I can remember watching the 1979 version of Dracula on VHS, and loving the look, the feel, and the atmosphere of it, especially in its glorious color. But something happened when it was released to DVD for the first time. All of the color was bled out, making it almost look black and white. Here’s the little backstory to that. Originally, director John Badham wanted to film it in black and white but the studios said no way in hell. When it came to be released on DVD, Badham had control over the look of the film and had it modified to fit the version he originally wanted to make.

Now at first, I wasn’t too happy about it, because I loved the original look in all the blazing colors. Though after watching the muted color version a few times, I can see what Badham was trying to do and it does work rather well. Now, which version is better, that is up to the viewer. Although, since the muted version was all that we had, unless you had an old VHS tape or the laserdisc version. Until now.

One of the titles announced at the San Diego Comic Con from Scream Factory was a new 2-disc Blu-ray of this movie. It will have a new transfer of the original theatrical version seen back in 1979, as well as the newer version with the director approved muted color scheme. This is set to be released in November of this year. I really hate to double-dip on Blu-ray releases, but this one I will have no problem doing.