{"id":2656,"date":"2024-08-22T02:50:09","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T02:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=2656"},"modified":"2024-10-14T13:53:37","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T17:53:37","slug":"bram-stokers-dracula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/22\/bram-stokers-dracula\/","title":{"rendered":"Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/strong> (1992)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 128 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (sexuality\/nudity, bloody horror violence, vampirism, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Francis Ford Coppola\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: James V. Hart\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Wojciech Kilar\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Michael Ballhaus\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 13, 1992 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves, Richard E. Grant, Cary Elwes, Bill Campbell, Sadie Frost, Yom Waits, Monica Bellucci, Michaela Bercu, Florina Kendrick, Jay Robinson.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $82.5M (US)\/$215.8M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0The hardest part of writing reviews is coming up with an opening that will instantly grab the reader\u2019s attention. It has to great. At the same time, it has to be original; you don\u2019t want to be redundant and use something you\u2019ve used before. It\u2019s a real conundrum.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I find myself in this very quandary as I rack my brain trying to come up with the right way to open my review of Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/strong>. There are a few ways to go. I could once again slam The Twilight Saga and its glittering vampires. I could refer to the ongoing debate (I assume there is one) over who played Dracula better, Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee. I could simply tell you that Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/strong> is one of the best vampire movies EVER. There are several options, but none of them feel right. What to do, what to do?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Okay, I think I\u2019ve got it. There\u2019s a line that perfectly sums up this particular interpretation of the classic novel by Bram Stoker, \u201cI have crossed oceans of time to find you.\u201d Count Dracula (Oldman, Sid and Nancy) says it to Mina Murray (Ryder, Little Women) shortly after meeting her on the streets of Victorian-era London. He believes her to be the reincarnation of his beloved wife Elisabeta (also played by Ryder) who took her own life after receiving a false report of his demise in war against the Turks circa the 15th<\/sup> century. Realizing her soul is damned to Hell for the mortal sin of suicide, Vlad denounces God and embraces the forces of darkness. He vows to stick around for as long as it takes to be reunited with his dear Elisabeta. It takes four centuries, but he finds her. So it is that this version of Dracula is actually a love story enveloped in Gothic horror and all its trappings.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In 1897, solicitor Jonathan Harker (Reeves, Point Break) is sent to Transylvania to take over a client after his previous lawyer Renfield (singer Waits) took up residence at the local insane asylum. The client, of course, is Count Dracula, an eccentric old man buying up properties in London. He lives in a huge old castle and has a creepy way about him. After spotting a photo of Harker\u2019s fiancee Mina, he arranges for Jonathan to be held captive in his castle by three vampire brides while he sails to England to be reunited with his true love at last.<\/p>\n

\u00a0From here on in, things get weird, very weird. Mina\u2019s best friend Lucy (Frost, Shopping) falls ill after an encounter with a wolf-like creature (guess who?). Dr. Jack Seward (Grant, Withnail & I), one of her three beaus, is at a loss to identify her mystery ailment. He calls in his former teacher and mentor Dr. Abraham Van Helsing (Hopkins, The Silence of the Lambs), an expert on obscure diseases, to consult on the case. He enlists the aid of Jack and Lucy\u2019s other suitors, Lord Arthur Holmwood (Elwes, The Princess Bride) and Texas cowboy Quincey Morris (Campbell, The Rocketeer) to stop the vampire\u2019s reign of terror.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Meanwhile, Mina finds herself swept off her feet by the charming Romanian count, now a handsome young man. She allows herself to be drawn into a romance with the mysterious prince. It\u2019s only a matter of time before she ends their relationship to be with her intended. Dracula takes the news badly.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather Saga), Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/strong> won three Oscars- Best Costume Design, Best Sound Editing and Best Makeup. It was also nominated for Best Art Direction (it lost to Howards End). Let me tell you, this movie is an artistic feast, both visually and aurally. It was shot almost entirely on sound stages giving it the feel of a 30s-era studio-enclosed production with the added benefit of 90s technology. The cinematography by Michael Ballhaus is as dazzling as it is dizzying. There is some amazing camerawork. He also makes excellent use of light and shadow, particularly shadows. The effects are terrific, especially when it comes to the many manifestations of Dracula. There\u2019s one scene where he transforms into an entity comprised of rats that fall to the floor and scurry away when confronted by Van Helsing and company.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The score by Wojciech Kilar is haunting and beautiful in equal measures. Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/strong> is rich in atmosphere. From the blood-soaked opening to the final confrontation, it consistently gives the viewer a sense of awe mixed with fear. At the same time, it tells an epic love story doomed to end in bloodshed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For the most part, the acting in Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/strong> is great. Oldman is, by turns, terrifying and romantic as Dracula, a lovelorn, undead being with supernatural powers. He can transform into creatures or mist. He\u2019s always been one of my favorite actors; it was a stroke of genius on Coppola\u2019s part to cast him as Dracula. Ryder is just right as Mina. She portrays her as a woman of sense who loses all sensibility in the face of love that transcends time. Hopkins hams it up mightily as intrepid vampire hunter\/killer Van Helsing. He gets some of the movie\u2019s best lines like when he casually states \u201cI just want to cut off her head and take out her heart\u201d as a way of curing the dead\/undead Lucy\u2019s vampirism. Another great line, \u201cShe is the Devil\u2019s concubine!\u201d He sure knows how to deliver a line. Waits delivers a wild-eyed, gravelly-voiced performance as Renfield; watching him dine on bugs and other creepy crawlies is one of the icky highlights.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The only weak-ish link in Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/strong> is Reeves. He delivers a somewhat stilted performance as Jonathan Harker, but that can be attributed to his efforts to get his English accent right. To be fair, it\u2019s not bad at all. Still, I kept waiting for him to say something along the lines of \u201cWhat\u2019s up, ugly fanged dude?\u201d BTW, why does his hair color keep changing from scene to scene? Inquiring minds want to know. My only other complaint, and it\u2019s a minor one, is that it\u2019s never explained why Dracula is buying all that property in London. Does he have some sort of sinister plan?<\/p>\n

\u00a0What I love most about Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/strong> is how surreal it is. Most of the time, it plays like a fever dream with its frightening images and visual techniques. It\u2019s a bold blend of opera (sans singing) and Grand Guignol. At the same time, it\u2019s the most faithful adaptation of Stoker\u2019s novel. The screenplay by James V. Hart (Hook) is both scary and loopy. Although Ford takes the material seriously, he injects a bit of humor into the proceedings. It\u2019s a credit to his ability that it never feels uneven.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In this Movie Guy\u2019s opinion, Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/strong> is pure excellence. It\u2019s horror on the grandest level possible. It\u2019s also a heartbreaking tale of undying love. Movies like this are why I do what I do. Modern filmmakers take note. This is how it\u2019s done!\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula (1992)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 128 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (sexuality\/nudity, bloody horror violence, vampirism, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Francis Ford Coppola\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: James V. Hart\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Wojciech Kilar\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Michael Ballhaus\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 13, 1992 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves, Richard E. Grant, Cary Elwes, Bill Campbell, Sadie Frost, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Bram-Stokers-Dracula-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2656"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3560,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2656\/revisions\/3560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}