A new 4K restoration of Hammer’s original 1958 Dracula is getting a home entertainment and cinema release this October.
The film introduced audiences to Christopher Lee’s peerless and iconic performance as Dracula, a role he would play a further 6 times for the studio. It also saw Peter Cushing cast as vampire hunter Professor Van Helsing in what became one of the most celebrated rivalries in cinema history.
The film’s distinctive blend of gothic storytelling, bold visual style, vivid colour, practical effects and atmospheric sound would go on to define what audiences would come to expect from a Hammer horror.
Based on Bram Stoker’s novel, it was written by Jimmy Sangster, directed by Terence Fisher and scored by James Bernard.
The new “landmark” restoration reinstates footage that was believed missing for more than six decades and was previously seen only by audiences attending the film’s original Japanese theatrical release in 1958.
The recovered material has never been released before in the UK or US, and has never appeared on home entertainment in any territory.
Long believed lost, the footage has now been meticulously restored and reintegrated into the film by Hammer Films and Silver Salt Restoration, both John Gore Studios companies, in partnership with Warner Bros, offering audiences the opportunity to experience Terence Fisher’s horror masterpiece closer than ever before to its original theatrical presentation.
John Gore, CEO of Hammer Films and Executive Chairman of John Gore Studios, says, “Bringing Dracula back to audiences in 4K goes far beyond a piece of film restoration work.
“This is the recovery of a piece of British film history that audiences believed had been lost forever.
“Seeing Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing together again in such extraordinary detail is a reminder of just how powerful this film remains nearly seventy years after its original release.”