(horror of) dracula to be released uncut on blu ray!!

[X-human]

I'm very happy to see original word of this turned out to be entirely true. Sad to say though that the article does not mention a Blu-ray release. Hammer and the BFI may have the theatrical rights to tour but afaik Warner still has Blu-ray distribution even in the UK. There is a disconnect here.

Hopefully this will spur a Blu-ray release.

Originally Posted by maybrick

At this point I'm more inclined to believe that this footage will be added as an extra rather than edited back into the feature. I'm not up on the latest ways to make HD masters, but before being sent to London the four reels were transferred to TAPE?! That just seems wrong.

There are HD video data tapes, and while technically data is data, I know for example Synapse Films received a HD master on tape for Embodiment of Evil from Brazil was unhappy with it so they had them send the original uncompressed raw HD scan on a hard drive. While it's true that in theory those ones and zeros should be transferred to any media perfectly, in practice that's not always the case. If they did a digital recording to tape instead of digital transfer to tape there could be added compression.

Unfortunately the best practices are not the common practices even at the highest levels. But if it makes you feel better I'm sure the BFI did the same thing with their own HD master. So they'll somewhat match.

Edit:

Originally Posted by Erick H.

I have heard that there was originally a staking sequence at the castle involving Van Helsing and Harker that was cut out of the film but have never confirmed this.Anyone know the full story ? As the Japanese print is missing the first reels of the film I guess it wont be showing up in a restoration,real or not (unless it exists on some old Japanese television print of the film).

I just happened to see it noted that the US DVD has the footage and it was added back into the BFI restoration mentioned in the article. This was the more "uncut" HD master touted in 2007. So it's sounds like maybe we do have all of it now. Excellent.

[Jeremy]

Originally Posted by X-human

There are HD video data tapes, and while technically data is data, I know for example Synapse Films received a HD master on tape for Embodiment of Evil from Brazil was unhappy with it so they had them send the original uncompressed raw HD scan on a hard drive. While it's true that in theory those ones and zeros should be transferred to any media perfectly, in practice that's not always the case. If they did a digital recording to tape instead of digital transfer to tape there could be added compression.

Unfortunately the best practices are not the common practices even at the highest levels. But if it makes you feel better I'm sure the BFI did the same thing with their own HD master. So they'll somewhat match.

They probably used an HDCAM SR tape. While that's not the BEST quality possible, it is very, very good, and lots of great looking releases, including Midnight Legacy's ALIEN 2, were taken from SR masters. The best quality of course would be to go straight from the digital files, but it's not vitally necessary. The tape would be of lesser quality, but it would not be of POOR quality compared to the files.

And of course, what we're talking about here is individual shots, not an entire movie or even an entire scene. It would probably be easy for the Japanese film people to have the full quality footage put on a server and let the folks in the UK spend a few hours downloading it. That is already being done with whole movies (including the upcoming BU restoration of ZOMBIE) and would be even easier with just a few small chunks of scenes.

[maybrick]

Thanks for the info, fellas. Much appreciated.

[JGrendel]

I'm hoping for a blu-ray out of this, maybe Warner, Hammer & BFI can cut some sort of deal to get this out.

[Erick H.]

Originally Posted by X-human

I just happened to see it noted that the US DVD has the footage and it was added back into the BFI restoration mentioned in the article. This was the more "uncut" HD master touted in 2007. So it's sounds like maybe we do have all of it now. Excellent.

Actually it wasn't the Lucy staking scene I was talking about (thanks for the link though ! ) ,it was a scene I had heard discussed that occurred earlier in the film.After Harker's confrentation with Dracula at the castle Cushing's Van Helsing shows up,descends to the basement and discovers a vampirized victim in a casket.In the version that has generally been shown the scene fades out and we cut to another scene.I have read in the past that there was a staking scene that took place with Van Helsing in the basement but that it was cut.I'm not sure if this is true or if it's just a myth.Anybody ever heard of this before ?

[JGrendel]

Originally Posted by Erick H.

Actually it wasn't the Lucy staking scene I was talking about (thanks for the link though ! ) ,it was a scene I had heard discussed that occurred earlier in the film.After Harker's confrentation with Dracula at the castle Cushing's Van Helsing shows up,descends to the basement and discovers a vampirized victim in a casket.In the version that has generally been shown the scene fades out and we cut to another scene.I have read in the past that there was a staking scene that took place with Van Helsing in the basement but that it was cut.I'm not sure if this is true or if it's just a myth.Anybody ever heard of this before ?

Not to my knowledge... But then I'm used to the american version.

[Shawn Francis]

WARNER ARCHIVES just made this post regarding the news: "There have been plans for some time to revisit the key Hammer titles for Blu-ray, especially DRACULA. It is likely our archivists will be investigating the issue of extended scenes for that purpose."

[shape22]

Awesome news!

[JGrendel]

That would very cool, now do we know if Warner has rights to all of the Hammer Dracula's or just certain ones?

A boxset would cool for christmas.

[X-human]

Originally Posted by Shawn Francis

WARNER ARCHIVES just made this post regarding the news: "There have been plans for some time to revisit the key Hammer titles for Blu-ray, especially DRACULA. It is likely our archivists will be investigating the issue of extended scenes for that purpose."

Along with Dial M For Murder in 3D this upcoming wave of Blu from Warner is looking superb. Since they finally released King Kong and Fantastic Planet on Blu I've been very happy with them.

[Erick H.]

I'm really excited by this,can't wait to revisit DRACULA.

[maybrick]

Originally Posted by JGrendel

That would very cool, now do we know if Warner has rights to all of the Hammer Dracula's or just certain ones?

A boxset would cool for christmas.

They still only have rights to Horror of Dracula, Dracula Has Risen From the Grave, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Dracula AD 1972. Brides of Dracula is Universal and I think that Studio Canal may have most of the rest. As with the Phantasm series, if there's ever a true boxset with all of the titles it won't be from the USA.

[dave13]

Originally Posted by X-human

Along with Dial M For Murder in 3D

Really? i hadn't heard of that! i assume it's blu ray 3D, and not the old anaglyph type? shit. that's the kind of thing that's going to make me want a 3D tv.

[X-human]

Originally Posted by dave13

Really? i hadn't heard of that! i assume it's blu ray 3D, and not the old anaglyph type? shit. that's the kind of thing that's going to make me want a 3D tv.

Blu-ray 3D, yep. And I'd forgotten they're doing House of Wax as well. This came direct from Warner DVD producer George Feltenstein's mouth at this year's ComicCon. Here's the info from DigitalBits:

The good news is that George reports that WHV has some 40-50 catalog titles planned for release on Blu-ray in 2012 alone. By the way, George also told us that he's been quietly working on converting House of Wax and Dial M for Murder for true Blu-ray 3D release probably in 2013! As you may know, both of these films were released in 3D theatrically back in the day via a version of the polarized process.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa195.html

I also forgot it's 2013. Oh well, gives me time to save up for that 3D HDTV.

[dave13]

i'd love to see how those look in blu 3D. next we need creature from the black lagoon!