"The blood is the life... and it shall be mine."

Rating: 7/10 (29 August 2015)

Francis Ford Coppola's sumptuous retelling of a story that, frankly, has been told to death. It's one of the more fresh and inventive versions of the Dracula story that has ever been filmed. That isn't to say it's without flaws (the limited acting abilities of Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder, for example) but it has a lot going for it that few cinematic Draculas do. The script reworks and expands upon Stoker's tale in some brilliant ways, adding depth to the Dracula character that is largely missing from the novel. Gary Oldman's performance is wonderfully theatrical without going too far into camp territory. It's one of Coppola's best post-70s films. Possibly the best, in my opinion. Of course it doesn't match up to his classics from that decade but it is far more memorable than most of his efforts since. The visuals in this movie are simply stunning. The colors, the sets, the costumes, the effects, the editing are all remarkable. Wojciech Kilar's evocative score is deserving of more praise.
This isn't the scariest Dracula movie ever made but it is one of the more interesting. It may wallow in its excesses at times and it is probably a tad longer than necessary, but it's a gorgeous film with so much going on in every scene that I never felt bored or uninvolved. Lugosi and Lee will always be paramount in my book but this Dracula has earned a special place in my heart over the years. It's a movie I revisit from time to time and I am always finding more things about it to enjoy.