Dance Of The Vampires (Region B) [Blu-ray] [1967] The Fearless Vampire Killers

THIS Region B Blu Ray looks exceptionally good and is so worth the upgrade from the standard DVD which is the only format on which this excellent (and cult favourite comedy horror) is offered. The picture is sharp and has exceeding good resolution with minimal film grain and no obvious DNR or artefacting. Framed at 2:35:1 it is a joy to watch. The box says it has 5.1 surround sound (in English and Spanish) but it does not...Its still in Mono as ots DVD counterpart. Shame as the wonderful Cristofer Komeda score would benefit from a surround make-over. That said what we do have here is a 2 channel Dolby Digital mix that DOES sound a lot better than the DVD which only has a single channel Mono track. The sound on this Blu Ray is richer, fuller and with that slight reverb one experienced in the cinema with a faint surround effect filtering into side and rear speakers - so I for one am not too disappointed - especially as the picture is so good. Now one is able to see the brilliant detail in the costumes from the peasant rags to the decayed finery of the vampires and the castle sets never looked so good - you can see all the detail. In some cases that brick/stone is actually painted polystyren or glass fibre. But this all adds to the viewing experience. Aslo the skin tones are wonderful. One can even see the slight imperfections of (tragic) Sharon Tate's skin that make up have tried to conceal.This is the international "The Fearless Vampire Killers" cut not the shorter European "Dance of the Vampires" cut (despite the cover claiming (in Spanish) that it is the latter. Another pleasing surprise. Also even though the box cover and Blu Ray menus are in Spanish the "actual Film" credits are in English so once you have changed the language of the disc, you would not know it wasnt an official UK or US import release>RECOMENDED - I have already ordered two more Spanish Bly Ray releases for movies not available in that format - ether here or abroad "Anne of the 1000 Days" & "Nicholas and Alexandra" (Yes the latter is available from Twilight Time in the States - but being sold for £46 as opposed to £14so no contest) On a final note, the seller got the disc to me in just 1 and 1/2 days after purchase on line so VERY IMPRESSED.

This is a good film. A bit dated but then, made in the 1960's, so go figure. Roman Polanski wrote, directed and starred as the understudy who, with his elderly, intelligent-but-bumbling mentor, encroaches on the lair of a vampire and his coven (Graaf - or count - Krolock; his take on Graaf Orlock from Murnau's Nosferatu), and tries to save Sara Chagall (anyone need any paintings doing, Marc?); and the scared understudy and his hilarious mentor fail to kill the coven, or even check that the girl they save hasn't already been fully 'sired' or 'turned'. As I said, Polanski's reaction against the usual "villainous vampire always getting killed by the vanquishing heroes" trope; which was not the only point of Stoker's fable, and creates the "evil infection spreaders" which human intentions can so often bear out in life, unfortunately.

I found this film disappointing in spite of the comical events. To me it was of limited entertainment value.

So assuming that you are familiar with the film, I will jump straight ahead and talk about the Blu-ray. Warner's have received a lot of criticism over this release, and I may add having read the reviews put me off buying this for a couple of years since its initial release. Let me start by saying that the criticism over the PQ is unfounded in my opinion. Many have claimed that this looks not much better than the dvd released by Warner's prior. If you compare the PQ of the Blu-ray with the older dvd (which also comes with this release as part of a digipak housed in a lovely oversized metalpak) then the difference is very noticeable. I would even say that without comparing you will notice the image being a good deal sharper and the colours really shine through. The BIG frustration with the disc is that this French release has non removeable subs. Initially, yes its quite distracting but, I must say I quickly forgot about them. There are also a couple of extras but nothing to shout about. At its original price of between £20 and £30 I would have said that maybe this wasn't worth paying that much for, but you can currently buy this for about £16 at the time of review, which is not much more than some current blu-rays on the market. I'm now very happy to have picked this up and especially at that price. If you can handle the subs, then having this on blu is defiantely worth it, and with the lovely artwork too.

Haven't been able to watch this film for years. The added American nonsense has been cut from the start. It's brilliant and so unusual and I loved it from when I was young. Quality is superb and Jack MacGowran is a joy to watch and so entertaining.

I've just had a look through the comments posted below and am not sure which, if any, of them refers to this particular Spanish blu ray release. However, I can confirm that, despite the box carrying the title The Fearless Vampire Killers, this does not seem to be the uncut version of Polanski's film. According to both IMDb and Wikipedia the "director's cut" runs for 108 minutes (although F.X. Feeney, in his Taschen book about Polanski, claims that the full-length version lasts for 124 minutes) whilst the cut included on this disc only runs for 103. Neither is it the shorter American edit of the movie as that begins with an animated prologue (included here as an extra, alongside Michael Mindlin's 10 minute "trailer" The Fearless Vampire Killers: Vampires 101, starring the late, great Max Wall) and this version does not.The film, of course, is great and the print on this disc is of decent quality but I think we might have to hold out for Arrow or the Criterion Collection to get their hands on it before we get a definitive edition.