After I saw Bram Stoker's Dracula when it came out a decade ago, I wrote my first film review. It ended up in our high school newspaper, and I gushed over it like it was the best movie ever made. I recently revisited the Francis Ford Coppola picture and, although I wasn't necessarily surprised it isn't the classic I once thought, I was disappointed in how little I had remembered and how erratic it really is.
That's not to say this isn't a good film. As directed by Coppola, the effect is one of gothic nightmare and Dali-scapes to shiver even the veteran horror buffs. Buckets of blood, disturbing nudity, grotesque beastiality and dark, satanic undertones are as common as can be. This ain't no sippin' tea.
Gary Oldman plays Prince Vlad, a man who fought in the Holy Wars and blasphemed against God when his beloved Elisabeta died. Destined to roam the Earth for centuries as a vampire, his hopes of recapturing the long lost love are restored when he is visited by the meek Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves). Upon seeing a picture of Harker's fiancée Mina (Winona Ryder), he travels to London via coffin. What follows is a series of chases, labyrinths and spooky animals, while a renowned doctor (Anthony Hopkins) tries to kill the evil Transylvanian once and for all.
When I first typed my review ten years ago, I wrote the best performance in the movie was by musician Tom Waits, who plays the asylum patient Renfield. That was true then and it's true now. It's a great supporting turn as a bug-munching, dark lord-worshipping freak. Newcomer Sadie Frost, as Mina's sister Lucy, is also pretty impressive (or is that impressively pretty?). As always, Cary Elwes is purely filler, and Richard E. Grant is underused as the paranoid Seward.
Coppola's production team has created highly unique art design, sets, and special effects. Shadows come to life, skies are filled with pastels and looming eyeballs, and film speeds are effectively sped up and slowed down at alternating points. There are a flurry of interesting shots, camera angles, and bizarre vantage points that are as creative as they are unsettling.
Dracula may not merit the addendum of author Bram Stoker's name to the title (other than the character names, there is an astonishing amount of creative license taken in James V. Hart's screenplay), but the movie works on many levels.
