Should be renamed Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula

Rating: 6/10 (30 September 1998)

This movie almost follows the novel. The count comes to England and is then chased back home. In addition there is the love story which is well done and truly touching. The sets and costumes are marvellous and those alone make the movie woth seeing.
But except for Jonathon Harker's interactions with the count at the castle, this movie is not scary. Gary Oldman is scary as the old count and he makes the film. But the rest of the movie is mystery and eroticism and there is little horror involved.
The characters are also somewhat different than as written. Mina Harker and Lucy Westenra are apparently nymphomaniacs. Van Helsing has been written down to nothing more than a talkative perverted Dutchman. Thank God Renfield has been left untampered.
If you have to see this film, expect to be somewhat scared for the first forty minutes and awed by the ambience of the film throughout. But this is not Bram Stoker's Dracula. That Irishman would have never written characters like the ones in this film.