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Released by: Severin Films
Released on: July 26th, 2021.
Director: Édouard Molinaro/Eddie Arno & Markus Innocenti
Cast: Christopher Lee, Bernard Menez, Marie-Hélène Breillat, Catherine Breillat, Bruce Boa
Year: 1976/1989
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The Eurocrypt Of Christopher Lee Collection 2 – Movie Review:
After the success of their first boxed set, Severin Films brings together a second collection of content relating to the late, great Sir Christopher Lee in a feature packed edition, releasing it as The Eurocrypt Of Christopher Lee Collection Volume 2. Here’s a look at the feature films included in this set, before we go on to the extra content.
Disc Four & Five – Dracula And Son:
Directed by Édouard Molinaro, probably best known for La Cage aux Folles, and released theatrically in 1976, Dracula And Son (or, if you prefer, Dracula père et fils en Francais) is based on the novel ‘Paris Vampire’ by Claude Klotz and stars Christopher Lee as the titular vampire for the tenth and final time.
The film opens in the 19th century where Dracula falls in love with a woman named Herminie (Catherine Breillat), essentially kidnapping her and forcing her to become his bride. He impregnates her, and nine months later, she bears him a son named Ferdinand (played as an adult by Bernard Menez). Sometime later, when communists take over Dracula's castle, he and Ferdinand must leave immediately (a hammer and sickle can quite easily be used to make a cross!), and so they do, bringing nothing with them except for their clothes. The hope to cross over into France and to do so take refuge in a pair of coffins that were to house two deceased French navy men- which proves to be a mistake when the coffins are 'buried at sea.'
Eventually, Dracula makes his way to England. Here, Dracula starts a career as a horror movie star and some enjoys living the life of a celebrity. Ferdinand isn't so lucky, landing a gig working as a night watchman in a Parisian morgue. When Dracula's latest movie sees him touring France on a publicity jaunt, father and son reunite. All goes well until they both meet and fall for a beautiful woman named Nicole (Marie-Hélène Breillat).
In its original French version, Dracula And Son is no masterpiece but it is a pretty entertaining comedy even if it loses steam in its final reel. There are some pretty effective (and occasionally quite clever) gags here and it’s fun seeing Lee’s comedic side come into focus in the picture. He and Bernard Menez have a pretty good chemistry together and make for an entertaining enough pair to watch. There’s some solid supporting work in the picture too. It’s interesting seeing a young Catherine Breillat appear in the film before she’d go on to a pretty successful directing career, and her sister, Marie-Hélène Breillat, is quite good (and just plain likeable) as the female lead in the picture.
Production values are very strong here. The movie looks fantastic, with some obvious nods paid towards the look of the classic Hammer horror pictures that were obviously a big part of what inspired this movie in the first place. The cinematography from Alain Levent is excellent and it’s wonderfully complimented by a legitimately cool score from Vladimir Cosma.
Note that disc four includes the 1:39:13 uncut French version of the movie (though it features English language credits) and disc five features the 1:17:54 U.S. theatrical cut of the movie, which features some weird illustrations before title sequence and is trimmed a fair bit. It also features really hokey dialogue and some distinct differences in editing, while still basically telling the same story. It’s nice to have both versions included here, but the French version is a vastly superior cut of the movie. Note that Lee speaks French in the director’s cut and the English dubbed version of that cut also features his actual speaking voice but that he is very poorly dubbed in the English track used for the U.S. theatrical cut version!
Disc Seven – Murder Story:
The only feature film ever written and directed by eighties music video directors Eddie Arno and Markus Innocenti, 1989’s Murder Story is set in Amsterdam and tells the tale of a young man named Tony Zonis (Alexis Denisof) who wants nothing more than to write the next murder mystery bestseller. To do this, he takes it upon himself to really go all in and explore the work of an older author named Willard Hope (Lee), widely regarded to be the best of the best when it comes to this genre.
They hit it off and start pouring over research material, primarily newspaper articles, hoping to find the inspiration they’re looking for to spur them on to create this would-be masterpiece. It isn’t too long before they start to find a few interesting pieces that, as they delve deeper into their research, leads them to believe that they’ve uncovered what is not only a series of murder relating to the pornography trade but possibly a high reaching government conspiracy to cover them up.
Of course, when Tony and Willard wind up on the wrong side of some bad people, they find that their lives are in danger, but their commitment to solving the caper remains resolute.
A Dutch/British co-production, Murder Story is very much a slow burn and one that doesn’t really tie things together properly until its final act. The languid pacing will likely turn some off but attentive and patient viewers will be rewarded with a solid ending and a nicely constructed thriller that takes a few interesting twists and turns as its central plot unfolds. Those expecting a slasher or any really graphic or gratuitous elements will be disappointed to see that there isn’t much on screen carnage here at all, but the filmmakers obviously wanted to take a less salacious approach to their material, even if it does touch on the pornography trade a bit.
The performances are, for the most part, quite good. Alexis Denisof, before he’d make a name for himself in Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Guardians Of The Galaxy, does a fine job in his feature film debut. His character is likeable and enthusiastic and generally just fun to watch. He doesn’t have a whole lot of chemistry with actress Stacia Burton, cast as Marty, a young woman who gets involved in Tony and Willard’s plight, but outside of that he does a nice job here. Lee is his typically reliable self and this proves to be one of the better roles he’d get in the eighties, clearly the decade that was the least kind to his career. It would have been nice to see him get more screen time than he does, as we spend more time with Denisof than Lee, but when he is on screen he’s eminently watchable. Bruce Boa is a kick to watch as the film’s heavy.
The movie is nicely shot and features a decent, if not particularly remarkable score. The cinematography is good and the location work gives the movie some welcome eye appeal.
The Eurocrypt Of Christopher Lee Collection 2 – Blu-ray Review:
The director’s cut of Dracula’s Son is framed at 1.66.1 in AVC encoded 1080p, restored in 4k from the original negative and uses up 31GBs of space on a 50GB disc. Picture quality here is great. There’s lots of detail and excellent color reproduction to take in. The hefty bit-rate keeps compressions artifacts out of the way even during scenes with lots of darkness or heavy fog. Skin tones look nice and accurate, always quite lifelike, and there’s a lot of appreciable depth and texture to the transfer, which shows no noticeable noise reduction or edge enhancement.
The U.S theatrical cut is also framed at 1.66.1 in AVC encoded 1080p, using up 22.7GBs of space on a 25GB disc. The opening credits sequence on this edition doesn’t look as clean as on the director’s cut but once we get past that things clean up quite nicely and look very good, presumably with the rest of the film taken from the restored elements used for the director’s cut (if this is not the case, the picture quality is, regardless, very close in quality).
Murder Story is framed at 1.85.1 in AVC encoded 1080p, restored in 2k from the original negative. Using up 26.2GBS of space on a 50GB disc, the picture quality is also very strong on this disc. Although a disclaimer that appears before the movie starts warns us that due to how the elements were stored there is some noticeable deterioration of the elements visible but this isn’t a deal breaker and the majority of the movie looks great. Colors are handled nicely throughout the bulk of the picture, we get good black levels and nice detail as well as good depth. The damage we’re warned about is obvious in a few spots but overall, this looks solid.
Audio options for Dracula’s Son include English and French language 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Mono tracks with optional subtitles available for each track. Do yourself a favor and watch the French option, as the English dubbing for this picture is pretty bad. Quality of both tracks is solid, however. Balance is fine and there are no issues with any noticeable hiss or distortion. The U.S. theatrical cut includes only the English option, again in 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Mono and with optional English subtitles.
Murder Story gets a 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 English language Mono track with optional subtitles provided in English only. Again, quality is very good. The track is nicely balanced offering clean, clear dialogue. The score has good range to it and there’s a fair amount of depth to appreciate here. no problems with any audible defects to note, it all sounds fine.
Extras are spread across the set as follows:
Disc Four – Dracula And Son Director’s Cut:
An audio commentary with Christopher Lee biographer Jonathan Rigby and Hammer historian Kevin Lyons starts off the extras on the disc and it's excellent. Over the course of the film, the pair discuss the film's spoof elements, the quality of the different French actors that populate the cast and lots of information about their respective lives and careers, details on Édouard Molinaro's life and career, Lee's thoughts on playing Dracula at this point and if he was actually playing Dracula at all, the way that the film deals with vampire movie clichés, the way that the picture toys with genre conventions, details on the source novel that inspired the picture, Catherine Breillat's involvement, the film's score and Vladimir Cosma's work in that regard and loads more.
A second audio commentary gets Kat Ellinger, author of Daughters Of Darkness, behind the microphone to talk about Molinaro and the success of his adaptation of The Birdcage made two years after this film, the gothic elements that are prominent throughout the picture, Breillat's work as a filmmaker as well as her work in this picture as an actress, the 'nasty' English dub that was created for the movie, the American recut of the movie, some of themes and concepts that the film explores, how horror comedy seems to be more popular in Europe than English speaking territories despite getting its start in America, how the film taps into various aspects of social commentary and more.
Let The Son Shine In is a nineteen minute interview with actor Bernard Menez where he speaks about how he got his start as an actor, his work as a teacher, planning to move to Canada to start over, meeting Jacques Rozier and getting his first feature role and having his acting career take off from there. He then talks about working for The Gaumont Company, landing the part on Dracula And Son, how honored he was to work with a big star like Lee, his thoughts on the tone of the film, declining a contract offer in order to keep his freedom as to what projects he could choose, his thoughts on Molinaro as a director, thoughts on his character, Lee's work in the film and more.
An archival French TV interview with Christopher Lee runs for just under two minutes and lets the actor discuss, in perfect sounding French, the two main characters in the film and the quantity of non-horror pictures versus horror pictures he'd made at this point in his career. It also features some nice footage of Lee on set doing this thing.
The Molinaro Tapes is an archival audio interview with director Édouard Molinaro conducted by Frederic Albert Levy that clocks in at just short of fifteen minutes. This interview goes over his thoughts on the film, how he feels about the movie and why he thinks it was a missed opportunity. He notes that he couldn't find common ground with Gaumont, his thoughts on the source material adapted for the screenplay, how he didn't like the script despite it offering some interesting scenes, how he feels the second half is plotless, but that he did have fun helping to create certain characters in the movie. He speaks kindly of Lee, who he says took the role only to satirize Dracula as he had sworn off playing the character again at this point, and he notes that Menez was a bankable star as well.
In the Who Was Claude Klotz? featurette, filmmaker Patrice Leconte talks about his co-writer and author of the novel Paris Vampire which was used as the basis for the movie. This piece runs seven minutes and it sees Leconte talk about his friendship with Klotz, his appreciation for his work, collaborating quite closely with him on certain projects, his strong work ethic and speedy turnaround time and generally just how great he was to work with.
Severin has also dug up an archival interview with Claude Klotz shot at a 1976 presentation of Dracula And Son that was held in Marseille. It's a quick two minute piece where he talks about the characters and basic plot of the film.
Finishing things up on disc four are a trailer for the feature.
Disc Five – Dracula And Son U.S. Theatrical Cut:
This disc includes an alternate German language credits sequence and a TV spot for the feature.
Disc Six - Dracula And Son Soundtrack:
Disc six is Vladimir Cosma’s soundtrack on CD. It includes 17 tracks from the feature:
Dracula Fils / Dracula Pere /La Diligence / Herminie Et Le Comte Dracula / L’Aube Arrive… / Le Flacon De Sang / Herminie Mord Le Comte / Dracula Danse / Hai La Vale! / Devant La Grille Du Chateau / Ferdinand A L’Abattoir / Dracula Et Ferdinand Adolescent / Amour Douloreux / Dracula Sort Du Cercuiel / Recontre Et Ferdinand / Les Cendres
Inside the keepcase for the three Dracula And Son discs is a postcard sized insert featuring vintage promotional artwork on one side and the track listing for the CD on the reverse. Given the quality of the score for the feature, this will be a very welcome addition to the set for soundtrack junkies. It plays very well even without the movie as a backdrop.
Disc Seven – Murder Story:
An audio commentary with co-writers/co-directors Eddie Arno and Markus Innocenti, moderated by Severin Films' David Gregory, kicks of the supplemental package on this last disc. They start off talking about how the film came to be and how they came to work on it, writing the script in eleven days and starting pre-production immediately, figuring out the locations for the film, how the film came to be made in Holland, the differences between making a feature versus making music videos, working with Lee and how everything he does is "beautifully precise", Lee's thoughts on the character he played in this picture, some of what went into the art direction and set construction, Reeve's work as a producer, working with the other cast members, some of the cinematography and getting the visuals right on the movie and plenty of other details relating to the making of the film and the place it holds in their respective careers.
There’s also a featurette included here called A British Producer In Holland which is an interview with producer Tom Reeve that runs for fourteen minutes. He talks about not being able to work in the UK due to union issues which led to him moving to Holland to work where he made connections with started building a career for himself. He then talks about how Murder Story came to be, getting the financing into place, casting the picture and getting Lee involved in the film, what Lee was like to work with, how Lee was in a bit of a slump in the eighties, what Lee was like on set, how co-directors Eddie Arno and Markus Innocenti separated their duties, the film's distribution and release and more.
A trailer for Murder Story is also included.
Severin has also included a bonus film in the form of Mask Of Murder from 1988. Directed by prolific Swedish filmmaker Arne Mattsson, the movie takes place in a smalltown somewhere in Canada (or, at least, somewhere in Sweden standing in for Canada) and opens with a pretty stirring scene where a man running about in a white cloth mask sneaks up on a woman from behind, grabs her and then slits her throat before then going on to do the exact same thing to a seepraet unfortunately female victim. He takes off his mask, we see his face and the opening credits roll.
The local cops, led by Superintendent Jonathan Rich (Lee) and officers Bob McLane (Rod Taylor) and Ray Cooper (Sam Cook), struggle to come up with any leads, let alone proper suspects, until McLane comes face to face with someone he believes to be the killer and shoots him. Rich is injured and sent to the hospital. After the shooting, the murders stop and everyone assumes that the cops have caught their man. Meanwhile, McLane finds out that his wife, Marianne (Valerie Perrine), has been messing around behind his back with Ray.
Of course, the murders start up again, leaving McLane to go back into action, all of which leads up to a really effective but surprisingly bleak ending, but not before McLane sniffs Marianne's underwear!
A Swedish/Canadian co-production, Mask Of Murder isn’t all that original and it was clearly made fast and cheap but it’s a watchable enough distraction. Although the opening scene, with its fast attacks and cheap gore, makes you think you’re going to get a slasher movie the picture plays out more like a police procedural. Still, there are a few decent murder set pieces here even if the gore isn’t all that strong, and while the pacing of the middle section could certainly been improved and the script could have been more original, it works fine as base entertainment.
The cast are solid though. Lee is fun to watch in his role, but he’s taken out of action pretty quickly and, as such, isn’t given as much to do. That leaves us with Rod Taylor to hang onto and he does some pretty great scenery chewing in the movie and he’s definitely entertaining to watch. Cook and Perrine aren’t all that memorable but it's also worth noting that Heinz Hopf from Thriller/They Call Her One Eye pops up in a smaller supporting role as a hairdresser named Carlos.
While the image is presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition, it’s clear that the transfer, which is framed at 1.33.1 and uses up 16.7GBs of space, was taken from a tape master. Audio is provided in 16-bit DTS-HD 2.0 in English with optional subtitles provided in English only. Severin notes that this is sourced from the ‘best existing master’ so logic would dictate that unless better elements are found, this is going to be as good as it will ever look and sounds. Better to have it included here as bonus feature in lesser quality than not at all and lost to obscurity!
Severin has also included an absolutely gorgeous all-new one-hundred-page book by Lee's biographer Jonathan Rigby entitled Christopher Lee: A Career In Six Snapshots. Beautifully illustrated with loads of archival stills and promotional art, it examines Lee's career in quite a bit of detail with a good bit of emphasis on the films that he made outside of England during from 1959 through 1988 with an end piece covering the resurgence he experienced in his career during the twilight years of his life. There’s loads of great information here about the films included in the set and a whole bunch of other projects that the man was involved with during this period as well. It's an excellent addition to the set, which once again sees the Blu-rays stored in black keepcases, each with its own unique cover sleeve art. These cases then fit inside a handsomely produced and very sturdy cardboard box that allows the top cover to lift off and on for easy access. Severin's done a great job with the packaging here.
The Eurocrypt Of Christopher Lee Collection – The Final Word:
The Eurocrypt Of Christopher Lee Collection Volume 2 finishes strongly, proving to be a nice collection of some of the actor’s more obscure efforts from his time spent working in continental Europe and, for the most part, presenting them in very strong presentations once again accompanied by a choice selection of supplemental material that explores the origins and histories of these films. Great stuff all around, here’s hoping we see a third volume in the not too distant future.