Skip to main content

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) - Francis Ford Coppola

How is it that I have gone all of this time never seeing this movie? How is this possible? This is one of the best adaptations of book, Dracula, by Bram Stoker. At least that I have ever seen, yet I feel conflicted because this movie paints Dracula as a sympathetic romantic and that's not how I see him or how he is supposed to be. Like I said though this has to be one of the best interpretations of the book and one of the most graphic.

I really enjoyed the movies special effects, in fact I was blown away by them. Dracula's shadow and transformation scenes were really on point for 1992. Credit also goes to the all star cast that puts on a stellar performance here, including Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, and Tom Waits. Any movie with Tom Waits in it that I have seen so far has not been all that bad, Coffee & Cigarettes, Domino, and now Dracula, Pretty decent.

If your not familiar with the story I will give you the skinny of it. Vlad the Impaler, or Dracula, loses his wife when she commits suicide. A long time later, like the 1800's, Keanu Reeves is captured and Dracula feeds on him and his brides rape him... I don't feel like going over the entire story so let me just say Dracula has to die and Van Helsing has to help.

Francis Ford Coppola's version of Bram Stoker's Dracula is a really amazing version but I am going to have to rank this below the 1931 version. I am going to rank this version of Dracula at a 7 of 10. I really had a good time watching this movie but its going to take a lot more than this to top the original classic weather that be Nosferatu or Dracula.

Winona Ryder is a babe!
  • This film very closely follows the book, yet the book is by far less sex filled.
  • This vampire movie has day walking
  • Steve Buscemi was going to play Renfield but didn't accept
  • There were various video games on various platforms including NES, SNES, and Genesis.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ju-On (2000) - Takashi Shimizu

Watching Japanese horror is similar to watching British comedy. If you enjoy dry whit then you probably enjoy the boys of Monty Python in drag. That's the joke, they're dressed like women. Get it? Well, that's British humor. But if you're like most Americans you probably prefer Adam Sandler farting his way across a football field and hooking up with chicks that are way out of his league. Americans usually prefer this more in your face, crass brand of humor. My point is funny in England is different from funny in the US. The same goes for J-Horror. What the Japanese consider scary is very different from what Americans consider scary and it shows in this horror film. Japanese horror is generally slow (a little too slow sometimes), suspenseful and creepy. Ju-On is a creepy effing film. The movie has almost no soundtrack. It is incredibly suspenseful and the pay-offs are pretty awesome, but I think that it was done better in the American version (cultural t...

Sleepy Hollow (1999) - Tim Burton

Tim Burton's take on the old Sleepy Hollow tale is really interesting. He adds his own flair of course. He delves very deeply into the original story by Washington Irving. The casting is usual for Burton. Johnny Depp of course in your lead. Helena Bonham Carter, thrown in for some flavor. The score is done by Danny Elfman. It's literally just the Ichabod Crane story run through the Tim Burton machine. But in a good way. Sleepy Hollow has a problem with a guy, running around, taking people's heads. Like, a lot of people. The town sends word for assistance and the nervous  Constable Ichabod Crane reports. He starts to unravel clues that take him down an incredibly strange path. With the Horseman still murdering patrons, Crane tries finding who's next before they lose their head.  I've always been a big fan of the Disney cartoon,  The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad . This movie is a far cry from Bing Crosby and quaint animations....

Le Manoir du Diable (1896) - George Melies

According to Wikipedia in August of 2011, Le Manoir du diable by Georges Melies is the first horror movie. Well, actually its a short film (about three minuets or so) but film was really hard to come by in that time so this counts as a film to me. The plot of the film is basic, you have your hero being tormented by demonic things in a crazy castle room... However, that plot isn't what brought the crowds. The thing that drove the popularity of these films was the fact that you were seeing motion on screen. I suggest going and seeing Hugo. That film is spectacular. It answered so many questions that I had. It really sets the scene and the tone. The film has strong christian overtones and actually ends with Christianity prevailing over the "tides of darkness". I provided a link at the bottom of this review for anyone that would like to see this pioneer in Horror Film. The movie uses very, very early "movie magic" that is an abundance of smoke and m...