Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
The very first thing I wanna mention is actually the director himself. Francis Ford Coppola, yes the same director responsible for The Godfather series as well as Apocalypse Now. He ended up getting convinced by Winona Ryder to do his Dracula adaptation. I also gotta mention a lot of notable stars are in this movie. Like Keanu Reeves whose famous for such roles as Neo & John Wick years before those.
Anthony Hopkins plays Dr. AbrahamVan Helsing who previously played Dr. Lector in Silence of the Lambs. Cary Elwes plays Lord Arthur Holmwood later played Dr. Gordon in Saw series. Gary Oldman plays Dracula is seriously in a lot of great movies I'm not kidding. I'm actually a huge fan of the actor's work.
I would say this is one of the bloodiest adaptation of the novel I ever seen. I do really enjoyed Oldman's performance, he made the role his own. I know I mentioned this parody a lot by now, Conker's Bad Fur Day parodied this Dracula movie. Speaking of that, a few years later a parody movie called Dracula: Dead and Loving It.
Honestly, I felt this one was done amazingly well in every category. You got some great special effects with rememberable characters. Not only that, I loved how they shown how Dracula became an vampire. The movie is about Dracula whose seeking a new lover. He does end up choosing Jonathan's soon to be wife.
I also want to point out I'm a huge fan of Ryder's work as well. I even loved her performances on the Netflix show, Stranger Things. Back to this, Dracula does have wives with two attached to each other. I felt how they went about Dracula claiming Lucy was truly a bloodbath. He previously bite her one night outside.
Later on, Dracula came back to turn her into a vampire. Which also led to a group of people slaying her. Of course, Dracula by this point putting his full focus in claiming Mina as his wife. I know I am skipping over a lot of parts here. This group takes away a lot of people trying to help Dracula whose in a coffin during that going on.
There's some truly brutal death scenes with Dracula's being a little unexpected at first. I do like how they went about the locations. I did enjoy the beginning war scene against the Turks. Dracula's suit of armor was quite menacing too. I gotta mention, this scary carriage driver. Easily, one of the scariest in 90s movies you ever seen.
There's also a scene where Jonathan has a conversation with Dracula. You see how differently Dracula's shadow acts in comparison to the actual vampire. Honestly, that's a strangely interesting concept. I know some people make front of old Dracula because of his hair style. Sure it reminds me of something particular from the movie Little Nicky.
Somehow Oldman makes that appearance worked incredibly well. It's interesting yet creepy at the same time. There's no shortage of surprises through out the movie. Renfield himself looks like he's out of his mind literately. It's mind blowing the man responsible for The Godfather trilogy made this movie!!! At first, it's insane he somehow pulled it off from his usual works.
Bram Stoker's Dracula is still one of my favorite movie adaptations. It also among my favorite 90s vampire movies as well. I really can't say much more that haven't already been said about this movie. I also liked how they went about Dracula's journey on ships devouring people. After all, he's a vampire spending a lot of his time inside his coffin until it's night.
Dracula does transform into a wolf as well as a giant humanoid bat like creature. He also makes himself notably younger as well. I do loved how they pulled off Oldman crawling on walls, it's so creepy among a first watch. Honestly, this is a great Dracula movie in every sense of the word. I don't even have criticism because it's that damn good.
This movie was a huge deal in the 90s. It led to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein with Robert De Niro two years later. Sometimes, movie concepts started out great then quickly dies out. Oddly enough Bram Stoker's Legend of the Mummy movie came out three years after that version of Frankenstein. I haven't seen that Mummy movie but I have seen The Mummy with Brendan Fraser that came out two years later.
The Mummy series with Brendan Fraser are decent. The recent entry is alright with a few notable things. It isn't flat out terrible though. I figured to mention this here for anyone curious for my quick thoughts on those movies. Honestly, is it any surprise the best one so happens to be the original? I will say go check those Mummy movies out too.
I did look up Legend of the Mummy, it didn't do well. But you know these classic monsters. People will keep bringing them back. It's no different then Blumhouse doing Halloween movies. Back to the movie, Dracula was clearly the best of those with Bram Stoker's name in the 90s. Also due to it's success, Anne Rice's movie adaptation of Interview with the Vampire came out two years later.
I confessed I'm also a huge fan of that vampire movie myself, right now I'm going to save it for another time. More recently, AMC made a show adaptation out of Interview with the Vampire. Yes I am aware of another movie adaptation of a sequel book called Queen of the Damned. Now I got those off my chest back to Dracula here.
I felt this was how I would've recreated the novel. I loved seeing Dracula's eyes in the sky effect a lot. I would say this is among my favorite characters Oldman has done. Oldman was very busy during the 90s himself. This movie was a step into the right direction for horror book to movie transition. Even Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp that came out seven years later owes thanks for this being a major success.
Dracula's wives were sexy but creepy at the same time. I do liked how they went about everyone in this movie. This is a timeless classic that may go under the radar for a lot of people. If you love vampires especially Dracula, you gotta watch this!!! This is one of my absolute favorite vampire movies I have ever seen period.
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