| Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 Bram Stoker's Dracula is a feverishly inventive movie that often overwhelms its own narrative flow, yet proves irresistible to watch. Coppola's baroque, operatic set design, costumes, and cinematography look as lavish as they did on the film's first release. The director's grab-bag of visual effects are still bold and unabashed, if often over-the-top, and the actors still appear caught up in a certain hysterical pitch that feels a little forced but can be a lot of fun to watch. Gary Oldman's imaginative performance as the titular vampire carries the weight of Coppola's vision of Count Dracula as a tragic-romantic hero with Christ-like overtones. Keanu Reeves still looks a little lost in the pivotal role of Jonathan Harker, the London clerk who finds himself a prisoner in a Transylvanian castle while a 400-year-old vampire makes a play for his fiancée back home (Winona Ryder). Anthony Hopkins is fearless as a daft Von Helsing, and Sadie Frost is very good as the doomed Lucy. --Tom Keogh |
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 "We are all madmen for God" |
| Review Date: November 23, 2002 |
| Reviewer: Marc Ruby™, Warren, MI USA |
| When I first saw this film I was completely carried away with Francis Ford Coppola's dark and brooding presentation of the novel that created the modern vampire. The visual composition, the use of color as theme, and the music overloaded my senses to the point that I barely noted the movement of the plot. After all, I had read Stoker's tale often enough to recite it word for word. Why pay too much attention? Going back over the film 10 years later revealed much that I missed the first time. Of course, the film really tries to capture the feeling of the book rather than be a literal copy, which may bother some aficionados. Coppola has chosen to gradually shift emphasis from a horror tale to the tragic story of an impossible love, without ever losing either thread. By shifting Dracula (Gary Oldman) back and forth from Rumanian hero to terrible monster, and allowing each persona to have its emotional context, he forces a foreboding dilemma on the viewer. Dialog and narration is sparse, just enough rather than florid. Again, nothing is allowed to distract from the building tension. What completely escaped me on the first viewing was Coppola's vision of a creeping corruption that infects almost all of the characters. British social mores fare little better than those of the vampires. Jack Seward (Richard Grant) is a morphine addict and Lucy Westenra's (Sadie Frost) sexual intensity proves her Achilles heel. Even Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) is subject to eerie, almost degenerate moments. This is a less pure, more disturbing world than that of Bram Stoker's imaginings. Coppola keeps the film working on many levels - foreboding horror, grand romance, sharp social commentary, and transcendental morality play. If love redeems, it only does so at a terrible price. Well worth viewing - several times. |
The Best Dracula Movie I've Ever Seen!
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| Review Date: July 2, 1999 |
| Reviewer: KMFL90C@prodigy.com, Lakewood, California, USA |
| Francis Ford Coppola does an excellent job retelling the Dracula tale using actual history blended with legend. Gary Oldman is excellent as the Count. Oldman's portrayal of the Count as a tortured man longing for the lost love of his life acutally had me feel sorry for the man. When he observes the portrait of Mina(Winona Ryder) and remembers his lost bride it is truly an awesome scene. Oldman's Count can also be bloodthirsty as well! Sir Anthony Hopkins as Professor Van Helsing is very fun to watch. To say that Van Helsing is a little nuts is an understatement! The music is also classic and it really sets the mood during the entire film. Winona Ryder as Mina playing a woman torn between the Count and her intended husband(Kneau Reeves) is well done. The most awesome scene is when the Count receives Mina's letter saying that she'll never see him again. You can feel the heartache and pain in the Count and also feel his anger. Awesome! A must see for the true Dracula fan! |
This collection's edition DVD features incldue
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| Review Date: August 29, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Orson Welles, Seattle, WA United States |
Number of Discs: 2
Special Features:
· Video introduction by Francis Ford Coppola
· Audio commentary by Francis Ford Coppola
· Documentary
· Deleted scenes
· Trailer |
"See What Your God Has Done To Me"
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| Review Date: March 9, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Carlos Burning, North Syracuse, USA |
A few years ago I approached Coppola's "Dracula" in a mood of indifference mixed with skepticism. Remembering Hammer Studios final, rather mediocre Dracula films, unable to forget Paul Morrisey's travesty of a film, and dissatisfied by Frank Langella's interpretation of the vampire Count--I expected Coppola's "Dracula" to be mildly entertaining at best. Thus I sighed, slipped the borrowed disc into my machine, sighed once more--and 130 minutes later I started breathing again! Coppola's "Dracula" is truly spellbinding, breathtaking. The very first moments of the film were surprising: the musical score's harsh, Balkan rhythms, the sight of wind-driven mists over the dome of St. Sophia's, the fine narration of the Turks' 15th century conquest of Constantinople, a heavy cross thrown down and shattering on a cobblestone pavement: such is beautiful film-making. That such visionary intensity could be sustained the entire length of the film--miraculous!
In practically every respect the film seems unprecedented--paradoxically because it adheres to the spirit, if not the letter, of the original 1898 novel. Only the conclusion deviates significantly from Bram Stoker's book. Nevertheless the cinematic ending remains quite effective: passionate, violent, Romantic--epithets that can be applied to the entire film as well. But there's one more word that seems equally fitting: "grandeur." "Dracula" has a truly epic scope: it begins with medieval armies contending for the possession of Europe; it spans centuries of implied supernatural warfare; it concludes among the incredible fortified mountains and precipices that seem to overlook the edge of this world...
While such visuals are stunning, they never diminish one's interest in the principal characters. Gary Oldman's portrayal of Dracula is both flawless and original. Less a monster than a tragic hero, he suffers a centuries-old torment of lost love. At the same time he is painfully aware of his own monstrosity--apparently inflicted for the understandable sin of cursing God! Anthony Hopkins is likewise impressive as Van Helsing--eccentric to the point of mania (as are many geniuses), yet formidable in every respect. Wynona Ryder is appropriately cool and beautiful as Dracula's reincarnated love. She is upstaged, however, by Sadie Frost's incredibly sexy interpretation of Lucy Westenra, the aristocratic Victorian dream-girl transformed by Dracula into a Victorian nightmare. Incidentally, I am astonished that Mistress Frost has yet to be recognized as a major horror film Icon.
All in all, Coppola's "Dracula" is one of those rare films that one can seriously compare to the best work of certain European directors--men like Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Jean Rollin, Jess Franco. In the horror film universe that constitutes the highest possible praise. |
BEST DRACULA MOVIE EVER
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| Review Date: December 24, 2005 |
| Reviewer: W. Noshie, Beirut, Lebanon |
| This comes from someone that is not a horror movie fan. Dracula was done in plenty of versions. All bad in my opinion or at least a waste of time to watch. This one is the only Dracula movie where you would sit from start to finish, you wake up the next day and you feel like you want to see it again. In this movie there is a great love story as well. The costumes and the photography are superb. DVD quality is also very good. If you want to own 1 Dracula movie, this is the one |
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