This week's new DVD & Blu-ray
DraculaUpon release in 1958, Hammer's Dracula was met with mostly derision and contempt by the British press, not least among the dissenters was the Guardian, whose slating of the film was often proudly quoted by Dracula's screenwriter Jimmy Sangster.
Now, more than half a century on, it's rightly regarded as a classic. Colour is what Hammer most notably added to Dracula. Before this, the story was best known by the monochrome Bela Lugosi/Universal Studios version, a film that didn't dare show any neck-biting (Lugosi didn't even have fangs). But with Hammer the blood started to flow, bright red, in the opening titles as it drips on to Dracula's coffin. However, what elevates this above most low-budget fare is the central performances from Peter Cushing (Van Helsing) and Christopher Lee (Count Dracula). Cushing is so unbelievably graceful, be it in lighting a cigarette or performing a blood transfusion, that he makes the most of any scene, working any prop he can get his hands on. Lee has the harder job and is no less a success: his vampire changes from suave European gentleman to hissing beast at the drop of a hat. It scrubs up well on the new Blu-ray, which has extras such as the few extra seconds from the legendary Japanese cut, something the film's many fans have heard about but never seen.
Blu-ray & DVD, Lions Gate
Amour
Michael Haneke's masterly and often heavy-going story of an elderly couple's life after one of them suffers a stroke.
Blu-ray & DVD, Artificial Eye
End Of Watch
Training Day writer David Ayer gives LA cop Jake Gyllenhaal a hellish time on the beat.
Blu-ray & DVD, StudioCanal
Spiral: Series 4
The latest from the French cops, lawyers and judges in this excellent and gritty crime show.
DVD, 2entertain
The Bay
Accomplished and downright icky found-footage flick concerning an outbreak of disgusting waterborne parasites.
Blu-ray & DVD, Momentum