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 S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

 

(aka "The Fearless Vampire Killers or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck" or "Tanz der Vampire" or "Le bal des vampires" or "Vampyrernes Nat" or "Dance of the Vampires" )

 

 http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/direct-chair/polanski.htm

USA / UK 1967

A pair of bumbling vampire-hunters attempts to destroy an undead nobleman and his cronies and rescue a buxom maiden in actor/director Roman Polanski's playful update of the venerable vampire genre. Bat expert and vampire obsessive Professor Abronsius (Jack MacGowran) barely survives his journey through the Alps into snowy Slovenia to continue his oft-maligned research into the undead. Thawed out by his hapless assistant, Alfred (Polanski), and the frisky local innkeeper, Shagal (Alfie Bass), Abronsius quickly notices the overabundance of raw garlic as a decorating motif in the inn and its environs. Too ineffectual to save Shagal from having his blood sucked, the professor and Alfred miss the boat again when the mysterious Count Von Krolock (Ferdinand Mayne) kidnaps Shagal's built, beautiful daughter, Sarah (Sharon Tate). The itinerant vampire hunters must travel through the icy wilderness to Von Krolock's abode and evade his manservant and his effete son Herbert (Iain Quarrier) before Sarah joins the ranks of the ghouls. They soon learn, however, that the luxury-starved lass actually enjoys her captors' lavish attentions. The action climaxes during a costume ball attended by a phalanx of blood-suckers, although the laughs and surprises continue until the very end. Sixteen minutes of unauthorized cuts have been restored in some video editions of The Fearless Vampire Hunters, although the animated credits sequence that replaced them is also retained. The film marks the feature debut of Tate, who replaced Polanski's original choice, Jill St. John, on the advice of producer Martin Ransohoff.

 

Posters

 

Theatrical Release: February 1967 - UK

Reviews                                                                        More Reviews                                                                 DVD Reviews

 

Comparison:

Warner - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC vs. Cinemagia (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray vs. Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Ole Kofoed and Gregory Meshman for the DVD Screen Caps!

 

1) Warner - Region 1,2,3,4  - NTSC - LEFT

2) Cinemagia (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND

3) Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray THIRD

3) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray RIGHT

 
Box Covers

 

 

Distribution

Warner

Region 0 - NTSC

 Cinemagia
Region 0 - NTSC		 Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:47:18 1:47:16 1:43:02.520 (4% PAL Speedup) 1:47:24.271
Video

2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 6.10 mb/s
NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s

2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 4.63 mb/s
NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s

2.44:1 1080i / 25 fps

Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 22,398,214,736 bytes

Feature: 20,621,254,656 bytes

Video Bitrate: 24.97 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

2.35:1 1080P 

Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 36,290,157,466 bytes

Feature: 31,372,044,288 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.94 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:

Warner

 

Bitrate:

Cinemagia (OOP)

 

Bitrate:

Blu-ray

 

Bitrate:

Blu-ray

 

Audio English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono, French, German, Italian Dub DD 1.0

English Dolby Digital 5.1 / 2.0 Stereo?.

 Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps		 DTS-HD Master Audio English 1978 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1978 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles English, French, Spanish, English captions or none. Portuguese or none. English, Spanish, Portuguese or none. English (SDH), none
Features Release Information:
Studio: Warner

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
• Vampires 101 - Promo featurette with Max Wall (10:19).
• Trailer.

DVD Release Date: October 5, 2004
Keep Case

Chapters 26

Release Information:
Studio: Cinemagia

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen letterboxed - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
• The pre-title cartoon from the US version.
• Biographies and Filmographies.
• Posters Gallery.
• Trailer.
• Easter Egg (10 minutes interview with Tate).
 

DVD Release Date: April 24, 2003
Keep Case

Chapters 27

Release Information:
Studio: Reino

 

2.44:1 1080i / 25 fps

Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 22,398,214,736 bytes

Feature: 20,621,254,656 bytes

Video Bitrate: 24.97 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video


Edition Details:

• Trailer (2:04)

• Animation (1:40)

• Vampires 101 - Promo featurette with Max Wall (10:19)


 Blu-ray Release Date: September 12th, 2016
 Standard Blu-ray Case

Chapters 16

 Release Information:
Studio: Warner

 

2.35:1 1080P 

Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 36,290,157,466 bytes

Feature: 31,372,044,288 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.94 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video


Edition Details:

• Vampires 101 (10:21)
 • Alternate Title (4:01)
 • Trailer (2:13)


 Blu-ray Release Date: October 15th, 2019
 Standard Blu-ray Case

Chapters 28

 

 

 

Comments

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

ADDITION: Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray - November 20197: The new Warner Archive is correctly transferred in 1080P. The US transfer is brighter, shows more information in the frame, has richer colors, superior contrast and is in the proper theatrical running time (no PAL speed-up.) It's a big advancement in the video presentation.

The audio is lossless (DTS-HD Master) 24-bit in the original English language. The score is by , Krzysztof Komeda, who wrote the score for Polanski's Rosemary's Baby   and Cul-de-sac among others. It sounds quite strong - chilling at times. Warner add optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray disc.

Extras duplicate the old Warner DVD (and Spanish Blu-ray) with the 10-minute Vampires 101 promo featurette with Max Wall, the trailer and include a 4-minute alternate opening title sequence with the animation. Unfortunately, no new extras.

The Warner Blu-ray is the way to go with this unusually compelling vampire yarn - amusing, sexy, and it has some scariness. It's really hard not to like The Fearless Vampire Killers and I was very pleased to see it in a proper 1080P transfer. Certainly recommended! 

***

ADDITION: Reino - Region FREE' - Blu-ray - November 2017: Not our first rodeo - a probable bootleg out of Spain. Firstly, it IS a pressed disc, not a BD-R but it is in 1080i PAL speed, 2.44:1, it has only lossy Dolby audio but there are some extras.

This is from the darker, bluer, Warner (probably an older SD) source - and starts with the MGM logo with the vampire animation:

It doesn't show interlaced combing but is 4% sped up over the theatrical running time. The image shows improvement over SD - even if only a blow-up of 480. It doesn't look like that - I suspect they took the Euro-source and added subs and a Spanish DUB. That's my guess. It looks decent in-motion.

This is an English-friendly Blu-ray, where the French steelbook, HERE, I bought years ago had forced French subtitles for the English audio. This has the option for English audio and for English subtitles (see sample below.)

Extras include the animation sequence, a trailer and the 10-minute Vampires 101 - promo featurette with Max Wall - all in English with optional Spanish subtitles.

We say pass and let's get a bona-fide Blu-ray to compare here soon!

***

ON THE DVDs: Both DVD's is the long version of the movie, but have kept the US title "The Fearless Vampire Killers", as opposed to the "Dance of the Vampires" title shown at the top of this page from a recording from Danish television. For more information about the different cuts look HERE:

We no longer have the Brazil disc anymore so we can't see if the original mono track is included, the menu says a stereo track, but another review list it as a mono track.

There is visible damage to the Warner , but it definitely has the superior sharpness and contrast. The Cinemagia has some contrast boosting and is slightly cropped on the left edge. We recommend the anamorphic Warner most definitely in this case.

NOTE: The Warner is scaled down to 800 but the Cinemagia is in native resolution.

 - Gary Tooze

DVD Menus

(Warner - Region 1,2,3,4  - NTSC - LEFT vs. Cinemagia (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC - RIGHT)
 

 

Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray

 

 

Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray

 

 

 

Alternate Title used on the Cinemagia DVD

 

 

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

Subtitle Sample

 

1) Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray TOP

3) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) Warner - Region 1,2,3,4  - NTSC - TOP

2) Cinemagia (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND

3) Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray THIRD

3) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) Warner - Region 1,2,3,4  - NTSC - TOP

2) Cinemagia (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND

3) Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray THIRD

3) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) Warner - Region 1,2,3,4  - NTSC - TOP

2) Cinemagia (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND

3) Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray THIRD

3) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) Warner - Region 1,2,3,4  - NTSC - TOP

2) Cinemagia (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND

3) Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray THIRD

3) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) Warner - Region 1,2,3,4  - NTSC - TOP

2) Cinemagia (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND

3) Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray THIRD

3) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) Warner - Region 1,2,3,4  - NTSC - TOP

2) Cinemagia (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND

3) Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray THIRD

3) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

EXTRA

 

1) Cinemagia (OOP) - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP

2) Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray MIDDLE

3) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

More Blu-ray Captures

 

1) Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray TOP

3) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray TOP

3) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray TOP

3) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray TOP

3) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray TOP

3) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray TOP

3) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray TOP

3) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

More Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray Captures

Hit Counter

Box Covers

 

 

Distribution

Warner

Region 0 - NTSC

 Cinemagia
Region 0 - NTSC		 Reino - Region FREE - Blu-ray Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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