Bram Stoker's Dracula

Rating: 10/10 (25 September 2005)

This movie embraces the historical image of Dracula in all of his lure, romance, horror and seductiveness. It encompasses the mystery of the vampire; sex, seduction, horror, magic, and ruthlessness. Francis Coppola took these characters and brought them to life in this hauntingly powerful rendition of Bram Stoker's book. The settings and scenes are wonderfully glamorous and hypnotic. Each scene melts into the next. You experience the Gothic genre in its glory when Dracula and his brides tempt the souls of Mina and Lucy, which is the sub underlying theme of the movie. Starting with Mina witnessing the pillage of Lucy by Dracula, who has turned into a werewolf. The symbolism of sex, lust and weakness are rampid in this scene. Mina is confronted with the powers of Dracula, but his power overtakes her and of course, she forgets what she has seen. Mina is now ill minded, not knowing what she has thought and experienced, but knowing that she wants some part of it.
There are many hypnotic effects in this movie that aren't even noticed until the third or fourth time seeing it. The Count's eyes are there, watching Mina, symbolisms of death and/or sacrifice come up when you least expect it, the movements of the Count are quite eerie as well. she has the perfect
Winona fascinatingly takes this in and plays the part of Mina fabulously. You can look at Winona and know that this period piece will be spectacular, which it was. She embraces the part, like no other. Her and Oldman create magic, mystery and power in this movie. You come yourself, to believe, that they are lovers from a past life.
Winona has the best face and presence for period pieces. She says that she is a bad inconstant woman, this depicts her character perfectly. She is good, yet her intentions become bad, all evolving from Dracula's power over her. He is whimsical, alluring, sexy, mysterious, fearsome and romantic. He plays the part to T. In fact, Oldman isn't playing Dracula, Dracula is simply playing him. By far, the best Dracula the big screen has seen, other than than Nosferatu of 1922. Yet Oldman is not only Dracula, but also a human being, with emotions, feelings and a longing for his long lost Elisabeta.
The story line of Elisabeta being reincarnated as Mina, is quite fascinating, you don't see that too much in movies, especially a Vampire movie. Its very romantic, mysticizing and plays on the wild realm of imagination of the human mind.
The special effects, imagery, plot, costumes and general directing of this movie is phenomenal. Its larger than life, but not in an obnoxious Hollywood way. You feel like you really are in 19th Century England, the Karpathians, and Transylvania and experiencing the fascinating mystery of Dracula. I give this movie a 10. Coppola created a Masterpiece with this one.