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Bram Stoker's Dracula
Customer Reviews
Rating:  - I wish there were more stars to rate this movie!!
It's an amazing love story, when I knew it was out on blu-ray I just had to have it. I loved it, although there's not a big difference from the regular dvd. The movie is amazing.
Rating: - "Enter freely of your own will and leave some of the happiness you bring."
This movie truly made an impression on me. Gary Oldman was magnificent in his portrayal of Vlad Dracula. It was amazing to watch him switch wonderfully from a noble knight, to an eccentric Count, to a younger romantic prince, a blood thirsty werewolf, large bat and much more. I'll never forget the look in his eyes when he first saw Mina walking about in London. He said, "See me, see me NOW". Well it sent chills up and down my spine.
This particular movie version showed a Dracula with more depth. The prologue revealed the circumstances as to why he turned from good to evil. Oldman should have received an oscar. What was the academy thinking? As for the rest, some acted out their roles better than others. But poor Keanu. He just wasn't convincing enough for me. What was Coppola thinking? Still, I do think of Francis as a great director. He put together some fantastic films including this one. I received the Collector's Edition recently and found all the extras to be a wonderful addition.
The movie did leave me with some questions (maybe dumb) & comments. I was slightly puzzled when Harker was held hostage by the three vampire divas. He mentions being barely kept alive because they kept draining his blood. One would assume that his new groupies bit him over and over again. So why did he not become infected with the vampire curse, die and turn into one as well? If I recall Lucy and Mina began to exhibit some of the vampire characteristics the day after Dracula feasted on them.
In the film we see Dracula moving freely about during the day with unique talents (catching Mina's medicine bottle then reappearing in front of her as she turns the corner). Of course if the vampire divas decided to go and mingle among the crowded streets of mighty London, one would hope they put clothes on. What about the chic with all the snakes on her head, hmmmm. A tad far fetched. Perhaps she should switch to a new hair dresser; or we just caught her on a bad hair day.
All in all I believe it to be the best Dracula movie by far. Goodness knows there have been a ton of them. So enjoy the movie and just decide for yourself ;-)
Rating: - OLDMAN'S EXQUISITE PERFORMANCE RESCUES THIS SILLY MOVIE FROM ABSOLUTE FOOLISHNESS.
Francis Coppola's DRACULA saga is an extravagantly nutso affair shot though with several terrible performances. (You know who they are.) But if you're going to have one really good performance in a vampire movie, it helps if it's from the actor playing Dracula. Gary Oldman is so much the life of Bram Stoker's Dracula that you the audience, unlike the characters in the movie, are safe only when Dracula is around.
Oldman's Dracula is by no means scary -- going for scary probably would have been futile and fatal -- but he is creepy, unpredictable, funny, sexy and compulsively watchable. Oldman succeeded in invoking the familiar, ghoulish Dracula with ease and wit, while at the same time evoking a new, modern, "F"-ed-up Dracula that has the kick of the unexpected. How difficult was Oldman's job? For starters, he was actually playing several different characters -- the medieval warrior; the crazed, debauched old man; the hairy giant bat; the seductive prince. That alone was potential chaos. But he also has a movie sliding off into silliness all around him. And he had gobs of makeup to contend with. You could see how the guy who became famous playing rock psycho Sid Vicious would have no problem handling this last challenge -- Oldman could act right through a brick wall, not to mention heavy prosthetics. How Oldman succeeded in keeping Coppola's sputtering blarney half-afloat is another matter.
Oldman seems to have thought a lot about how someone who has been pursuing a very bad habit for 400 years might feel and behave. On the one hand, the relic in the castle who unnerves Keanu Reeves is a combination of cheesy Bela Lugosi tribute and purely original strangeness -- as the terrifying razor-licking scene shows. The lethal geezer has the manners of someone who hasn't been out in public in a few centuries. On the other hand, the blue-spectacled fashion plate who fascinates Mina (Winona Ryder) is all seductive single-mindedness, with a subtle -- here's the key and the surprise -- vulnerability. The elegant prince has been consumed by a love since the fall of Constantinople -- and he has the gaze to prove it.
Besides giving Dracula a low voice and slooowww way of talking (why hurry when you've seen everything and you're never going to die?), Oldman paid special attention to his character's eyes. Dracula almost never blinks, telegraphing that, physically speaking, he doesn't have normal human needs, and metaphorically speaking, he can't be surprised or intimidated. The moment when Oldman does have Dracula blink -- when he sees the picture of Mina on Harker's desk, and later when he is with Mina and she is "remembering" his love Elisabeta -- are precisely when his ancient humanity has been aroused. Oldman also uses his hands to feed energy into his portrait of the "undead." The old Dracula, whose palms are hairy (a good joke), does some fancy finger-waving that is complemented by a sort of bat-flapping of the arms when he gets ticked off. A great effect. The prince's hands are flawless, manicured instruments of seduction. Very sexy.
But these are just the specifics of a performance that is thoroughly thought out and fearlessly executed. And all within the confines of a basically terrible movie! With the whole enterprise of Bram Stoker's Dracula pitched so dangerously, and at points disastrously, toward extremism, it was something of a miracle that Oldman managed to resurrect a woefully picked-over legend with the strength of his own dramatic nerve.
Rating:  - For the dead travel fast
Not too many movies try to stick close to the story or at least the essence of what the story is about. You get a lot of blood suckers without the true story as seen from the time. This presentation kept all the main characters and kept them as they were meant to be. Many of the actual lines from the original story are presented her.
The basic story is of Dracula losing his love only to find her again four centuries later. Well not quit the original thrust of the story it fits well as a main thread. Drac goes to London to start a new life and finds food for though. Munching on Sadie Frost can defrost anyone's soul. And Winona Ryder makes a tasty Mina. Keanu Reeves picks up a British accent.
Two major drawbacks, keeping this from being a five star movie is that many of the visual effects are hokey and threaten to undo the pathos of the story. And what is with the dumb looking Renfield outfits? Secondly the background music turns out to be foreground music and the actor lines get lost in the noise.
Of course the ending does not actually match the book but it works for the story being told.
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Just a note that if you are buying this for Blu-ray you are missing the point of the movie. Yes the blood is bloodier and you can see the goose bumps on naked flesh, but it dos not change the story one iota. I only bought Blu-ray beause that is the technology of the time.
Dracula (Signet Classics)
Nosferatu
Rating: - Stunning on blu-ray!
Always loved this movie, always thought it was great (visually, acting of the stars (minus Keenu), costuming, sound, so forth...)
I had recently gotten an LCD HDTV and a Blu-Ray player, and this was the first blu-ray I put to the test.
Oh my God, I was thrilled by the total experience of this disc! The picutre was outstanding, vibrant colors, sharpness, detail, it all was there in spades. This is now the blu-ray I compare others to.
I highly recommend this, not only for the fantastic movie it is, but also for the blu-ray experience.
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