Dracula is rising from the dead again.
Long-lost footage from a classic 1958 Dracula film with Christopher Lee was found in a warehouse decades after it was cut because early audiences found it so terrifying that they fainted.
The three-minutes worth of footage, which has never been seen in the US, was found in a Warner Brothers warehouse decades after it was removed from the film, which was called “Dracula” in the UK but released in the US as “Horror of Dracula,” according to Screen Daily.
The footage was cut because it depicted scenes that were too gory and sexually suggestive for contemporary audiences, with viewers in Japan reportedly passing out upon viewing the full-color images.
A new 4K version of the film with the restored footage will be hitting theaters right on time for Halloween this year and include the restored scenes, never-before-seen by audiences outside of Japan, in crystal-clear clarity, according to Hammer Films and Silver Salt Restoration.
“Bringing Dracula back to audiences in 4K goes far beyond a piece of film restoration work,” Hammer Films CEO John Gore, told the outlet.
“This is the recovery of a piece of British film history that audiences believed had been lost forever,” he said.
Christopher Lee — the late-icon better to known to Gen-Z as Count Dooku from Star Wars — redefined the vampire’s look and reputation for generations with his performance as Count Dracula, Gore told Deadline.
Lee introduced the characters signature fangs and red eyes to match his visceral physicality, while Peter Cushing delivered what is widely regarded as the definitive screen portrayal of the intelligent, fearless vampire hunter Van Helsing.
The restored 4K footage includes part of a scene showing Dracula’s fangs dripping with blood after feasting on a victim’s neck, a sexually suggestive clip where the vampire descends upon a woman he’s going to bite, and some unsettling moments from Dracula’s gory death scene, according to The Independent.
“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,” Gore said.
