Horror of Dracula (1958) Blu-ray Review | Warner Archive Collection

There is nothing like a good Hammer Horror film. At this time in American cinema, horror films for the most part were campy horror. Hammer made their horror film terryfying and didn't shy away from the use of blood. That is why these films are still good all these years later.

Last year (2025) for Halloween, Warner Archive Collection released a newly restored version of The Curse of Frankenstein. Now this Halloween, we are getting Horror of Dracula newly restored.

Synopsis: Jonathan Harker accepts a job at Castle Dracula, but his real purpose for being there is to kill the wicked count. This rouses the ire of Count Dracula. When Harker's friend, Dr. Van Helsing, arrives and finds his friend, now a victim, Van Helsing vows the evil count to end his reign of terror.

The story of Dracula has been told over and over, but this was a refreshing, different take on the story, and is truly one of my favorite versions of the Dracula story. Hammer Horror knows how to make a great film. It doesn't hurt either that you have two iconic actors, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. And the special effects still hold up almost 70 years later.

Warner Archive Collection has transferred this classic film to Blu-ray in 1080p presented in either the full-screen version of 1.66:1 or the widescreen version of 1.85:1 aspect ratios. There are audio tracks in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or 2.0. There is also the option for subtitles in English, French, Italian, Castellano, Deutsch and Japanese for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Hammer Horror films are always so colorful. Even the DVD release I own is so beautiful, but watching this film on Blu-ray... WOW! This new restoration of this film gives the picture such crispness. The picture is so sharp that if you didn't know better, you would think this film was shot yesterday. Simply amazing.

Now, Warner Archive didn't just throw a restored version of this film on a disc and leave it at that. No, they added a great amount of bonus features on this 2-disc Blu-ray set. Making this release something even more special.

Disc One:
* Dracula 1.66:1 Director's Cut
- With 2026 Introduction
- With 2026 commentary featuring Lucy Bolton and Jonathan Rigby
- With 2012 commentary featuring Jonathan Rigby and Marcus Hearin

* Dracula 1.66:1 UK Theatrical Version
- With 2026 commentary featuring Lizbeth Myles and Paul Cornell

* Proving Them Wrong
* Censor Card
* Clapperboards
* Textless Titles
* UK Trailer
* Textless UK Trailer
* Italian Titles
* Spanish Titles
* 8MM Colour Cutdown

Disc Two:
* Horror of Dracula 1.85:1 Director's Cut
-With 2026 Commentary Featuring Constantine Nasr and Dr. Steven Haberman

* Horror of Dracula 1.85:1 US Theatrical Version
- With 2026 Commentary featuring Hedi Honeycutt and Toby Roan
- With 2012 Commentary featuring Jonathan Rigby and Marcus Hearin

* Road to Dracula
* Gothic for Christians
* US Trailer
* Texless US Trailer
* German Trailer
* Textless German Trailer
* 8MM Black and White Cutdown.

With 4 versions of this film, a new introduction, new and archived audio commentaries, and new featurettes on Christopher Lee and Terence Fisher. There is almost 3 hours of bonus material. This is the type of Blu-ray release this amazing horror film truly deserves. Highly Recommended.

If you love Hammer Horror and the film Horror of Dracula I can not recommend this new Blu-ray of Horror of Dracula more. If you would like to add this new Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray to your home video library, head over to MovieZyng or Amazon and order your copy today.