Truly B-grade

Rating: 4/10 (17 April 1999)

Before seeing this film, I'd scoffed at the less-than-flattering reviews I'd read. Naively, I thought that The Man, the hand behind The Godfather (1 and 2 - let's forget about 3) couldn't be as bad as all that. I was so wrong.
The acting was, *heavy sigh*, terrible. Gary Oldman was doing his sleepwalking act again - glower glower, sneer sneer, yada yada. Winona was, as usual, truly irritating as only she can be - but I give her credit for going well with the decor. Hopkins has been much lowered in my esteem, and Sadie Frost made me cringe. (Let's not talk about Keanu. It's just too painful.)
Even the much-praised visuals weren't all that spectacular. There were some unforgettable moments, filmed with great imagination and style; but also the unmistakable look of the soundstage that clashed rather horribly with the feel of the film. In terms of production style, lavish and decadent would have to be the words of the day; but again, the feeling of artificialty overpowered.
Finally, its status as a horror film. There are certain characteristics of Gothic horror films that have, through long and exhaustive use, become passe - the strategic lightning and thunderclap; the walking-around-mysterious-corners-at-night; the rising storm; and the little things like rats and worms. The challenge for modern horror films is rise above these cliches, to come up with something new and different to challenge the audience.
Not only does Dracula not avoid these cliches, it positively takes a running jump, clutches them in its scaly embrace and slowly sucks the life out. The dialogue was in a similar vein. It was shocking, but in a totally negative way.
To sum up - don't see it.