Scars of Dracula [VHS] [1970]

Though a fairly lenient fan of the Dracula genre, I did find unforgivable problems with this picture - for one, I could never take the giant rubber bat seriously; secondly, the plot seemed almost spoof-like, and again lowered the tone, and thirdly, there were some appalling characters which didn't make the picture feel like a traditional Hammer horror at all - namely the stupid pair of Policemen.

On the up side, there's, of course, the fantastic Christopher Lee, who gets plenty of screen time, and plenty more lines than usual. His presence is stunning, although I found Dracula's death scene a little over-rated. Most of the actors are fairly good, and most of the settings are decent enough.

If you want a good Hammer horror with the legendary Mr.Lee as Dracula, I recommend any of this film's predacessors, and even Dracula AD 1972 - unfortunately, this one is one of my least favourites of the Dracula franchise starring Mr.Lee. Just one too many flaws for my liking.

But, either way, you can't go wrong with Christopher Lee!

It would've been a better film with the reappearance of a Van Helsing type vampire hunter, like Cushing, or Andrew Keir (Dracula: Prince of Darkness), as the kill-scene is my least favorite of all the Lee/Dracula films. But the DVD itself is beautiful, the picture quality near perfect, the sound clear and crisp. And it is a well put together film.

The extras from Anchorbay, as usual, are far superior to anything anyone else (with the exception of Criterion, perhaps) includes with their DVDs. There's an audio commentary with Lee and director Roy Ward Baker. You get trailers, a poster gallery, and with the limited edition two disc set, you also get a neat and personal interview with Lee called "The Many Faces of Christopher Lee", and two totally cool music videos that Lee participated in. Anchorbay, as always, has treated the Hammer Horror fan with an exceptionally good product.