Scars of Dracula (Blu-ray Review)
Director
Roy Ward BakerRelease Date(s)
1970 (December 16, 2025)Studio(s)
Hammer Film Productions (Kino Lorber Studio Classics)- Film/Program Grade: C+
- Video Grade: A-
- Audio Grade: B+
- Extras Grade: B-
Review
The sixth entry in Hammer’s Dracula cycle, 1970’s Scars of Dracula, sees Christopher Lee once again donning the cape of the infamous prince of darkness for another bite at the cinematic jugular, and only a few months after the release of the previous film. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an entry that many were pleased with and stands today as one of the least popular of the Dracula films made at Hammer, though due the overall popularity of the Dracula series, it’s still beloved.
Attempting to bridge the continuity of the previous film (Taste the Blood of Dracula), Scars of Dracula opens with the titular character’s resurrection via the regurgitated blood of a bat issuing onto his dusty remains. After taking the life of a local girl, villagers make their way to the castle and set it ablaze, going through his assistant Klove (Patrick Troughton) to do so. It does nothing to stop Dracula, and the villagers all return home to find that their women and children have been massacred by Dracula’s deadly winged minions. Many years later, a young man named Paul (Christopher Matthews) makes his way to the castle after having been thrown out by the closely-guarded tavern owner (Michael Ripper) and is taken prisoner. Hot on his trail is his brother Simon (Dennis Waterman) and Simon’s love interest Sarah (Jenny Hanley), but it may be too late to save both Paul and themselves from a seemingly grisly supernatural fate.
The biggest issue that Scars of Dracula suffers is how bland it can be. Unlike Dracula A.D. 1972, which would follow two years later, nothing new is brought to the table in a story sense. We’ve seen this all before, not just in the Dracula films, but in other Hammer productions like the Frankenstein series: bad guy in a castle, scared villagers down below, young people wandering into danger: rinse, wash, repeat. But because it’s the sixth film in a series, its habitualness is more apparent. For gorehounds, it’s one of the more grisly entries, opening with a scene involving the aforementioned slain villagers, and a brutal stabbing that takes place later on. It’s clear that Hammer was trying to compete in a world where R ratings were beginning to push the envelope with sex and violence, though the BBFC in the UK hacked it up before its release anyway. It may have been a signpost that Hammer wasn’t as big a draw as it used to be, and that Gothic horror had to change to remain relevant, or be left in the past like the ashen remains of Dracula himself.
On the positive side of things, the James Bernard score is one of the better musical additions to any of the Dracula films; Christopher Lee is still as menacing as ever, even without Peter Cushing in the proceedings to take him on, and fan-favorite Michael Ripper, who appears in four of the nine Dracula films, returns for the last time. Scars of Dracula was also the first film that Hammer distributed through an unknown entity. Studios like Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox, who had successfully released their films in the UK and the US, were less interested in Hammer’s output, at least at that point. Instead, Continental Films would distribute the film, along with Horror of Frankenstein. Three more Dracula films would come down the pike, but Christopher Lee would soon being taking out his fangs and retiring his portrayal of the character not long after.
Scars of Dracula was shot by cinematographer Moray Grant on 35mm film, finished photochemically, and presented in the aspect ratio of 1.66:1. Kino Lorber Studio Classics brings the film to Blu-ray for a second time in the US with a new 4K restoration from the original camera negative by StudioCanal, which has been encoded to a dual-layered BD-66 disc. We don’t have StudioCanal’s release on hand to make a direct comparison, but it’s likely not all that dissimilar. As Tim Lucas notes in his commentary, degraded print-based presentations have always hid some of the film’s visual flaws, mostly in the lighting, but with a fresh scan of the OCN, other flaws begin to reveal themselves. Hotly-debated is the film’s aspect ratio, which was 1.66:1 in the UK and 1.85:1 in the US, with some home video releases even offering a 1.78:1 in-between. Only the UK version has been included on this release, which is very organic, but with flaws built in. It’s not a particularly well-shot film (in this reviewer’s opinion), carrying a fairly heavy yield of grain, especially during the opticals; but it resolves well enough elsewhere, with only minor encoding hiccups along the way. The bitrate sits mostly between 30 and 40Mbps with some mild speckling prevalent throughout. Detail is much tighter and crisper than on previous presentations, with the film’s limited color palette having stronger shades of red and green. Contrast is good with deep blacks and the overall image is stable. Kino has also released the film on 4K Ultra HD, which gives the restoration much more data to work with, as well as HDR. In either case, it’s a fine presentation of an imperfect-looking film, though I imagine some will be displeased with the lack of options when it comes to the aspect ratios. In that case, your mileage may vary.
Audio is included in English 2.0 mono DTS-HD with optional subtitles in English SDH. The score is offered the most clarity overall. Dialogue and sound effects aren’t all that impactful, but nothing really seems amiss as the material certainly aids the presentation dutifully, if unremarkably. It’s a clean track, free of any leftover hiss, crackle, distortion, or dropouts.
The Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-ray release of Scars of Dracula sits in a blue Amaray case alongside a double-sided insert, featuring one of the Italian theatrical poster artworks on the front (as well as the slipcover), and the original UK one-sheet theatrical artwork on the reverse. The following extras are included:
- Audio Commentary by Tim Lucas
- Audio Commentary by Roy Ward Baker, Christopher Lee, and Marcus Hearn
- Blood Rites: Inside Scars of Dracula (HD – 18:04)
- Trailers:
- Scars of Dracula (SD – 2:25)
- Scars of Dracula/Horror of Frankenstein (Double Bill) (SD – 2:42)
- House of the Long Shadows (HD – 2:28)
- Zoltan... Hound of Dracula (Dracula’s Dog) (SD – 3:21)
- Baby Blood (SD – :58)
- Fright (Upscaled SD – 1:23)
- The Recinarnation of Peter Proud (HD – 1:49)
New is an audio commentary with author and film historian Tim Lucas, who details his own experiences with the film as a youth. He also offers some very insightful knowledge of its creation, especially in regards its novelization, which is much more explicit than the final film. Like all of his tracks, it’s a must-listen. Next is the 2001 audio commentary with Christopher Lee and Roy Ward Baker, moderated by Hammer film historian Marcus Hearn. He misidentifies it as being the “fifth” Dracula film, but offers other, more correct, details about it while asking Lee and Baker questions throughout the track. Lee expresses his frustrations with the lack of creativity and use of Bram Stoker’s text in the many sequels, his and Baker’s feelings on not showing everything to an audience and allowing them to participate, their appreciation for members of the cast and crew, selling films around the world with broader appeal, and the censorship of Hammer’s output. Marcus Hearn’s Blood Rites: Inside Scars of Dracula is a documentary featuring interviews with authors and film historians Kevin Lyons, Jonathan Rigby, and Alan Barnes, cultural historian John J. Johnston, and actress Jenny Hanley. Last are two trailers for the film, one paired with Horror of Frankenstein, and other trailers for films released by Kino Lorber.
Unfortunately, several notable extras from previous releases of the film haven’t carried over. The 2001 Anchor Bay 2-Disc DVD release includes The Many Faces of Christopher Lee documentary and two music videos: O Sole Mio/It’s Now or Never and She’ll Fall for Me, both by Christopher Lee and Gary Curtis. The 2019 Scream Factory Blu-ray features the film in its alternate 1.85:1 aspect ratio presentation; an audio commentary with filmmaker and film historian Constantine Nasr, and film historians Randall Larson and briefly Ted Newsom; and an animated still gallery featuring 136 on-set photos, behind-the-scenes stills, promotional images, posters, lobby cards, and newspaper clippings. The 2025 StudioCanal 4K Ultra HD release in the UK includes the additional featurettes and interviews Fangs Out: Dracula, Desire & Disruption: Clarisse Loughrey and Isaura Barbé-Brown in Conversation, Legacy of the Vampire: An Interview with Dacre Stoker, and Hammer’s Bite: Chris Matthews on Scars of Dracula.
Kino’s Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD releases of Scars of Dracula certainly lack in some areas, but offer fine presentations of the film and are definitely worth picking up for the upgrade in visual quality and the Tim Lucas audio commentary. A more thorough release of the film is needed in the future, but this will definitely suffice for the time being.
- Tim Salmons
(You can follow Tim on social media at these links: Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky, and Letterboxd. And be sure to subscribe to his YouTube channel here.)