A beautiful mess

Rating: 7/10 (14 November 2014)

This movie is very hard to pinpoint. Like somebody pointed out, the actors are pretty terrible. Or rather, they're a good bunch of actors but they don't do very well. Then we have Mr. Coppola who don't really seem to know what to do with his script. Parts of the movie are scary, parts are campy. There's a very erotic undertone that I don't get from the book.
The movie starts out pretty strong, then gets lost for a good deal of time. When Van Helsing arrives, it regains some of its momentum. The ending was pretty strong, although I personally did not like the actual resolution of the film.
Anyway, it was an interesting watch. Time has been surprisingly kind to Dracula. Cinematography, one of Coppola's strong suits, was again phenomenal. He also uses some very interesting techniques that remind us from old b/w classics. Staccato POV shots and obsolete cameras add to the splendid mess that makes this movie a Part of Horror History.
That being said, I think that the time is ripe for a remake that is more aligned with Stoker's book.