8mm Forum: Scars of Dracula 400ft

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Topic: Scars of Dracula 400ft

Lee Mannering
Film God

Posts: 3216
From: The Projection Box
Registered: Nov 2006

posted March 14, 2019 03:29 AM

Derann Films release

Early Hammer 400ft release from Derann and as mentioned back in the day one of its best selling titles.

Cleverly edited to a nice collectable 400ft reel The Scars of Dracula was a film produced at a time of crisis for Hammer, mind you when were they not having financial problems. It features a interesting cast list Chris Lee, Dennis Waterman, Jenny Hanley and Patrick Troughton to name a few. If you had ever seen this projected in a cinema you will remember the lively colour however this now quite ancient 400ft was always muted looking back in time and now most 8mm prints are a shade of red. BUT all is not lost! Now and again reasonable colour prints can be found and fortunate enough to have finally found quite a good print.

I bumped into Jenny last year which was a nice surprise and she still has that charm about her and funny. Would be great to have her at Blackpool 2019 doing autographs, I'm sure fans would love to see the queen of Super 8 horror.

Anyway back to the plot before I loose it again. The 400ft flows well along its 17 minutes or so featuring many key moments of the feature film and is really enjoyable particularly if you factor in this was a relatively early colour 4 X 400ft release for beloved Derann as well. The old Acetate prints are a bit of a ticking time bomb due to the prospect of Vinegar Syndrome setting in but I have yet to see a SOD suffering from it.

So, here we have a highly desirable 400ft reel release with pots of Derann history attached and worthy of any film collectors mini archive.

9/10 from me for the film

10/10 for the colour box design.

[ March 14, 2019, 06:58 AM: Message edited by: Lee Mannering ]

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Leon Norris
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 958
From: Elkins Park, PA, USA
Registered: Jun 2012

posted March 14, 2019 01:49 PM

Lee, I can see why Derann put out the full Length Feature! Because of this digest! I have this excellent print and color feature! Its one of hammers BEST! Very Repeatable!

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Adrian Winchester
Film God

Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004

posted March 14, 2019 09:25 PM

I sold the 400' when I obtained the full length version, but if I remember rightly one interesting point about it is that it includes a sequence lasting a few minutes - that builds up to the girl working at the inn becoming a victim of Dracula - that wasn't included in the 4 x 400' version.

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Adrian Winchester

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Brian Stearns
Master Film Handler

Posts: 487
From: Lexington
Registered: Jun 2013

posted March 15, 2019 01:34 AM

I picked up the full version last year its on 5 x 400ft reels. It has the R ratings logo in the beginning. Film is mostly faded Eastman with some trickles of some low fade stock.Good movie to watch on Halloween.

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Adrian Winchester
Film God

Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004

posted March 15, 2019 09:38 AM

Brian - I think you must have the 4 x 400 with some extracts cut in from the feature or the 400'. The feature was released on 4 x 600' and it appeared far enough into the 1980s to mean that it's almost impossible that any prints were not on polyester low fade stock.

[ March 16, 2019, 12:09 PM: Message edited by: Adrian Winchester ]

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Adrian Winchester

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Leon Norris
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 958
From: Elkins Park, PA, USA
Registered: Jun 2012

posted March 15, 2019 05:52 PM

The 4x600 ft version is the one to get! On low fade stock! A sharp print with excellent color! Runs 96 minutes! Uncut! Rated R. A real show stopper!

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Lee Mannering
Film God

Posts: 3216
From: The Projection Box
Registered: Nov 2006

posted March 16, 2019 04:46 AM

Yes Leon but you forget that came a good few decades later!

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Adrian Winchester
Film God

Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004

posted March 16, 2019 12:14 PM

If anyone would like a full length print for a relatively low price, I currently happen to have an unwanted copy of the Derann b/w Std 8 5x400' version!

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Adrian Winchester

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David Skillern
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 582
From: South Wales
Registered: Apr 2006

posted March 16, 2019 04:37 PM

I love the full length print of this - I bought it from the states several years ago an excellent print .

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Bill Phelps
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1482
From: USA
Registered: Jan 2009

posted March 17, 2019 09:06 AM

Adrian I tried to send you a pm about the film you have but your mailbox is full.

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Bill Phelps
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1482
From: USA
Registered: Jan 2009

posted March 28, 2019 07:31 PM

Well I'm guessing Adrian has decided to keep the film. Never mind.

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Leon Norris
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 958
From: Elkins Park, PA, USA
Registered: Jun 2012

posted March 29, 2019 09:59 AM

Buy the feature much better! Its very sharp and has excellent color! And its uncut! A full 96 minutes!

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Adrian Winchester
Film God

Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004

posted March 29, 2019 10:28 PM

Bill - apologies, as I haven't been very well during the last couple of weeks and I've missed many of the posts in that period. If you're still interested in the film, could you please try another PM - or direct message via the appropriate symbol - as I've deleted a lot from my inbox, so there should not now be a problem.

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Adrian Winchester

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Bill Phelps
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1482
From: USA
Registered: Jan 2009

posted March 30, 2019 06:38 AM

Adrian, my apologies too, after reading my last post I sound a bit rude. I will send along a pm. [Smile]

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