A Poor Adaptation

Rating: 5/10 (11 October 2005)

I'm not one of those people who thinks that a screen adaptation should be forced to "follow" the novel or other original source material exactly. But I do believe that a screen adaptation should at least conform to the spirit of the original. This adaptation fails to do that, even though it "follows" the various events of the novel more closely than most other films bearing this title. The novel, as written by Bram Stoker, is the story of a few flawed but good humans versus a powerful creature symbolizing ultimate evil. Stoker's Dracula is pure selfish appetite coupled with a ruthless determination to satisfy that appetite, regardless of who gets hurt. That's what makes him totally evil, and totally fascinating. The character loses much of his symbolic power if he's portrayed as just an ordinary villain. To put it another way, we cannot imagine Stoker's Dracula refusing to bite the heroine when given the opportunity, while he whines, "I love you too much," as the Dracula in this film does. Even though the Dracula films made with Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee tend to stray far from the events of the novel, they are much more compliant with Stoker's brilliant vision of the Count.