I reviewed the 1958 Hammer version of Dracula as part of Monster Madness two years ago. (I’ll always know it as “Horror of Dracula” even though in its native UK, it’s just plain “Dracula” which doesn’t help differentiate it from the 1931 version.) You can see the review here. In it, I mention that Dracula’s death scene was originally longer. (Or I should say Dracula’s destruction scene, since vampires are already dead.) Hammer had a long battle with the censors. They considered certain moments of Christopher Lee clawing off his own face to be too gruesome. The footage was discovered in Japan a few years back, along with other missing bits like the seduction scene with Mina.
Now it’s been restored and released on Blu-ray TODAY, but unfortunately, it’s only on Region B (2). Nice one! A big moment in horror history’s been unearthed and they decide to lock out two thirds of the world from seeing it. Well, if you live in a Region B territory, go check it out.