
Quatermass Experiment
The Mummy
Vampire Circus

5/10
Dracula has Risen from the Grave
The Man Who Could Cheat Death
Straight On Till Morning
Demons of the Mind
The Snorkel
Crescendo
Dracula Prince of Darkness
Kiss of the Vampire
Two Faces of Dr Jekyll
X the Unknown
The Mummy's Shroud
Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell
Countess Dracula

4/10
Viking Queen
Vengeance of She
Horror of Frankenstein
Hysteria
Creatures the World Forgot
Maniac
Terror of the Tongs
Dracula AD 1972
Lust for a Vampire
Evil of Frankenstein
The Witches
Satanic Rites of Dracula
Phantom of the Opera

3/10
Curse of the Mummy's Tomb
Slave Girls/Prehistoric Women

2/10
Scars of Dracula

[oddbox83]

For me, the excitement that Hammer finally comes to 4K is soured by the fact it's Kino, who don't have the greatest track record with their 4Ks.

A wait for the reviews release. I'd rather stick with my UK BD that buy a badly encoded 4K. These aren't cheap to import, so I'd demand a very good encode.

[brainofj72]

Bottom of the barrel for me would be Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, Visa to Canton, and The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb. Sorry, Michael Carreras.

All things considered, there are relatively few Hammer films I would say I actively dislike. They had an incredible batting average.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

Out of curiosity I looked at the full list of Hammer movies I'd rated (based on enjoyment, not objective quality...

Yep, eye of the beholder and all that. I personally love The Witches for it's folk horror vibe and the fact it goes batshit at the end. Captain Clegg and Fear in the Night I'd also rate far higher than you did as I find them a tight little historical and Psycho-thrillers respectively, just to name a couple.

So based on this, I'm sure Scars has it's fans! I mean I can see why they might - it's sort of all the classic Hammer Horror cliches in one movie, even if it's execution is sloppy as hell.

Originally Posted by brainofj72

Visa to Canton[/I].

I'm glad to have finally seen that one thanks to Indicator, but it was memorable for all the wrong reasons. Athene Sayler playing Asian is something that can never be unseen or unheard. The total opposite of Christopher Lee who manages to still give dignified performance when he dons the "yellowface" in some of the other movies.

[AnthonyGG]

Over the top thrilled that Hammer is FINALLY coming to 4K! Ok, so Scars of Dracula isn't top tier Hammer but it's still a really fun entry in the series and, oh yes, I WILL be grabbing it. I have a feeling Dracula, Prince of Darkness, a superior film, would have been the first 4K Hammer release from Kino but if I remember correctly, the original materials aren't in the best condition? Keep me honest here people but I think I remember that's why none of the blu-ray transfers won raves?

[oddbox83]

There's no reason Prince of Darkness can't be on 4k - other Techniscope movies are now on 4K and don't look bad.

The real reason will be what has already been scanned and is available as a 4K master for Kino license. All these 4Ks of Studiocanal titles they have recently announced have had recent scans that Studiocanal already did. Prince of Darkness was a 2K scan more than a decade ago, and wasn't well received due to dodgy grading and DNR. It needs a new restoration, but beyond that there are no issues with elements I'm aware of.

[AnthonyGG]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

There's no reason Prince of Darkness can't be on 4k - other Techiscope movies are now on 4K and don't look bad.

The real reason will be what has already been scanned and is available as a 4K master for Kino license. All these 4Ks of Studiocanal titles they have recently announced have had recent scans that Studiocanal already did. Prince of Darkness was a 2K scan more than a decade ago, and wasn't well received due to dodgy grading and DNR. It needs a new restoration, but beyond that there are no issues with elements I'm aware of.

I hope you're right. Dracula, Prince of Darkness is one of my favorite Hammers and a nostalgic one to boot as it's the first Christopher Lee Dracula I ever saw, way back when I was 4 or 5 years old on NY television in the early '80s. It'd be great to see it on 4K looking better than ever.

[cakefactory]

I just have a low opinion of most of the Hammer Draculas after the first two. Lee seems bored in most of them. Dracula Prince of Darkness, generally regarded the third best, I think only really comes alive when Barbara Shelley gets vamped, and I lose all interest after she exits. Taste the Blood of Dracula has some interesting aspects, and it's fun seeing Veruca Salt's dad, but overall it is just uneven. And all the others are worse!

Scars of Dracula is total amateur hour and it blows my mind that Roy Ward Baker was capable of producing something as good as Quatermass and the Pit alongside something as terrible as this. To confuse things even further, he followed it up with Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde, which is quite good. Virtually every aspect of this movie screams "zero budget rush job," from the abysmal backdrop paintings that look like something from a high school play to the shoddy camerawork (try and figure out the artistic intent beyond the haphazard camera moves as Jenny Hanley cuts her cake). It's extremely bad and feels like it's two hours long. It's got some reliable Hammer veterans in the cast, but they're given some of the worst dialogue in Hammer history and the idiotic plot just drags everything down. On the plus side, Jenny Hanley is adorable and the score is pretty good.

But yeah, basically it is one of the ugliest, shoddiest productions they made and thus seems like a real waste of a 4K compared to anything made in the early-mid 60s when they had much bigger budgets. I hope it sells well just for the possibility of future Hammers, but I can't imagine buying it myself.

I am not sure what else is controlled by Studiocanal in this country. Hopefully not just the stuff in that last octet of releases (To the Devil a Daughter, Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, Dr Jekyll Sister Hyde, Horror of Frankenstein, Fear in the Night, Straight On Till Morning, Scars of Dracula, and Demons of the Mind), but I know a lot of the others released by Studiocanal in the UK are held by Universal here. I'm guessing maybe The Witches, The Reptile, Plague of the Zombies, Quatermass and the Pit, X the Unknown, and Quatermass 2? Maybe Frankenstein Created Woman, The Devil Rides Out, Rasputin, Dracula Prince of Darkness and The Mummy's Shroud too?

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

I just have a low opinion of most of the Hammer Draculas after the first two. Lee seems bored in most of them. Dracula Prince of Darkness, generally regarded the third best, I think only really comes alive when Barbara Shelley gets vamped, and I lose all interest after she exits. Taste the Blood of Dracula has some interesting aspects, and it's fun seeing Veruca Salt's dad, but overall it is just uneven. And all the others are worse!

Scars of Dracula is total amateur hour and it blows my mind that Roy Ward Baker was capable of producing something as good as Quatermass and the Pit alongside something as terrible as this. To confuse things even further, he followed it up with Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde, which is quite good. Virtually every aspect of this movie screams "zero budget rush job," from the abysmal backdrop paintings that look like something from a high school play to the shoddy camerawork (try and figure out the artistic intent beyond the haphazard camera moves as Jenny Hanley cuts her cake). It's extremely bad and feels like it's two hours long. It's got some reliable Hammer veterans in the cast, but they're given some of the worst dialogue in Hammer history and the idiotic plot just drags everything down. On the plus side, Jenny Hanley is adorable and the score is pretty good.

But yeah, basically it is one of the ugliest, shoddiest productions they made and thus seems like a real waste of a 4K compared to anything made in the early-mid 60s when they had much bigger budgets. I hope it sells well just for the possibility of future Hammers, but I can't imagine buying it myself.

I am not sure what else is controlled by Studiocanal in this country. Hopefully not just the stuff in that last octet of releases (To the Devil a Daughter, Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, Dr Jekyll Sister Hyde, Horror of Frankenstein, Fear in the Night, Straight On Till Morning, Scars of Dracula, and Demons of the Mind), but I know a lot of the others released by Studiocanal in the UK are held by Universal here. I'm guessing maybe The Witches, The Reptile, Plague of the Zombies, Quatermass and the Pit, X the Unknown, and Quatermass 2? Maybe Frankenstein Created Woman, The Devil Rides Out, Rasputin, Dracula Prince of Darkness and The Mummy's Shroud too?

well, let's just say we agree to disagree...... on pretty much every point you make here...

[VIDEOgameDROME]

Shoulda just gave us Dracula 1958 or The Brides of Dracula.

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by VIDEOgameDROME

Shoulda just gave us Dracula 1958 or The Brides of Dracula.

yeah, that would be nice.... but perfect scenarios aren't always an option are they?

[DR Herbert West]

Dracula: Prince Of Darkness
Horror Of Dracula
Brides of Dracula
Taste The Blood Of Dracula
Scars Of Dracula
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave
Dracula AD 1972
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
Satanic Rites Of Dracula