Satanic Rites of Dracula, The (1973) (BD) [Blu-ray]

This review is for the Blu-Ray edition of 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' released by Warner Archive in November, 2018.This movie was made in 1973 so Amazon customers who are horror fans, be warned if you don't know anything about this movie.I'm giving this release 3 stars. My reasons are below in 'RECOMMENDATIONS/CONCLUSIONS'.Most people looking at this review are probably more interested in the picture quality and extra's. You can find my opinion right below in 'BLU-RAY & EXTRA'S'.I have a whole lot of THOUGHTS and COMMENTS about this movie that you can also see below.I've also done a small comparison of the two 'modern' Dracula movies made by Hammer Productions.BLU-RAY & EXTRA'S: I was very disappointed with the picture. This print is not going to get anyone excited. It is a letdown because this release's reason for being is for fans of Hammer Films to get a better print. I'll explain as best I can since I don't have knowledge in the field of photography and preservation. The picture is free of most imperfections such as dust, scratches, tears, etc. However, the picture clarity is a big issue. For a large part of the movie, the picture is extremely soft or even down right blurry. This is especially true of anything that is not right in front of you. The picture sharpens considerably when focusing on close up shots. The colors are dull and nothing about the picture really 'pops out'. I do know that this can have a lot to do with how the movie was shot and/or if the original elements are or aren't being used. I don't know anything about remastering and transfers but this looks like they just took a standard print of the film and transferred it to Blu-Ray resolution.The extra's are a theatrical trailer and subtitles. Like many of these Warner Archive movies there is not much here.PLOT/SUMMARY: I'll keep this brief. The events in this movie take place 2 years after the events of 'Dracula A.D. 1972'. Dracula has taken the identity of a businessman and he resides in an office building built on the site of the St. Bartolph's church grounds he died on in the last movie.The police are investigating a satanic cult and have infiltrated it with an undercover officer. That officer is exposed and his blood is being used as nourishment for vampires. He makes an escape but dies shortly thereafter, but not before delivering film of the people involved. He hands over pictures of supposedly 5 people, but there is nobody in one of the pictures. This is obviously because it is of Dracula. Inspector Murray from Scotland Yard recruits Professor Van Helsing just as he did in the previous movie. Van Helsing's granddaughter, Jessica, is also now involved with his work. She assists the police. They decide to pay a visit to the 'cult' house and eventually discover a basement with female vampires chained up. This is also the home of the acolyte that resurrected Dracula. They ultimately discover that Dracula has recruited 4 elite English citizens to be his '4 horsemen of the apocalypse'. One of them has created a new 'bubonic plague' meant to wipe out mankind. It's up to the Van Helsing and Scotland Yard to stop Dracula from wiping out mankind.*****LOTS OF SPOILERS BELOW*****COMPARISON to 'Dracula A.D. 1972':-'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' is a true sequel to 'Dracula A.D. 1972'.-There are at least 4 characters that I could identify as reprising their roles in 'Satanic Rites of Dracula'. Obviously Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as Dracula and Van Helsing, respectively. Michael Coles reprises his role as Inspector Murray. Jessica Van Helsing is also in the movie but a different actress is in the role.-Both movies are obviously set in the modern world. 'Satanic Rites of Dracula' takes place 2 years after 'Dracula A.D. 1972'.-Both movies use the occult and devil worship and an acolyte as a means of resurrecting Dracula.-Both movies use the same police officer who asks Van Helsing for help. This is Inspector Murray.-Van Helsing suggests the same methods of killing vampires in both movies and then adds more methods in the second movie.-It looks as though Van Helsing has moved, as his premises is different. He does have the exact same portrait of Dracula on his wall in both movies.-Dracula lives in the same place, albeit a completely different setup. It is never clear exactly where he keeps his coffin in 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula'. In 'Dracula A.D. 1972' he was confined to the St. Bartolph's church ground. In 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula', Dracula has an office building built on the site of the church. There is a plaque memorializing this. Dracula is not confined to this area in 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula'.-Aside from these two movies, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing appear together in only one other Dracula movie for a total of 3 appearances together in Dracula movies. Cushing plays Van Helsing in 'Brides of Dracula' and 'The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires'. In 'Brides of Dracula', Dracula does not appear. In 'The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires', Dracula is played by a different actor.COMMENTS/PRODUCTION:-'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' is a much better movie than 'Dracula A.D. 1972' I know that both of these movies are looked upon by many fans as very poor movies but 'Satanic Rites' is considerably better. I liked the idea of a modern Dracula, they just didn't involve him enough. Overall, I disagree with the critics on this one.-This movie's original title was to be 'Dracula is Dead and Well and Living in London'. This was changed when Warner Bros. balked at the title. The name was changed again when it was finally released in the United States in 1978. It's new title was 'Count Dracula and his Vampire Bride'.-Of the two theories put forth as to why Dracula wants to end the world, one makes sense and one doesn't. I don't like the theory that Dracula just wants to die. He could kill himself anytime he likes and can do it in secret so that nobody would ever be able to resurrect him. The theory about him wanting revenge against humanity does at least make sense. Being that Dracula is the enemy of Christianity, I can see him wanting revenge by killing everyone even if it means his own death.-It takes a little over a half hour before you see Dracula. Before that, all the action is done by his minions.-For what it's worth, I preferred Stephanie Beacham to Joanna Lumley as Jessica Van Helsing.-Even though 'Hammer Horror' produced a total of nine Dracula movies (including 'Brides of Dracula' in which Dracula doesn't appear), 'Dracula A.D. 1972' and 'Satanic Rites of Dracula' have their own continuity. They are not set in the same universe. The reason being is that the first movie starts in 1885 and 'Dracula A.D. 1972' has Dracula being defeated in 1872 and then being resurrected 100 years later.-This was Christopher Lee's seventh and final Dracula film for 'Hammer Horror'. However he did play Dracula again, just not for Hammer. Hammer would produce one more movie with Dracula, 'The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires'.-I'm not sure what was up with all the motorcycle action. I can only guess that this had something to do with trying to appeal to the fans of the motorcycle movie genre. 'Hammer Horror' was getting desperate and had very limited funds at the time. The motorcycle movie genre had pretty much died out by this time but car chase movies were still popular.WHAT I LIKE:-I like Dracula in the modern world. It gives him a different look. The Dracula in centuries gone by gets boring. There is only so much you can do in that time period. Modern technology lends itself to interesting possibilities and new ideas. For instance... this movie uses camera's. Dracula does not permit them anywhere near him. A photograph taken shows no image. This is a nice change up from showing no reflection in the mirror.-I like Dracula as a businessman. This makes sense. It has always made sense to me. If you think about it, how else would someone be able to protect their identity. They would need to be rich. You need to be so rich that you can change ID's or have multiple ID's. You need to be so rich that your idiosyncrasies could be covered up. Nobody would question your habits if you were rich enough. It is common knowledge that many wealthy people become eccentric. Anybody who has lived for centuries should be among the richest people on earth, if not 'the' richest.-I liked the silver bullet red herring (sort of). It wasn't really a red herring since Van Helsing attempted to use the bullet but failed. I thought for sure once Van Helsing was shown making the bullet from a silver cross that Dracula's end was going to involve being shot with that bullet. This was a good sort of misdirection.***NOTE*** In reference to silver, Peter Cushing was not enamored with this idea. He rightly questioned Dracula's fear of silver, especially since he wears a silver ring which is prominently showcased at the end of the movie.-This movie is a lot more 'thoughtful' than most Dracula movies. The previous movie, 'Dracula A.D. 1972', was much too simplistic and boring. It was about a group of young adults that were just out to have fun. They were basically doing brainless stuff. This movie goes much deeper than most of these types of movies. There is a lot of philosophizing done, especially by Van Helsing. It's not especially exciting but the plot is much deeper and it is left to the viewer to decide Dracula's true intentions.-It may be unusual, but Dracula recruiting a world renowned scientist to create a new deadly plague was definitely something different. Doing something different is always good even if the idea is not. In this case I think the idea was good.WHAT I DON'T LIKE:-I don't like when a cross is made from two sticks or anything else for that matter. It's too easy. Not to mention that there are crosses literally everywhere if you look for them. Just about anything can be construed as a cross. How about all the crossing patters in tile or even carpet or wallpaper? Why not just use two of your fingers. Simple enough, right? Bottom line is that Dracula and vampire movies in general need some rules for crosses.-What was the deal with all the female vampires in that basement room? Doesn't Dracula have control over them as demonstrated in previous movies? Why would they be locked up and chained anyway?- Speaking of the basement... what was up with having a hammer and stakes right at hand near the vampires? This is just way too convenient. I get it that this room was used for gardening tools. However, this was just ridiculous. Would Dracula allow stakes to be placed right next to his girls?-This running water thing has gotten a bit out of hand also. Again, why would you put sprinklers in the basement when anybody who turns on the faucet would kill them all?-Dracula's death was pretty lame. I kind of knew something was up when Van Helsing mentioned the thorns from the Hawthorne tree. That was the first time I heard that one and I knew they were going to use it.RECOMMENDATIONS/CONCLUSIONS: I hate to use the the phrase, "this movie is underrated". I'm not going to say that. What I am saying is that this movie isn't nearly as bad as it's critics would have you think. It's an interesting take on Dracula and it is way better than the previous movie in this series. If I were rating this movie on plot alone, I'd give it 4 stars.Ultimately I'm giving this release 3 stars. If I had to give the plot a rating I'd give it a 7/10. A part of that score is for doing something different. The picture quality is a big letdown. It's not the worst I've seen. Actually Iv'e seen far worse for Blu-Ray's. But even so I can't give the picture more than 3/10 or 1 1/2 stars. The extra's are minimal so only 2/10 or 1 star there.If you are buying this release for the sole purpose of upgrading then I can't give it higher than 2 stars. If you are a new fan of 'Hammer Horror' and buying this movie to watch it for the first time, then it gets 3 to 4 stars.Somewhat recommended for fans who want the best picture for this movie. It is that... but just barely.Recommended for fans of Hammer Horror.Recommended for fans of Dracula who want something a little different.

A solid attempt to modernize their Dracula films, “The Satanic Rites of Dracula” is a marked improvement over “Dracula A.D. 1972”. The same director and writer work together here but have a fascinating take on Dracula-here he leading something of a death cult hiding behind the identity of a Howard Hughes-like rich working in the shadows to achieve his end. Lee beings a surprising touch of pathos here for his portrayal and seeing Peter Cushing opposite Lee is ALWAYS a delight.Alan Gibson’s direction is a bit more stylish here than the previous film in the series and this plays as a sequel,to the previous film as well keeping many of the same main characters. Don Houghton (based known as a writer on “Doctor Who” and “Sapphire and Steel”) seems energized by the ‘new’ premise here but the writing still fails to flesh out characters and would have benefited from a bigger budget and longer running time to,fully develop the premise. S it is the film seems as if a significant amount of exposition was cut in favor of streamlining the film for exhibition.Warner Archives obviously didn’t have the best sources to work with for the film. No notes on the source but Imwoild guess it’s from the inter positive Warner had in its archive rather than the original camera negative. The film tends to look too soft at times but that, again, could also be a choice of the photographer. It does look quite a bit better than the DVDs of the film (including the public domain version released to theaters seven years later in the U.S. entitled “Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride”Unfortunately, we don’t get any special features. That’s a missed opportunity as it would help to know the history around the production and troubled release history of the film. Even though “Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride” is inferior even to this, it might have been nice to see it offered as a special feature as well. Sadly, Warner Archive have chosen not to do special features for the most part for their releases (usually recycling DVD extras although the deluxe “Curse of Frankenstein” is a promising sign). That’s a pity because they have some terrific Hammer films they own the rights to.While this isn’t the way one would have wanted the Hammer Dracula films to close out (“The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires’ seems less like the conclusion and more like a curious coda), it does improve on the previous two entries particularly the awful “Scars of Dracula”.

At last The Satanic Rites Of Dracula arrives on blu ray. This was Christopher Lee's final performance as Count Dracula, plus Peter Cushing returns as Van Helsing. I really like this film which is a sequel to Dracula A D 72 which is also available on blu ray. The print quality is excellent and this is the uncut version with the stake scene intact. There are not many extras just a theatrical trailer. The packaging is nice and features the original poster art. Best of all the blu ray is region free so should play on your blu ray machine.

The Satanic Rites of Dracula (Bly Ray, 2018 release): The film itself is a bold attempt by Hammer to bring Dracula into the twentieth century, a feat that I thought they achieved remarkably well (this is one of two such films, the other being Dracula AD1972). And by keeping Dracula's screen time down and portraying him as a company Managing Director in the shadows who is only ever seen at night added an extra layer of mystique to his character. So, for the film itself I give four stars.Now onto the blu ray presentation. This is why I have given this review a two star rating. Both the picture and sound quality of this BD release are what I would describe as poor. There is little evidence of any serious restoration in this 88 minute feature which is a great disappointment, but then what does one expect from Warner Bros, the company that refuses to release the full uncut version of Ken Russell's masterpiece The Devils on seemingly moral grounds?A good, entertaining film spoiled by such a lack lustre presentation by a monolithic company who have lost touch with what the (British at least) public really want.

Several years a go it was hard to find on dvd, mostly foundOver seas, its cropt up quite recently on dvd now blu rayThe plot is lame but not as bad as critics make outIn a nutshell dracula yearns for a final end to his existanceI would have thought the endless, burning s drownings, impalingAnd so on would have taught him self something it didHe decides to wipe out all life on earth and therefore with nothing to feedOn his torment will end. Good film lee and cushing reprise their roles As this is the follow up to dracula ad 72, the detective from that makesA nother appearence also Jessica van helsingIs played by joanna lumely, good film thisWill be final appearance by lee and cushing

The best this film will ever look it's a great treat in HD and is a vast improvement over all the imported dvd versions available if you are a fan you must obtain. After all, Cushings Van Helsing V Lees Dracula for one last time can't be all that bad.

This is the last of the Christopher Lee Hammer films, and for me it's the best since Dracula has Risen from the Grave (#3).Set in the 70s, this has elements of a police procedural film and is none the worse for it.Lee has more talking to do in this film than most of the others. Most importantly Peter Cushing returns as Van Helsing, well his great grandson. The scene near the end when the two protagonists meet sitting at a desk in an office is superb.A fine way to finish the series.