The Dracula Saga (1972/BCI Eclipse/Deimos DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C     Extras: C     Film: C+

 

 

Though it can be hokey going at times, Leon Klimovsky’s The Dracula Saga (1972) is nicely styled, decently acted, has its moments, some unintentionally funny moments and is part of a very interesting cycle of films made on the famous Count worldwide as the character saw a great revival.  Klimovsky made this just before Vengeance Of The Zombies (reviewed elsewhere on this site) and while on his own Horror genre kick.

 

Dracula’s granddaughter arrives with her husband at his castle pregnant and the old killer hopes it is the chance to finally continue his bloody legacy to see if the little tyke will have a hunger for blood over breakfast cereal.  Though some of this looked phony even then, the ambitions of the production allow it to hold up and I was pleasantly surprised I remembered it, though the copy on TV back in the 1970s did not look this good.  For fans, it is a must-see at least once.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image is mostly pleasant throughout, with very good color from the original negative, a claim the DVD case rightly makes.  I can’t wait to compare to the inevitable Blu-ray, but for DVD, this is pretty good.  The two Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono tracks are weaker than expected and need some cleaning up.  Extras include clothed versions of scenes from the censored edition, Spanish credits and trailers for other Spanish Deimos Horror DVD releases.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo