The children of the night get a bit more color in their cheeks with Scream Factory's two-disc Blu-ray edition of John Badham's DRACULA.

When a ship crashes on the rocks in Whitby near the asylum of Dr. Seward (Donald Pleasance, HALLOWEEN), the sole survivor of the wreck is Count Dracula (Frank Langella, THE NINTH GATE) who has recently purchased the ruined hilltop Carfax Abbey as his new home. The illustrious guest to dinner at Seward's easily charms Seward's daughter Lucy (Kate Nelligan, WOLF) and her school chum Mina (Jan Francis) of fragile health who discovered Dracula washed up on the rocks while sleepwalking, much to the annoyance of the menfolk including Lucy's lawyer fiancé Jonathan Harker (Trevor Eve, SCANDAL) and Seward when Dracula shows him up by using mesmerism to cure Mina's sudden debilitating headache. That night, Dracula puts he bite on Mina who dies the next morning and then sets his sights on Lucy. After Lucy returns from the grave and kills a child, Mina's grieving "old country" father Dr. Abraham Van Helsing (Sir Lawrence Olivier, REBECCA) becomes as suspicious of Dracula as Harker is jealous, and Dracula's recently institutionalized bug-eating handyman Renfield (Tony Haygarth, THE BRIDE) may hold a key to Dracula's vulnerabilities.

A co-production between THE PINK PANTHER producers The Mirisch Company production and Universal – owners of the screen rights to the 1924 Hamilton Deane stage play revised by John Balderston in 1927 which was the basis for the 1931 Tod Browning/Bela Lugosi film and simultaneously shot Spanish-language George Melford version – this version of DRACULA hit the screens following the 1977 revival of the stage play with Langella in the lead (by 1979, the touring version of the production had SHERLOCK HOLMES' Jeremy Brett in the title role while the subsequent London production had Terence Stamp). While the 1931 versions tacked on a Transylvanian prologue which was the most atmospheric and exciting part of the film, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA scripter W.D. Richter's version opens the film up with the crashing of the ship and expansive views of Whitby visualized by Albert Whitlock's matte paintings (although the wide shots of Carfax Abbey are the striking castle St. Michael's Mount overlooking Cornwall), and Badham keeps the 110 minute film moving at a fast clip reflected in switching the timeframe to 1913 with motorcars warning with horsedrawn carriages. As such, by the halfway mark when Van Helsing arrives, people familiar with the play or the Lugosi film known that it is pretty much over. While Langela's "disco Dracula" with his coiffed hair and open collar is a more dashing than threatening presence – although his use of his long fingers and the scene of him scaling a building to mimic a spider pays off in a striking overhead shot of Lucy entering Carfax Abbey framed in foreground spider web – the film's liveliest innovations come from its female characters; from Francis' wilting Mina who resurrects as a white-skinned, red-eyed, rat-like vampire to Nelligan's Lucy who provides more of a barrier for the male heroes than Dracula himself. No virginal waif but also no slutty flirt like Sadie Frost's take in Coppola's film, Lucy makes her attractions known and her engagement to Harker is not a done deal ("women are not chattel"), and retorting "poor Mina" to her father's "poor man" when he has to contact Van Helsing about his daughter's death. Lucy indeed comes across as even more of a progressive character in contrast to Dracula whose "lust for life" at first seems a contrast to Lugosi's graver interpretation but makes his remark that he "despises women with no life in them" seem as hypocritical as his agreement with Lucy that it is not healthy to live in the past even though he is as proud of his "old family" as any of his forebears; ultimately coming across more as predator than seducer. Apart from the disco light show seduction scene, the Technicolor and Panavision photography of Gilbert Taylor (THE OMEN) is as striking as the production design of Peter Murton (SUPERMAN II) with the courtyard and interior of Carfax Abbey being every bit as striking as the 1931 films' Castle Dracula while the scoring of John Williams (JAWS) is suitably sweeping but only creepy in the subtler passages.

Badham's DRACULA has had a convoluted history on home video, coming to tape and laserdisc twice in the eighties in panned-and-scanned transfers that reflected the original color within the limitations of the formats. When the film had its third laserdisc release in 1991, Badham took the opportunity to revise the color scheme as he had intended, dialing down the saturation to near monochrome, and this look has persisted through the 2000 non-anamorphic Image Entertainment DVD, Universal's 2004 anamorphic upgrade, and their 2014 Blu-ray edition. Although the 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen transfer on first disc of Scream Factory's Blu-ray utilizes the same HD master as the Universal disc, Badham and/or Universal have allowed Scream Factory to include on the second disc the original theatrical color timing in a 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen transfer advertised as a "4K Scan Of The Best Available Original Film Elements" and there is some minor print damage but it is not particularly distracting. The restored colors are not super saturated but that does not seem to be the result of fading; instead, the richer colors nicely enhance one's appreciation of the film's atmosphere. The film's Whitby setting seems chillier than the desaturated transfer event though the night blues are not over-pronounced, and one does become more aware of stylistic lighting effects particularly in the Carfax Abbey interiors (even Mina's pale vampire visage looks creepier with the theatrical timing). The Dolby Stereo track has not been bumped up to 5.1 but the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo track gets the job done, from the scoring to wolf howls and the subtle lurching chanting in one of the cues that was not noticeable on DVD. Optional English SDH subtitles are included for both versions.

The desaturated version is accompanied by an audio commentary by director Badham ported over from the DVD and Universal Blu-ray editions. He discusses the chilly location shoot, the differences between Hollywood and British crews, working with relative unknowns, seeing Langella on the Broadway version and getting him involved in the film and his desire not to show fangs, the romantic angle in comparison to the campy stage version, and the innovations of Richter's script as well as some remarks on his intended color scheme. Both transfers are accompanied by an optional introduction by Badham (1:10) who solicits viewer responses on which version they prefer. Badham also appears in a video interview "King Of My Kind" (32:18) in which he covers some of the same information but also recalls coming onto the film after SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, the contrast between the Gorey sets of the play and the naturalistic settings of the film, the novelty of a Dracula with sex appeal, going back to the Stoker novel, and how the involvement of the Mirsich company made possible realizing the scope of the film.

In "What Sad Music" (33:26), writer Richter believes that his balancing of humor and horror in the INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS remake likely lead to his being considered for DRACULA, his response to the stage version as "campy beyond belief," and wanting to make their Dracula a "compassionate, confused vampire" (hence changing the "children of the night" line to "what sad music they make"), and other attempts to lighten it up and not getting too clever in juggling the elements of the vampire film. In his interview (21:13), editor John Bloom (GANDHI) recalls pursuing the project because his wife and son had been to America and seen the Broadway version, the different approach of the film, the attraction of working with Olivier, and reshooting of some of the effects scenes that did not work on location. Assistant director Anthony Waye (GOLDENEYE) also appears in an interview (15:54) in which he recalls the slowdown in production during the period, the location scouting and the freezing shoot, as well as Badham wanting to work the cast and crew past union hours, production manager Hugh Harlow (ALIENS) in his interview (21:36) also remarks on Badham's frustration with the slowness of British production and the restriction of working hours, as well as Nelligan having to be rush between London and the location for three weeks of the shoot because she was also doing a play, and being responsible for the special handling of Olivier.

In "Dracula's Guest" (6:17), camera assistant Jim Alloway (TROG) recalls working on the location shoot only to be informed that the camera crew was being let go upon return to the studios, and believes it was due to dissatisfaction with the night scenes they were shooting with super speed lenses and shallow depth of field. Make-up artist Peter Robb-King (MURDER BY DECREE) in his interview (25:18) also avers to some crew replacements, Badham on the pace of production, and maintaining continuity in make-up on location. Hair stylist Colin Jamison (OUTLAND) in his interview (4:36) recalls that sick Olivier bruised easily when having his hair appliances put on while Langella also wanted a wig because it was easier to style than his hair (and even refused to go on set one day when Jamison was snowed in so they helicoptered him to location). Ported over from the DVD is "The Revamping of Dracula" (39:12) featuring Badham, Richter, Langella, and Walter Mirisch covering a lot of the same material with spin, including Richter's research including Vlad Tepes while Badham reveals that the laser unit used for the love scene belonged to The Who.