Hammer's DRACULA Restored! (1 Viewer)

So here we are in 2012 and it still hasn't appeared here in the States. Isn't it odd that both the available versions of the classic Universal and Hammer DRACULAs suck?
As for the Hammer DRACULA dvd (if and when we ever see it) commentary by Christopher Frayling (now that Jimmy Sangster is dead) is a good idea. Ditto Ron Borst's amazing collection of stills. But Dick Klemensen's continual charting of all things Hammer in his wonderful LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORROR is a resource that shouldn't be overlooked.

For my money Hammer went off the boil around the mid 60's (but they had a great run), & for all the talk we're not getting any of the "good stuff" yet. I see there's The Plague Of The Zombies coming, which is OK, & The Mummy's Shroud, which is dire. No sign of Dracula yet, & apart from the framing issues I thought the Warner DVD looked great, as did The Curse Of Frankenstein, The Mummy not so good. We need the Universal & Sony stuff, & the DVD's that they released, for the most part looked stunning. Horror did so well with DVD, no so with Blu-ray, so far!

Fans are screaming for DRACULA / HORROR OF DRACULA and Warner Brothers turns a deaf ear.
If Hammer Films are on their radar, Warner Brothers shows no sign of it.
Why wait for the American studios? They don't deserve customer loyalty. Warner Brothers, Columbia, Paramount and Universal are dragging their feet on the Hammer films. So are Synapse and Blue Underground. Synapse's VAMPIRE CIRCUS blu-ray was amateurishly transferred. The light and dark levels are bass ackwards. They don't even realize how bad it is. Synapse bragged about their Hammer holdings, but it looks as if we're getting only 1 Blu-ray release per year over the next three years (including two of Hammer's strongest films of the 1970s, TWINS OF EVIL and HANDS OF THE RIPPER). Unfortunately, VAMPIRE CIRCUS indicates they may not be worth waiting for. Evidently there will be more releases across the pond. Get a multi-region / region free blu-ray player and keep up with the region 2 releases.
The U.K. Blu-ray of QUATERMASS AND THE PIT is a remarkable transfer of one of the finest sci-fi films ever made.