THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA : WARNER BROTHERS BLU RAY : REVIEWED SCREEN CAPTURED GIFS AND GALLERY

SPOILERS ALERT! IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING, MOST YOU WHO HAVE come here to read this review will know that 'THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA' was the last film in the Hammer Dracula series, to star Christopher Lee as The Count, and also the final time that Peter Cushing would star as Lee's Van Helsing. . .  but I'll say it anyway, because that detail helped to shift and style the film, a film that at first, looks NOTHING like a Hammer Dracula movie!

SUCH WAS THE DISTRIBUTORS unease at what they took to be a miss matched plot, featuring a James Bond type villain vampire, and not knowing how on earth to market it, 'THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA' sat for five years gathering dust in the Warner Vault after production wrapped in 1973, until SIX years later when ex Amicus Films partner, Max Rosenberg picked it up with his bargain basement company, Dynamite Films to then, crop, chop and re-edit the film and before kicking it out in the US, to see if it had any more takers, than the UK limited release had failed to attract . . .

IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING, MOST YOU WHO HAVE come here to read this review will know that 'THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA' was the last film in the Hammer Dracula series, to star Christopher Lee as The Count, and also the final time that Peter Cushing would star as Lee's Van Helsing. . .  but I'll say it anyway, because that detail helped to shift and style the film, a film that at first, looks NOTHING like a Hammer Dracula movie! Such was the distributors unease at what they took to be a miss matched plot, featuring a James Bond type villain vampire, and not knowing how on earth to market it, 'THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA' sat for five years gathering dust in the Warner Vault after production wrapped in 1973, until SIX years later when ex Amicus Films partner, Max Rosenberg picked it up with his bargain basement company, Dynamite Films to then, crop, chop and re-edit the film and before kicking it out in the US, to see if it had any more takers, than the UK limited release had failed to attract . . .

ROSENBERG'S also recrafted the title, 'COUNT DRACULA AND HIS VAMPIRE', offers all you need to know about, why Amicus films always had such naff titles when they hit UK cinemas. It's true, SATANIC RITES, is nowhere in the same realm as Cushing and Lee's first Hammer DRACULA outing in 1958. But back in the days of 1958, Hammer were not only treading on new ground, they were also actually creating some very new earth, ALONG with those steps! Back then, critics blew their gaskets and censors were forever poised with their red pens!  What The Satanic Rites of Dracula gives us is, had it been succesful, a NEW direction and and style, just like back in 1958! 😉

'SATANIC' THOUGH IT HAD STEAM, arrived late at the platform, and after Lee had played the Count in FIVE other Hammer visits to Castle Dracula, wearing out the terrified villagers and squeezing the last drop of any originalty from his many buxom wench-like drought stricken vampires victims. The 'SATANIC' concept was new, refreshing and quite savvy. But it would take decades, before an audience would finally see the point, of more than Dracula's fangs. The truth is the 'Hammer Dracula Truck' had long run out of fuel and backers, the Gothic scene was thought of, as past it and well worn, long beyond the point of predictable. Hammer films were looking for a new direction, a post- Gothic box, in which to repackage and wrap Lee's Dracula. A Dracula which was still bankable and box office, if only they could get Lee to agree to return and also create a 'new scene'.

IT WAS 'THE SCENE', in the truest post psychedelic sense, that provided the new direction and path. For traditionalists, this caused a problem, in two ways. One, the film that had first stepped into this new setting for the Hammer Dracula return . . . after the hit and miss garish and gory 1970 'SCARS OF DRACULA'. .  was DRACULA AD 1972. Based in London, with a gang of hip and trendy 'youngsters' it was dressed in flared pants, flower power vests, platform shoes and had a soul and funky 'Shaft-like' score. And two, all these rebooted qualities even in 72, were slightly out of date and late, by the time Hammer brought their new and relevant setting to the big screen. It's never a good idea to bring in 'men in suits' and already in their late 50's to create a trend or fashion, their idea of youth / gang langauge and lingo for 'the kids'. Their spin and take, has usually already been long taken away and past it.

AND SO, it was declared, even though the NEXT film, would be in some sense a sequel to DRACULA AD 1972, it would drop most of the fashion statements, and focus the concept not on long hair, hot pants and 'time', but craftily pick up a genre, that had been picking up BIG box office returns and small screen profits and followers for the last few years. The world of Spies, Intrigue, Bankers, Science and the James Bond Villain! The script writer, in my personal opinion got it spot on, not just with SATANIC RITES but DRACULA AD 1972 also. Hammer had run out of DRACULA puff, both 'SCARS' and 'TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA' suffer from Christopher Lee's reluctance to appear in the films, reducing his screen time, affecting the story, side tracking into support casts love stories and 'dirty mac brigade' titillation . ..  more importantly, everything produced after the 1968 DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS, failed to provide DRACULA with a worthy and competent advisory. Van Helsing Hammer's box office vampire slayer, was AWOL! It was only when Cushing returned, and the story was given some historical character back bone detail, that Dracula truly engages in, that we are to some respect, back in the frame of anything resembling what we love about that 1958 classic. Danger. Emotion. Conflict and Reason. 

THE SCRIPT WRITER for both films, AD and Satanic was Don Houghton. Don had written episodes of the BBC series DOCTOR WHO, ACE OF WANDS and 38 episodes of drama and doctor stories in tv's 'EMERGENCY WARD 10'. Though not really responsible for the flapping fashion, the 'cool man' dig it lingo, Don's feel for drama and tension is spot on and would serve him well just a few years later, in the very popular tv series, 'The Professionals'. Houghton's mixing of the Hammer Gothic DRACULA, with a wink to black magic and the historical baggage of the Van Helsing family, worked like a treat! For some, that is. As in 1972, there are still some traditionalist Hammer fans, that will not watch AD or Satanic Rites nor except the changes that Broughton brought to these productions. . .   Even though, there are many moments of high drama within the re-connection and appearance of Lee and Cushing, battling on the screen together again, that offer some great scenes and moments. Moments that had not been seen in previous Hammer Dracula movies, for quite sometime.

IF YOU HAVE SEEN any of the grotty, blurred and rip off VHS and DVD's of 'SATANIC RITES' over the past 30 odd years, you'll have an idea of what most of the story is about, even though watching the fuzzy film, was like it was being reflected on a Fun House Mirror! Needless to say, all that pirated, time wasting and expensive lack of visual quality, has now all gone! The TECHNICAL WONDER of the remastered film, has like the story, been pushed into a NEW AGE, and lovingly remastered onto BLU RAY! 😚😉

SO DOES THE WARNER BROTHERS BLU RAY get THE RITES... RIGHT? Firstly, the good news is, you can take all your previous DVD dodgy copies and put them to rest or in the trash. The Warner Brothers scare ANOTHER MAJOR HIT with their remastering. The colours are beautiful and quite vivid. Skin tones and texture are not waxy, but look real and features are sharp. The blacks are BLACK. There is great depth to interior shots and some of Director Alan Gibson's focus pulls, are a treat to watch. 

SEVERAL TIMES I saw things on screen, I had never seen before. The close up's on Cushing's face, are very clear, as with the details on Christopher Lee's facial reactions, they look surprisingly powerful and different, if you have become used to that blurred DVD version. During the DRACULA death scene, new ellements can now be seen and these too look amazingly clear and again contain touches, you would have not seen before. While watching all these new qualities, you'll be pleased to hear... just THAT! The quality of the audio is excellent. I have watched this blu ray, exactly as I watch all my movies, wearing headphones. I don't want to missed anything! Presented as it was, back in 1973, the soundtrack in mono with a musical score, that has never sounded better. I could not hear any distortions, even when the Valerie Van Ost vampire screamed or the motor cycles or thunder rumbled!

WARNER BROTHERS yet again, score maxium points, continuing their very high standard of remastering excellence, first started with their outstanding Hammer Horror Collection Volume One release box set. Any Hammer, Cushing, Lee, Dracula fan or collector, who has suffered years of the dire poorness of previous releases of this film, would be truly missing out on what is now, the best gob-smacking experence of the film, at last available to watch, enhanced and worth every penny or cent! HIGHLY recommended! 

 

 A FULL REVIEW, GALLERY AND SCREEN CAPTURES from WARNER BROTHERS remastered blu ray of DRACULA AD 1972, coming VERY soon . . 

 

A WAR GAME RARE GIFT FOR A HAMMER FILM SCRIPT WRITER PLUS THE AMICUS COLLECTION

ITEMS LIKE THIS, dont come along that often, these days. When they do, it's one or two items in an auction, like Peter Cushing smoking jacket, that he wore in Amicus Films, 'The House That Dripped Blood' or a one off item of clothing from his persoanl wardrobe, purchased originally, in the THREE Cushing auctions that happened a year or so after his passing. You would think, that an item like the one we feature today maybe, was part of the whole mountain of lots, in one of those said auctions, arranged by Peter Cushing personal assistant and close friends, Joyce or Bernard Broughton. But nope. According to the description that accompanies this item on EBAY, it is  . .. 'A collection of military flags for war gaming / display / diorama use, hand painted / finished by the actor and Hammer Horror star Peter Cushing as a gift for his friend Don Houghton, the British television screenwriter...'

CURRENTLY WHILE WRITING THIS, 'Rare One-Off Collection covering mainly Waterloo era' has 22 bidders arm wrestling and uping the lolly, to a handsome £435.00 UK pounds already! AND there is another whole day to go, before the bidding wraps! Peter would have been gobsmacked! It's no secret now, but probably after an initial scrum of Women's Magazines reporters and Tidbits (!) tabloid newspapers photographers turned up at Peter and Helen Cushing's home in the 1950's and 60's to take snaps and interview the couple about Peter's 'Hobbies', everyone forgot, about the painter artist and crafts man, who studio attic BULGED with hundreds of items of his work. His love of painting and creating everything from working model theatres, aircraft, thousands of model soldiers and figures, all sadly came to an end, when his wife Helen died in 1971. Peter made personal hand painted and crafted birthday cards for his wife, and their many friends. It appears that his made gifts for them too!

AS HE WAS on the studio floor, in his many performances, so he was in his off screen life and his creative hobies. Nothing was not studied, all prepared and created with style and acurate! Not being a player of WAR GAMES, I have no idea how this game that Peter created works! But he had many friends who DID. One being scriptwriter and good friend Don Houghton. Houghton had worked on several of the Hammer films, that Peter starred in too. Houghton had a career that first took him into the worlds of BBC's DOCTOR WHO in 1970, he wrote the screenplay for TV's 'The Flaxton Boys' in the late 60's, and cut his teeth on 38 episodes of 'Emergency Ward 10' soap for ITV. Houghton was also producer on a few of his Hammer film scripts. He penned for Peter Cushing's last three Dracula Hammer movies, 'Dracula AD 1972', Christopher Lee's final fanged fling in 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' and Cushing's two bow outs from the Hammer world on the big screen, with 'The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires' and 'Shatter' both made in Hong Kong. 

ONE CAN ONLY TAKE a guess, at why Peter made this particular themed gift for Houghton, but it seems likey that his friend was a fan of playing the 'LITTLE WAR GAMES' too! The seller's description gives us somew clues: 'This collection has obviously been a labour of love for Peter for his good friend Don Houghton, the delicate handpainted flags/standards are so colourful and detailed. The boxes that house all the military flags also look to be handmade and each item is compartmented and carefully wrapped in tissue paper. Peter's love of art, military games and attention to detail are all apparent here. This is really a one-off museum piece. ......The only slight downside is that somewhere along the line a few of the flags/standards are not in the box anymore possibly from being played with by Mr Houghton or his family! 64 out of the original 75 made by Peter are still present and wrapped in their original tissue paper. 

ONE OF THE MANY ATTRACTIVE THINGS  about this very attractive item is that EVERYTHING that needed text, lettering, headings... with exception of a few words on the cover of the game instruction booklet, which look to be maybe transfer Letrasets... are ALL in Peter's beautiful handwriting. This is an amazing piece! Whoever wins the auction, will own a fantastic example of Peter's very skillful and artistic ability.. and of a man who genuinely cared and loved his close friends. Good luck to all the bidders! 

Many thanks to  Chris Hill and J Edward Scott who brought this to my attention! Thank you guys!

AND NOW, ONTO THE COLLECTING of the thing, that seems to be within the reach of most of our budgets! A blu ray box set of PETER CUSHING films. SEVERIN released what was hoped to be, a very popular set of THREE films and a quite extensive documentary in an interesting CUSHING and AMICUS box set last year. THE AMICUS COLLECTION, including The Vault of Amicus documentray. This documentary must be the third or fifth release, be it on blu ray, dvd's or a book, that has juggled and tried to get another DEFINITIVE Amicus title, using the word VAULT, in connection with the 1973 Amicus film, Vault Of Horror . ..  which by the way, isn't included in the THREE films that make this set.

ABOVE: COLLECTOR CAMERON JONES PERSONAL BOX SET OF THE AMICUS COLLECTION

ANY BROWSE THROUGH the net for reviews of this box set, will sadly bring up a real mixed bag. Seems many reviewers had set their hopes for something EXTRA special. When they felt they didn't get that, they gave the release an EXTRA special booting and mauling! IF you are a fan of Amicus, and want the most recent release, on a blu ray, with LOTS of ok to very good extras, THIS is YOUR BAG! IF you are a collector of Cushing, Amicus feature films, and you like to some improvement, if not THE definitive cleaned, remastered version, you maybe a little disappointed. These titles would probably not be seen by most Cushing fans, as THE cream of the Amicus / Cushing bunch, and some might even say, that if asked, they would have opted for 'Tales from the Crypt', 'Dr Terror's House of Horrors' and the still missing from the action, of being in ANY Amicus Blu Ray collection, 'From Beyond The Grave', to be the selection! 

ABOVE: CAMERON'S COPIES  of the BLU RAY TITLES in SEVERIN'S Amicus Collection Box Set! 

WELL IN A PERFECT WORLD and not the one where 'fan boy hopeful types' post endless lists to nag distributors on their facebook page, about THEIR shopping list and demands and titles, the REAL world of small time distribution is not for the faint-hearted.  The putting together of even the smallest of deals for a 500 units package, without remastering, cleaning and the expensive packaging, can be frought with frustration, crushing compremise and LOTS of spending! 

WHAT WE MAY HAVE HERE, in the SEVERIN package, is not really something for die hard fans, but maybe a great selection of bits and pieces, that many would never have seen or heard before, in the extras and a bit of a hit and miss on the discs holding the three feature films. One can't help wondering, if that at the beginning, the distributors had the idea of making an outstanding documentary about Amicus, where they dredge EVERYWHERE for long forgotten BBC clips from their film programes, find all those filmed interviews and trailers, in excellent quality, get masses of lesser seen rare photographs from BIG fans... and THEN... the feature films, will of course take care of themeselves! Except sadly, THAT didn't happen.

AS MENTIONED, the reviews are plenty and most, not too kind. I am not going to plough my ten-peneth worth into that, for me the documentary element and extras are the BEST of this package. As for the feature films? I am not a quality of picture expert nor do have the ears that would tell a superior sound track from one recorded down a drian-pipe on the hard shoulder of the M4, just outside Hammersmith! BUT some cleaning and basic dusting with a dust pan and brush, wouldn't have gone a miss. We didn't do a PCAS Competition with this box set, when it was released, as I honestly wasn't prepared to fight off comments from the winners who were offering a 'FREE FACE MASSAGE with a size FIVE FIST'. BUT there are those who DO like the package, and are very happy, with it! 

ONE HAPPY CHAP, is CAMERON JONES, who you will probably remember is a collector who shared images of his films and LOVELY Cushing items displayed in a spot light, GLASS CASE! Cameron, wrote this week to tell me he had purchased the SEVERIN Amicus release and was VERY happy with it! He enjoyed all THREE films, and mentions nothing of lack of  audio or visual quality. Asylum has been targeted as the print that most are not happy about, BUT Cameron was watching his Severin disc of the film, in what his FIRST viewing of the film, ever! No problems. If he had to pick favorite, 'And Now, The Screaming Starts' gets his vote! So, it seems even though, for some, Severin's Amicus box set, doesn't meet their expectations, there are those who are quite happy with their purchase. A statement that could be said of many Cushing blu ray and DVD releases today. 

PURCHASING THE AMICUS COLLECTION isn't cheap, but much of the quality of the films sadly, doesn't reflect the shelling out of the customer investment. The EXTRAS, would have made an excellent and cost effective release, without the feature films bolted on, films which MANY already have on good quality DVD's. If you are wondering if there is a market for an Amicus Documentary, one only need take a look at Donald Fearney's Amicus EPIC! Over TWO hours of the complete history... and with visual clips of producer Milton Subotsky to boot! However,  it's YOUR personal choice AND tastes which makes any collection, box set or film entertaining, fun and worth the purchase. And we are ALWAYS keen to hear about ANY you have discovered or own! Keep them coming in!

PART FIVE OF OUR The AMICUS FILMS OF PETER CUSHING series, which features Cameron Jones favorite of the BUNCH, AND NOW, THE SCREAMING STARTS'  CLICK HERE FOR A DIRECT LINK TO THE FEATURE!

THE MONSTERS OF HAMMER: A SCREAMINGLY GOOD EXHIBITION! #TOOCOLTUESDAY!

#TOOCOOLTUESDAY: The Monsters of Hammer : A Screen Bestiary is an amazing exhibition housed at De Montfort University, Leicester within the University's Cinema and Television History research centre (CATH), which now holds some of Hammer films scripts archive. The exhibition was designed by a third-year DMU design student named Chelsea Walker. It's an pretty amazing accomplishment. I particularly like the text of DRACULA written in blood, that trickles off the glass screen around the exhibit, and on the FLOOR!  the exhibition contains the draft script, of an idea called 'DRACULA ON ICE: The Legend of the Arch Vampire' by Don Houghton, the writer behind Hammer / Cushing / Lee Dracula AD 1972, The Satanic Rites of Dracula, several tv dramas and some BBC Doctor Who episodes too . . . These images were sent to me a few weeks ago. I have no idea where they came from, or who took the pics . . maybe the person who sent them? If you are in Leicester, UK you may want to scout this exhibition out...it's very cool . . .

IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA