twas brillig and the slvy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe,all mimsy were the borogroves and th...
twas brillig and the slvy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe,all mimsy were the borogroves and the mome wraths outgabe
Member since:16.02.2006
Reviews:12
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Great. Another big budget film by the great bearded one (Francis Ford Coppola), no expense spared, extravagant, all star cast, couple of years in the making, a great film to huddle up to your man to... especially with the tagline 'true love never dies' - ah l'amour....hang on a minute!.... love? In Bram Stoker's Dracula?!...surely this must be in reference to the Jonathan Harker/ Wilhemina Murray partnership that begins the tale? Dracula isn't capable of love?! He just wants to suck everyone's blood doesn't he? Apparently not.........
........................................................................................... ================================== ALL STAR CAST ******* ==================================
Gary Oldman Anthony Hopkins Keanu Reeves Winona Ryder Cary Elwes Sadie Frost Tom Waits Monica Bellucci That guy from Withnail and I
============================ SYNOPSIS ==================================Harker (Keanu Reeves), an ambitious and aspiring young solicitor is sent to deepest Transylvania to complete his predecessor's paperwork (little do we imagine what happened to him!) - The client is an eccentric count by the name of Dracula who is interested,
mysteriously, in purchasing real estate in various parts of London.
Harker is thus separated from his true love school teacher Mina Murray (Winona Ryder) and proceeds to record all happenings in a diary, which is narrated by Reeves and we are taken through a visually stunning filmscape of the turbulent and eerie Romanian Carpathian Mountains. However, when we finally meet this count (Oldman) he looks more like a Chinese drag act - massive grey hair piled upon his head in the oriental fashion, and the Eastern dress which is somewhat puzzling (perhaps, as I personally believe, that this is a reference to this infamous essay by Edward Said on Orientalism and the mythical nature of the East but anyway, I digress) Oldman is nevertheless suitably menacing and as the master of the undead.
Perplexingly, (as this is not in the novel at all) we are then given a recount of lost love by the count, and his desire to reach his 'destiny' by reuniting with the reincarnation of his one true love, who committed suicide about 400 years ago. This leads the count to renounce God, stab his sword into a statue of the crucifix which the pours with blood (perhaps an unnecessarily boldly and gory beginning), and to become immortal and one of the 'undead'. This one time love of the count is, coincidently, Harker's girlfriend... (!) He then takes Harker prisoner in his suitably spooky castle and travels to London (the Demeter/ship scene true to the book) makes himself quite dishy by using his special powers, and stalks Ryder as Mina…in the meantime eating various rich Londoners and torturing the people of the nearby lunatic asylum…I'll leave it there as I don't want to spoil the ending!
THE DVD ITSELF/ PRICE/ SPECIAL FEATURES ETC… ===========================================================
You can usually find this DVD priced well below £10, In fact, I bought mine for £4.99 in HMV.
Widescreen option
Great Documentary about the myth of Dracula entitled 'The Man, The Myth, The Legend'
Filmographies of the main actors
Theatrical Trailer
Costume Designs - Oscar nominated designed Eiko Ishioka lets us take a glimpse of her designs
DVD trailer
MY VERDICT
As an ardent fan of the 19th century gothic book by Irishman Bram Stoker, I expected that the director would at least remain true to the original tale. Instead, there are unnecessary elaborations, self-indulgent references to other films of the vampire genre that just seem to be there for the hell of it, and a central storyline that simply is not there in the original novel.
Oldman as Dracula nevertheless is superb in his portrayal of the doomed blood-thirsty king of terror, reflecting the obvious purgatorial pain suffered by the Master of the Undead because he 'loves'. Perhaps there is argument for the humanizing of a traditionally macabre and cold blooded killer? - Maybe Stoker didn't give enough oomph for the average 20/21st century cinema goer?, causing an vacillating final cut, which des not know what it wants to be, Romance? Horror? Action? Costume Drama? I couldn't tell you, but somehow, for me it works.
I liked the romantic touch (although sacrilegious to tamper with the original masterpiece) it gave me a kind of warm feeling inside, saying to myself 'awwww, don't be nasty to him and don't try to drive a stake through his heart - he's in love…' I suppose we are supposed to empathise with him? And I did end up feeling a bit sorry for the poor guy - I mean, he is a bit minging and noone loves him :'(.
The superb sets and visually stunning cinematography and costume by Oscar nominated designer Eiko Ishioka (explains the Oriental lilt), renders this film a sumptuous visual experience, with effective use of colour (red, mainly), and music the mise-en-scene is perfect, I actually slept with a crucifix under my pillow after the first screening (ok I was 14). The soundtrack (Wojciech Kilar) is superb (later used in the film 'The Mummy) with a bonus track by Annie Lennox! (Lovesong for a Vampire) works to emphasise the overall spookiness and darkness. Star-crossed lovers, forever together in hell, it seems!
WHO I THINK WOULD LIKE THIS! ===============================================================
Good as an introduction to the story as some parts of the screenplay are true to the book, as long as it's made clear that Dracula doesn't have a love interest, he just want to suck peoples blood, generally and get his revenge on God.
Nice as a date-film to snuggle up to, quite romantic in bits
Good as an example of cinematic codes/conventions in a Film Studies/Media Studies class!
Good, watchable although be prepared for Keano's awful English accent!
Production Year: 1968 - Horror - Director: George A. Romero - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Keith Wayne, Marilyn Eastman, Judith Ridley, Russ Steiner, Kyra Schon, Judith O'Dea, Duane Jones, Karl Hardman
Advantages: strong symbolism mirroring Freudian psychoanalysis | screenplay | acting | camera | cutting Disadvantages: Bill and Ted's not so excellent side-stepping adventure in falling down a castle wall land
knight_of_the_soundtable 07.10.2005 (07.10.2005)
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Review of Bram Stoker's Dracula (DVD)
Advantages: strong symbolism mirroring Freudian psychoanalysis | screenplay | acting | camera | cutting Disadvantages: Bill and Ted's not so excellent side-stepping adventure in falling down a castle wall land
knight_of_the_soundtable 07.10.2005 (07.10.2005)
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Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Bram Stoker's Dracula (DVD)
Mar 9th, 2006
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