EXCLUSIVE: Hammer Films is set to release a new 4K restoration of its 1958 classic horror Dracula featuring long-lost footage unseen for over 60 years.
The restoration reinstates more than three minutes of footage that was believed to be lost and had only ever been seen 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.
The footage has been restored and reintegrated into the film by Hammer Films and Silver Salt Restoration, in partnership with Warner Bros. Both Hammer Films and Silver Salt Restoration are part of John Gore Studios.
The restored Dracula will be released theatrically in cinemas and on home entertainment in October, in time for Halloween. The UK theatrical release will be handled by John Gore Studios-owned Icon and will play on at least 70 screens.
Hammer’s Dracula marked only the second on-screen pairing of horror icons Peter Cushing, who played vampire hunter Professor Van Helsing, and Christopher Lee as Count Dracula.
For its original 1958 release in the UK and US, the film’s violence and sensuality were deemed too shocking by censors for audiences, with over three minutes ending up on the cutting room floor.
Dracula was written by Jimmy Sangster, directed by Terence Fisher, scored by James Bernard, with production design by Bernard Robinson, and effects and matte paintings by Les Bowie.
The film’s distinctive blend of gothic storytelling, visual style, colour, practical effects and atmospheric sound went on to define what audiences would come to expect from a Hammer horror.
John Gore Studios acquired Hammer Films in 2023 and bought Silver Salt Restoration in 2024. Last year, it premiered a 4K restoration of The Curse Of Frankenstein (1957), part of a wider move to restore the Hammer brand. It has also released lavish box editions of Hammer titles, aimed at collectors, which include interviews, documentaries, essays and behind-the-scenes images.
John Gore, CEO of Hammer Films and executive chairman of John Gore Studios, said: “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.”
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