Dracula: Restored

It was an absolute pleasure watching Billy Batson's edit of this all time classic. The reshuffling of scenes in the later parts of the movie definitely improves the pace and the continuity of the story.

It still pains me thinking what we lost when the studio hacked up the original director's cut, but this edit feels like it offers the best possible representation of what it may have been like. Tension slowly builds through the film rather than slowing down half way, and this makes for a more satisfying finale.

The blu-ray rip was crisp and clear. I highly recommend this to fans of the Dracula mythology.

Great job. I always wished I could like this film more, and now, I do. Its not one of the best of the 1930s Universal horror flicks despite Lugosi's blazing performance, but with this edit we see a bit more of what might have been.

I watched the non-purist cut of this (blu-ray) which contained elements from both versions of the film, and I honestly couldn't discern which shots didn't belong to the original. The entire thing is masterfully done and vastly superior to the theatrical release. I didn't notice anything awry audio-wise and, apart from some overly quick fades (which others have also noted), visual editing was excellent as well.

The narrative is much improved, although, due to lost footage, it can never be perfect. The story isn't massively well told and I can't imagine it making a great deal of sense to those who aren't familiar with the book. Still, this is probably it at the best it can be, and the pacing is also so much better as a result of the re-ordering of scenes and minor trims.

Does this replace the original for me? Probably. I'm still yet to watch through the Spanish language version and I'd also like to see the theatrical once more so that I can give the alternative soundtrack a proper spin. But off the top my head - yeah... this is it. Really well done, and clearly with a great deal of respect for the source material. Highly recommended.

I'm not a big fan of 1931's 'Dracula', it's terribly dated in a way that other films from the same period and studio aren't. Having said that, this edit does much to improve matters story-wise and must surely be the only way to watch it from now on. Especially as the quality of the encode is superb, rivaling the pinsharp Blu-Ray oiginal.

The transitions/fades between the new re-arranged scenes are sometimes quicker than is ideal but the material doesn't allow for anything else. They are executed in an authetic way for a 30s movie.

I'd have liked a score to be included as the music-free soundtrack is one of the elements that really dates this film to the post-silent era. Also a faneditor could have 'gone to town' on the sparse soundmix, adding much of what is missing, or lacking definition on the foley front. But for a "Restored" project, such revisonism was never going to be one of the goals (A 'Dracula: Special Edition' would be a nice future project).

I'd reccomend this to owners of the original cut, as it's a better way to watch this movie.
A 'Dracula: Special Edition' would be a nice future project.