Just in time for Halloween, Varese Sarabande has announced a new CD featuring arguably the greatest fictional horror character of all time: Dracula.  Varese’s latest entry in their CD Club is an expanded presentation of John Williams’ score to the 1979 film version of Dracula.  The 2-CD set Dracula: The Deluxe Edition is available for preorder now and due to start shipping the week of November 5.

Dracula, the character, of course needs little introduction.  Created by Bram Stoker in 1897 for the novel Dracula, the titular vampire has gone on to star and be featured in countless adaptations and stories across all media including plays, musicals, additional books, comics, television shows, music and video games.  One of the most successful mediums for Dracula has been film, with over 200 movies featuring the character.  There is some debate as to whether the first was either a silent Russian or Hungarian film.  The most famous film is probably the 1931 version starring Bela Lugosi as the vampire.  Based upon the 1927 stage play adaptation of the original novel written by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston (which Lugosi had starred in), this movie is credited with starting Universal’s horror film series of the 1930s and 1940s, of which Dracula would be featured in another five films.  Another major film series was produced by Hammer Films and saw Christopher Lee playing Dracula over seven installments between 1958 and 1973 (two other films in the series do not feature Lee).

The 1970s saw Dracula make many appearances in various media.  Marvel Comics had their acclaimed Tomb of Dracula ongoing comic and 1977 saw the BBC produce a television adaptation of the Stoker novel.  That same year, the Deane/Balderston play was revived with the charismatic Frank Langella in the title role.  In an instance of history repeating itself, Universal would then decide to make a new film version starring Langella.  The movie also starred Laurence Olivier as Dracula’s nemesis Van Helsing and was directed by John Badham (coming off of the smash Saturday Night Fever).  This new version was intended to be dangerously romantic, and featured the tagline “A Love Story.”  The score was written by John Williams, who was in the midst of a remarkable string of scores including (but not limited to) Star Wars and Close Encounter of The Third Kind in 1977, Superman in 1978, The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, Raiders of The Lost Ark in 1981 and E.T. The Extra Terrestrial in 1982.  His other film score in 1979 was Steven Spielberg’s 1941.

Dracula garnered some critical acclaim, but had a muted response at the box office perhaps due to the other Dracula-related films also released in 1979 (the comedy Love At First Bite and Warner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre, a remake of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent film Nosferatu – which was based on Stoker’s novel but with the names of the characters changed).  Dracula did receive a Saturn Award for Best Horror Film.  It has been released on DVD and Blu-ray in the past 10 years.  John Williams’ score was released on LP by MCA Records.  Varese put out a CD of the album in 1990.  Dracula has of course been the subject of many more films.  The most recent live-action American film was 2014’s Dracula Untold and the character is also the star of the animated film series Hotel Transylvania, whose third installment was released this past July.

Varese’s new edition of the score to 1979’s Dracula is greatly expanded.  The first disc of the set expands the original album’s 36 minutes of music to 72 minutes and features cues not heard in the final cut of the film.  Mike Matessino has done this new mix of the score.  The second CD preserves the original album presentation of the score, but remastered from a new source.  The package features 36-page book and 12-page booklet housed in slipcase.  Matessino and Robert Townsend have produced the set.

The 2-CD set of Dracula: The Deluxe Edition is available for preorder now from Varese’s website.  It is limited to 5000 copies and is expected to ship the week of November 5.  If you would like to revisit John Williams’ score, we’ve got the full tracklisting and preorder links below.

John Williams, Dracula: The Deluxe Edition (Varese Sarebande, 2018)

Disc 1 – The Film Score and Additional Music

1. Main Title & Storm Sequence (Film Version)
2. Meeting in the Cave
3. A Quick Change
4. Dracula Appear
5. Casting a Spell and The Visitation
6. Give Me Your Loyalty
7. Jonathan Pays a Call
8. For Mina
9. The Dining Room
10. First Kiss
11. Dracula Meets Van Helsing
12. Grave Trampling and The Asylum
13. Night Journeys (Film Version)
14. Mina Impaled
15. Van Helsing Confronts Dracula
16. Van Helsing’s Solution
17. Into the Crypt
18. The Attack
19. The Night Visitor
20. Waiting for Dracula
21. The Capture of Lucy
22. To Scarborough (Film Version)
23. Dracula’s Death (Extended Version)
24. End Titles
25. Main Title & Storm Sequence (Alternate)
26. The Love Scene (Extended Version)

Disc 2 – The 1979 Soundtrack Album (Originally released on MCA Records LP MCA-3166, 1979)

1. Main Title & Storm Sequence
2. The Night Visitor
3. To Scarborough
4. The Abduction of Lucy
5. Night Journeys
6. The Love Scene
7. Meeting in the Cave
8. The Bat Attack
9. For Mina
10. Dracula’s Death
11. End Titles