3/5 Dracula remembered
  by W. Todt (Northville, MI)
I bought this because I saw them when I was young...however only 2 out of the 4 are worth watching it...
OK Product

5/5 An incredible bargain for the Dracula/Hammer fan!
  by Jason Pumphrey (Falls Church, Virginia United States)
This is a great collection of 4 of the Hammer Draculas starring Christopher Lee. The movies are presented on 2 double sided DVD's. This is much cheaper than buying the titles individually. The transfers of these films are superb.

4/5 Oh, yes! there will be blood...
  by Johnny Palliser (So Cal.)
I have not seen these films since I was a kid on late night TV. This is an excellent set to purchase and a really good price... The picture and sound quality of all four films is also excellent... The special features is lacking a little, but all-in-all this is a great set... My only real problem, is that they should have released the other Hammer Dracula films in chronological order on at least two sets, not just the one here... It would have been perfect... I guess I can't complain too much... Check out this set, and enjoy!

4/5 A Good Collection of Old Hammer Dracula Films
  by Steven Fujita (Long Beach, CA)
One of the great joys of growing up with the Hammer horror films was the "continuity" from film to film. Unfortunately, I am too young to have seen these films while they were being released, and too old to not have seen them before the multi-movie capabilities of DVD sets. I saw all the Hammer films as they aired on tv, usually in the middle of the night, sometimes on Saturday afternoons, but out of order, and some films more than others.

Not that I brood over this, but it has irritated me all these years that I saw Dracula Has Risen From the Grave multiple times before I saw Dracula: Prince of Darkness. It's not so bad with the other sequels, but the end to Dracula: Prince of Darkness is perfect to the way he got resurrected in Dracula Has Risen From the Grave. With this four film set of DVD's, again I am deprived of seeing the second and third Count Dracula stories back to back (Brides of Dracula was the second film in the Hammer series, but did not have Dracula as a character). Yes, I am spiteful enough to drop the ratings by one star because of this. That said, Dracula A.D, 1972 is a satisfactory selection for the fourth film in this set, since it 1) has the Dracula/Van Helsing battle in a modern setting, and 2) teams up Christopher Lee with Peter Cushing.

Like I wrote in the BBC adaptation of Dracula, my taste has clearly changed since I was a kid, so watching this collection wasn't as enjoyable as watching them on broadcast televison whenever they aired.

For me, though, Horror of Dracula has passed the test of time. The plot is really nowhere near the novel, but the film was more action packed than the novel and the 1931 Universal version, and the relationship between Lee's Dracula and Cushing's Van Helsing is so powerful, that you would think that all the Dracula films had these two battling - but it would be 14 years before they appeared in another Dracula movie together.

One of the reasons why Dracula A.D. is a smart addition to this set is that it was the first teaming of Lee and Cushing since the first film. It takes place a hundred years after the last Van Helsing/Dracula battle, Dracula had been carrying this grudge against the Van Helsings all these years, just waiting to be resurrected and lo and behold, the grandson and grandfather look exactly alike. This movie works only because the first movie establishes such a strong chemistry between the two, and it's nice to have both available in the same set. You can watch the first and last movie and get a sort of "continuity." As for this movie as stand alone - it's really dated and although the plot had potential, the execution of the idea was lacking.

As for the other two films that make up this set, I had always thought Dracula Has Risen From the Grave was the weakest of the 19th century stories (maybe because I'd seen it so many times), but rather enjoyed it this time around. In a way, it's a rather intellectual film. The protagonist is an athiest and as much as a "B" horror film can, it examines the issue of strengths of faith and love when having to destroy vampires.

Taste the Blood of Dracula has a circle of three friends being targeted by Dracula because they had killed his servant. He uses the children of the men to kill their fathers. I can't remember if I liked it as a kid, but I didn't like it as an adult. Dracula has no loyalties except to himself, and to get his intended victims' children to do the dirty work for him? Neither approach worked for me.

Bottom line, it's a nice set of four films. For five stars, I'd have had it include Dracula: Prince of Darkness, and if the replacement had been other than Dracula A.D. 1972, I would have dropped this set down to three stars. Admittedly, I didn't get as much enjoyment as I thought I would from these four films, but it was nostalgic to see see vampire horror without current special effects and you really can't do much (if any) better than a battle between characters played by Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing - and you get two of them here.

5/5 Dracula 4 pack, hammer
  by chris s (New Mexico, USA)
great old films
Christopher Lee is the best

So, why is "The scars of Dracula" $20...when the 4 pack was $10?