Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Cast

Gary Oldman ...Prince Vlad Dracula

Winona Ryder ...Mina Murray/Elisabeta

Anthony Hopkins ...Professor Abraham Van Helsing/Chesare

Keanu Reeves ...Jonathan Harker

Richard E. Grant ...Doctor Jack Seward

Cary Elwes ...Lord Arthur Holmwood

Bill Campbell ...Quincey P. Morris

Sadie Frost ...Lucy Westenra

Tom Waits ...R.M. Renfield

Monica Bellucci ...Dracula's Bride

Michaela Bercu ...Dracula's Bride

Florina Kendrick ...Dracula's Bride

Jay Robinson ...Mr. Hawkins

I.M. Hobson ...Hobbs

Maud Winchester ...Downstairs Maid

Octavian Cadia ...Deacon

Robert Getz ...Priest

Dagmar Stanec ...Sister Agatha

Eniko Öss ...Sister Sylva

Nancy Linehan Charles ...Older Woman

Tatiana von Fuerstenberg ...Younger Woman

Jules Sylvester ...Zoo Keeper

Hubert Wells ...Zoo Keeper

Daniel Newman ...News Hawker

Honey Lauren ...Peep Show Girl

Judi Diamond ...Peep Show Girl

Robert Buckingham ...Husband

Cully Fredricksen ...Van Helsing's Assistant

Laurie Franks ...Lucy's Maid

Kristina Fulton ...Vampire girl

Diamanda Galas ...Special vocal performances

Ahhhhh, I face the horror that is Dracula once again. After this movie I can't help but hear Elmer Fudd in the back of my mind saying, "I'll get you, you wascally Wallachian!"

What can I say about Bram Stoker's Dracula that will be concise and to the point? I've already discussed my favor of the 1979 version of Dracula with Frank Langella. Honestly after this movie, I believe Bram Stoker is majorly dizzy after all the spinning he's done in his grave.

I always look back on this movie with a strange nostalgia. I was a fish in college when a friend and I went to see this at Schulman six in Bryan, Texas. We expected something grand, and were impressed for the most part. Perhaps my own changed outlook on what a vampire movie should be made me make pithy comments about it now. Don't get me wrong, it's a neck and shoulders above most of the other vampire movies, but still…

Okay, maybe it's just that I don't find Gary Oldman particularly attractive. Don't get me wrong; it would be hard to find someone who could be a wolf, giant bat thingy as well as an old man. Also he did resemble the real Dracula from the woodcuts etc.

Sir Anthony Hopkins (whom I have great respect for) probably pretends he never was in this movie. 'Dracula? I was never in Dracula!' After hearing him say 'The power of Christ compels you!' over and over again, boy was I compelled to turn off the DVD.

The chick who played Lucy, wow…how historically inaccurate can we get? First off, redheads were not approved of in Victorian London society, nor would be the clothing that they gave that woman. She made me think of Ingrid Pitt in old Hammer films (if you're interested, Ingrid Pitt did a wonderful book on vampires called 'The Ingrid Pitt Bedside Companion for Vampire Lovers). The red nightgown thing was very cool.

I'd love a copy of that, as well as the figure to go with it. But Lucy's wedding dress/funeral shroud was frightening to say the best. What the heck was with that Elizabethan collar?

There were some interesting things covered in this film (and uncovered) that had been ignored in other film adaptations. Apparently in London over a century ago an Irishman named Bram had a wee bit too much to drink one night and dreamed of blood-sucking women and their strange master. Back in the old days, a lot of the things he wrote about were still too controversial to include in the movies of the past.

I loved the scene including Dracula's wives. Just the surprised look on Keanu's face made me comment, 'Whoa! Duuude!' Seriously though the scene reminded me a great deal of Irish legends of the Deargh Du, a strange vampiric/fairy creature (the most infamous was a red haired woman who rose from her grave once a year near Tara). They were deadly, beautiful and extremely seductive, but I digress I'm an admitted Celtophile, collecting legends and tales of the seven Celtic nations. I have to wonder if Bram had been thinking of his mother's stories about the Deargh Du when he wrote that scene.

Anywho, another interesting twist was the dinner between Vlad and Mina involving the imbibing of absinthe. There is an old saying that goes something like 'Whiskey and beer are for fools; absinthe for poets.' I wonder if those poets saw diamonds in their tears as well. It revealed an interesting seamy underbelly to life in Victorian England. So much went on behind closed doors in that time period. That and the Victorian porno at the cimatograph was a hoot.

Here are some other interesting points (to me anyway) I noted…

Also apparently they used quite a few real Romanian words. I recognized 'Strigoi' which is an old term for vampire (or so my research says).

I absolutely hated the scene where Lucy dies and the blood splashes all over her room. Yuck-o-rama.

The sex scene (or blood sharing scene) between Dracula and Mina was pretty cheddary. No chemistry whatsoever (in my opinion). And Gary Oldman made noises I never want to hear from him again (Geez, Gary, please can the porno noises). Sukh began making Bum-chika-bow-wow noises when I mentioned this scene.

With that in mind, the best thing that came from this was the flashback (interesting Dune/Cell suit for Dracula). Also interesting was the name they came up with for his wife. Elisabetha? Was this a strange homage to Elizabeth Bathory? Who knows?

Also I must make mention of Tom Waits, who portrayed Renfield. He was great.

Okay I give this movie, four wedges out of five. The best thing about this movie was that it inspired Bart Simpson's Dracula, which I heartily recommend.

About our reviewer

Heather Poinsett-Dunbar is a writer of vampire fiction who has loved vampires and vampire movies since she was about this high. She is in the midst of writing her first vampire novel and is also working on an unofficial guidebook for the Canadian television series, Forever Knight.

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