One of the all time worst

Rating: Null/10 (23 January 2003)

When the director of THE GODFATHER and APOCOLYPSE NOW puts together a terrific cast and announces he's going to make the first true adaptation of Bram Stoker's DRACULA, hopes are very, very high. That makes it all the more painful when they burst into flame and go crashing into a school playground full of unsuspecting nuns and disabled children. This mind-bogglingly awful mess rivals BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA as the worst vampire movie of all time--and it cost $50 million to make! Dreadful performances, self-satisfied, pretentious direction, a wildly uneven script and costumes that look like they were bought at Spencer's. One can't be too surprised by the mind-numbing (and much ridiculed) performance of Keanu Reeves, but one would expect far more from dependable talents such as Gary Oldman, Anthony Hopkins and Winona Ryder. Only Tom Waits, as Renfield, seems up to the challenge, but his presence is not enough to help this lumbering waste of time and money. There's two dozen better vampire movies that cost a tenth of this movie's budget, and if you give me a few minutes I can actually name them.