Frankly I don't see a heck of a lot of difference in image quality between the two Region 2 releases, but the SB Region 1 is, predictably, the sharpest with the most film-like appearance (and, of course, no PAL speedup). The Extras are in favor of the original release and the sound to the SuperBits with DTS as well as 5.1.  

- Gary W. Tooze

BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA - I am not fond of this film, neither as a Coppola or Dracula work, but its excessive use of reds, blacks, lighting, and other exceptional Michael Ballhaus camerawork makes it a particular challenge for DVD's MPEG-2 format.  As a result, even the U.S. Superbit edition falls short (often very much so) of capturing the way this looked on 35mm film.  A Digital High Definition transfer down the line will be a revelation.  As for the sound, this was an early digital sound release and the DTS on either Superbit is a step up from the Dolby Digital-only original theatrical release.  This was also made just before Sony’s own Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) system debuted, so it is a 5.1 mix exclusively and all the way.  That leaves extras, which are absent or practically so on all DVD copies we know of, but some great ones do exist.  Unfortunately, the costume sketches, production design sketches, look at Dracula films and vintage Horror genre films Coppola referenced for the film, isolated music and sound effects tracks, scene-by-scene visual effects analysis, an edit-it-yourself scene from the film where you choose the takes to put together, and a full-length audio commentary by Francis Coppola, makeup man Greg Cannon and then-visual effects supervisor (and now outstanding filmmaker) Roman Coppola are still only available on the 12” LaserDisc 3-set Criterion issued during the film’s initial home video release.  Since Sony and Criterion have parted ways, who knows when and if these goodies will ever make it to DVD.

Nicholas Sheffo from FulvueDrive-In.com