NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Shout! Factory Blu-ray (March 2022): Shout! Factory have transferred Henry Cass's Blood of the Vampire to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "NEW Restoration Of The Original Uncensored Version From Original Vault Materials". The 1080P image is weak with a green-yellow-grey cast over much of it and the contrast is poor - possibly the source had density issues. It has pleasing grain support if it can be clunky at times. It's an unremarkable image which is unfortunate as the film has effective, and extensive, if not large-budget effects. There is inconsistency with certain colors having depth and others appearing faded. It is in the 1.66:1 aspect ratio and has a high bitrate.  

NOTE: We have added 66 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Shout! Factory use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. Blood of the Vampire has screams and aggression (gunfire) but they come across pretty flat. I don't doubt this is authentic. The score is by Stanley Black (Bottom's Up, The Long and the Short and the Tall, Happy Ever After, Valentino, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, War-Gods of the Deep, 1960's Hammer film Stop Me Before I Kill! etc.) sounding clean establishing Gothic eerie moods via the lossless transfer. Shout! Factory offer optional English subtitles, in a small white font (see sample below) on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Shout! Factory Blu-ray offers no extras at in their package.

Blood of the Vampire is certainly Hammer-esque with fairly extensive effects and art direction. It's problem is that it isn't very Vampiric but more... Frankenstein-ian. Veiled references are made to vampires before the title sequence (with one poor effect of a bat flying into a scene later and the fact that it is said to be set 'in Transylvania') but it's really a creepy tale of a mad-scientist experimenting with prison inmate's blood to maintain his own life. I loved all the Gothic horror conventions from the disfigured assistant, mysterious elaborate laboratory, tortured victims, and an oversized, dank, crypt-like castle etc. In the US it played on a double feature with Universal's Monster on the Campus. Aside from the inaccurate title - I was reasonably satisfied with my viewing and soaked up the Hammer feel. Production was actually by Artistes Alliance Ltd. who brought us The Giant Behemoth (1959), The Strange World of Planet X (1958) and Life in Emergency Ward 10 (1959.) The bare-bones Shout! Factory Blu-ray offers a weak video presentation and is limited to 1500 copies. The prices makes it un-recommendable except to the most avid fans of this delightfully nostalgic genre.

Gary Tooze