Review of Dracula

Allow me to take you to a time when vampires were kickass and weren’t pixies in disguise, where CGI was used sparingly and where monster movies were trucking epic!

Ah, the 90’s! Much like the 80’s, the 90’s was a kickass decade for horror and monster movies in general. I mean even though there were some ridiculous ones, there were ones that were epic and made a huge impact. 5 different monster movies all came out in this decade that helped change the face of horror forever.

Those movies were Sleepy Hollow, The Mummy, Wolf, Frankenstein, and today’s subject Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola as you all know directed two movies starring the late Marlon Brando - The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, but also worked alongside George Lucas to produce Captain EO for Walt Disney World which of course starred another late great legend - Michael Jackson. I even read that Coppola worked a little bit behind the scenes on Burton’s Sleepy Hollow. Coppola is also Nicolas Cage’s uncle - i’m not kidding btw, he really IS Nic Cage’s uncle. You see Nicolas Cage’s actual name was Nicolas Coppola but he changed his last name to Cage - as a nod to the Marvel character Luke Cage. Coppola directed all three Godfather movies as well.

The tale of the legendary iconic vampire known as Count Dracula has been adapted many times, as well as parodied and paid homage to numerous times. I first became familiar with the subject of today’s review thanks to The Simpsons and their parody of it from Treehouse Of Horror IV. Along with Morgan Leger’s review of this movie on his show Vaulting.

The history behind this legendary vampire goes way back and it all goes back to a man known as Vlad Tepes/Vlad The Impaler. Released in 1992, titled Bram Stoker’s Dracula - this Academy Award winning movie brought us a take on the classic vampire of lore that was more closer to the source material.

The story takes place in England, the era is 1462 and Prince Vlad/Dracula (played by Gary Oldman) has returned from war, having won the night attack battle against the Turks - to find that his wife committed suicide after a false report of his death. Enraged by this, Vlad renounces the Lord and vows that he will rise from the grave to avenge her. In a fit of rage, he stabs the cross and drinks the blood from it.


Flash forward to 1897, where Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) takes in Dracula as a client to R.M Renfield, who has become insane and was sent to a mental asylum run by Dr. Jack Seward'. Now, here’s a little bit of an interesting fact for you - there is a real life condition known as Renfield's Syndrome which is the obsession with drinking blood, such as getting excitement for the taste of it or getting turned on by it.

Jonathan travels to Romania to arrange Vlad’s estate acquisition in London, including Carfax Abbey and he meets the count himself, who discovers a picture of Harker’s fiancee Mina (Winona Ryder aka Lydia Deitz) and believes her to be a reincarnation of his late wife. Dracula leaves Jonathan to be seduced by his many brides. Damn are those brides sexy as hell.

Dracula takes on the form of a wolf-like creature when he arrives in London, amid a fierce thunderstorm and then uses his hypnotic powers to seduce, entrance and knock up Lucy Westenra who Mina Harker is staying with her while her fiance Jonathan is over in Transylvania. He then bites her.

Over time, Lucy is slowly being turned into a vampire as indicated by her deteriorating health and her change in behavior, which prompts Mina’s old suitors Quincey Morris and Dr Sedward along with her old fiancee Arthur Holmwood to call Dr Abraham Van Helsing, played by Anthony Hopkins. Who recognizes her as a victim of a vampire attack.

One of the many things I love about this particular movie is how much attention it pays to classic vampire lore, as although most vampires are typically seen with the ability to transform into a bat - in classic vampire lore it is indicated that vampires can also turn into wolves, smoke/mist, or sometimes swarms of insects. It’s even implied that if an improperly disposed of werewolf were to die, he/she would actually come back as a vampire.

In the daylight, Drac appears in his more youthful and handsome appearance and charms Mina. And handsome is right. The funny thing was I thought that was Johnny Depp at first before I knew it was Gary Oldman. Even though this movie came out before Johnny Depp became known for his roles in movies like Edward Scissorhands. Young Drac looks quite yummy if I do say so myself….it’s not hard to see where Russell Brand stole...oops, I mean ‘borrowed’ his look from.

They receive word from Jonathan who has escaped from the castle and recovered at a covenant, Mina travels to Transylvania to marry Drac. In his fury, Drac turns Lucy into a vampire. Lucy is killed out of mercy by Dr Abraham Van Helsing, Arthur Holmwood, Dr Sedward, and Quincey Morris the following night.

I am not going to go over the rest of the plot because well this movie is too good for me to spoil, plus everyone has already seen this movie and they are familiar with it already. I mean who isn’t familiar with the tale of Dracula? No one? Exactly!

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is in my opinion one of the most elegant monster movies i’ve ever seen, everything about it is just so visually stunning, classy, and well made. I love the sets, I love the props, I love the costumes, I love the musical score, I love the acting and I adore the makeup fx. No wonder this movie won a few Academy Awards, it deserved them for being such a marvelous piece of work.

Sure, some people have made fun of this movie because they thought the acting was too over-the-top and have even made fun of Keanu’s ‘English accent’ , but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying it. It’s one of my personal favorite vampire movies and always will be.

Last but not least...I ADORE this movie’s ending theme ‘Love Song For A Vampire’ by Annie Lennox, it’s so sad but also moving and an overall beautiful piece. The lyrics are very moving as well, well written and full of emotion. *sings* Once I had the rarest rose, that ever deigned to bloom. Cruel winter chilled the bud, and stole my flower too soon. Oh loneliness, oh hopelessness, to search the ends of time. For there is in all the world, no greater love than mine! Oh love oh love oh love, still falls the rain (still falls the rain), oh love oh love oh love, oh love, still falls the night (still falls the night), oh love oh love, oh love oh love.. be mine forever…(be mine foreeeever!), oh love, oh love, oh love, oh looove.