Bram Stoker's Dracula

Rating: 6/10 (13 July 2005)

The legendary story by Bram Stoker has had many film versions made, and this is one of the most interesting ones from director Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now). It isn't completely scary, but it is a dark and mysterious tale. The opening sequence inn 1462 sees how Prince Vlad Dracula (Gary Oldman, putting on) became a blood sucking creature when he renounces God and the church after his wife killed herself, thinking he was dead. 435 years later, 1897, the real story begins. Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves, with a terrible British accent) is invented to the castle of Dracula in Transylvania, to help the Count (who looks the age he should be dead) buy Carfax Abbey. After this of course he is held prisoner by Dracula, with the help of his (probably lesbian) wives and some werewolves. With the help of some Transylvanian soil in his coffin, and sucking the blood of many of the crew, Dracula travels in a ship across the sea to London, and while doing so his appearance goes younger, and he will be able to go out in the sunlight. He is going there to meet Harker's fiancée, Mina Murray (Winona Ryder, who couldn't do Coppola's third Godfather film), who bear's a striking resemblance to the wife he once had. Meanwhile, Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Sir Anthony Hopkins) is trying to convince everyone involved that Dracula is a vampire, and slowly as some women are bitten, they believe it and know he must be stopped. Also starring Richard E. Grant as Dr. Jack Seward, Cary Elwes as Lord Arthur Holmwood, Bill Campbell as Quincey P. Morris, Sadie Frost as Lucy Westenra, Tom Waits as R.M. Renfield, Monica Bellucci as Dracula's Bride, Michaela Bercu as Dracula's Bride and Florina Kendrick as Dracula's Bride. The visuals are intriguing, almost like classic horror, including shadows on walls, eyes and faces in the sky, rats walking on ceilings and much more, a good old-fashioned dark film with a lot of sexual images (more than many other vampire films) and bloody effects. It won the Oscars for Best Costume Design, Best Sound Effects and Best Makeup, and it was nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, and it was nominated the BAFTAs for Best Costume Design, Best Make Up Artist, Best Production Design and Best Special Effects. Winona Ryder was number 87, Gary Oldman number 40, and Sir Anthony Hopkins number 7 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, Oldman was number 11, and Hopkins number 1 on The 50 Greatest British Actors, Hopkins was number 1 on Britain's Finest Actors, and Oldman was number 36, and Hopkins number 3 on The World's Greatest Actor. Good!