Oct 091992
 
four reels

The fearless knight, Vlad (Gary Oldman), returns home from protecting Christendom to find his wife dead.  Cursing God, he becomes a vampire.  Four hundred years later, he decides to move to London and finds his dead wife reincarnated as Mina Murray (Winona Ryder).  Opposing him are members of polite society including the vampire expert, Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins), and Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves).

First, let’s get the title out of the way.  The words “Bram Stoker’s” were added because of copyright issues.  This film is not any closer to the novel than the other major versions (even though many critics claim that it is—critics who apparently don’t read).

The movie takes its cues from the 1979 version, sharing its romantic and erotic take on the tale as well as its failings (read that review as I hate to repeat myself).  But this version is not a copy as the mood is quite different.  This is theater as spectacle.  Everything is bigger, brighter, and louder than previous tellings or life.  It is a precursor to the style-first horror films (Blade, Underworld, Van Helsing), and like them, coherence, story progression, and character all take a back seat to set design, costumes, and FX.  Things happen not for the story, but because they look cool.  The actors attempt to compete with the true stars by waving their arms about and either yelling or whispering their lines.  It’s very melodramatic and leaves the actors looking foolish.  Ryder and Reeves are the perfect couple, as even with their histrionic speeches, their characters are flat.  Hopkins, on the other hand, presents a Van Helsing that would be suitable on the old, campy Batman  TV series, but is not for a feature we’re suppose to take seriously.  Oldman’s Dracula is just one step away from Sesame Street’s Count and ripe for parody.

Yet, with these flaws (and many more I haven’t listed), Bram Stoker’s Dracula is worth your time for its pageantry.  When story and acting are overwhelmed by appearance, it’s because the appearance is spectacular.  Every frame is a feast for the eyes: magnificent gothic structures, writhing topless vampire babes, transformations into a horde of rats, a werewolf, and a half-human bat, extravagant gowns (particularly on vampire Lucy and on old Dracula), independently moving shadows, and translucent lingerie.  It is overindulgence for its own sake, and who doesn’t like that now and again?

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