31 Days of Horror Reviews 2018: Bram Stoker's Dracula
Dir. Francis Ford Coppola
For the record, I know this was done by Columbia Pictures and not Universal Studios, but it just doesn’t feel right to talk about the Dracula films and remakes and ignore something as unique as this.
REVIEW
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is... a strange one. Director Coppola delivered a visually spectacular film with some amazing performances and dazzling practical effects. Every scene is a visual splendor to look at with it’s mix of color and lighting, before it goes X-rated. That seems to be the pattern that some key scenes follow:
Lots of really good visuals
A couple minutes of eroticism
Then ends with an amazing visual
While it is pretty uncomfortable to viewers, it’s somewhat clever in a narrative sense. These scenes are meant to mark the end of an arc in a fashion that is sort of like the curtain lowering on the stage to signify the end of an Act. If one were to view the “Acts” of Bram Stoker’s Dracula individually as their own story, the climax of each “Act” happens when there is a climax.
Another point about the visual splendor of this film is that it made extensive and impressive use of practical effects. Francis Ford Coppola was adamant about making the film with no visual effects added in post-production. His son, Roman, supervised all the special effects that went into the movie. I went on to the IMDb page of the film to see if everything was achieved in-camera. The only visual effect was the blue flame when Jonathon Harker (Keanu Reeves) arrives at Castle Dracula, everything else was all done practically. Wow!
Gary Oldman plays Count Dracula and manages to actually match Bela Lugosi as a memorable interpretation. His character is rewritten as being more of a tragic villain and even given a back story to which Oldman conveys masterfully through his performance. He’s even able to match the intensity and presence set by Lugosi in one of the climactic acts. When Harker witnesses exactly what Count Dracula is, Dracula stares at him with a menacing gaze causing Harker to scream in pain as if his mind is being attacked. It ends with Dracula giving a deep and sinister laugh that sent a chill up my spine. The combination of low angles, contrasting colors of red and blue lighting and the ominous score made this one of the best scenes in the film in my opinion.
Wynona Ryder plays Mina, Harker's fiancee and Dracula’s reincarnated lover, who also gives an amazing performance as a proper Victorian-era lady whose present and past life are in conflict with each other.
Anthony Hopkins portrayal of Professor Van Helsing is a little different from Edward Van Sloan’s version from the original classic. Whereas Van Sloan’s came across as decent and respectful, Hopkins’ version can sometimes come across as mentally unbalanced. His casual attitude when he tells newlywed Harker and Mina how they dispatched a turned Lucy is hilarious in how he delivers it and their reaction to it.
Unfortunately, Keanu Reeves’ performance as Jonathon Harker has been universally panned and regarded as a miscast. He acts more like a robot on autopilot and saying preprogrammed responses. Even Coppola and Reeves himself agree to the poor performance and that he was not right for the part. Reeves blames his poor performance based on exhaustion from acting in several films before signing on to this one.
Despite this one negative aspect, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is an impressive spectacle that truly stands out from its predecessors.