Review of Dracula (a.k.a. Bram Stoker`s Dracula)

Video

Quality of this transfer is good, dark scenes of which there is many are nice and contrasty. The layer change could have been at a fractionally better moment, but then it could also have been at plenty of worse ones.

Visual wise, there are many nice fades and cuts, clever overlays, lavish sets, some nasty looking vampires, oh and a fair bit of blood. Everything is very, very dark and moody, its just a shame whoever edited this all together didn`t understand the words pace and continuity. The Count himself appears in a number of different forms, werewolves, giant bats, rats, green smoke, all very cleverly done but detract from any shock value.

Audio

The first half of Dracula overuses music and sound, to the point where it is a horrendous distraction. The rear surround channels are practically obsessive in their usage of music, weird growls and moans, most of which were totally unrelated to the images onscreen. I get the impression whoever mixed the track was almost deaf as sound effects certainly lack any subtlety.

The music is okay, but not impressive, and as I`ve said overdone in the opening hour. Oddly enough, the second half seemed much better balanced. Maybe I was used to everything by then, but I suspect either more was going on to deserve the speakers attention or things where genuinely quieter.

Features

The featurette, which is really nothing more than a short making of documentary, is nothing less than an eye opener into the way Coppola made Dracula. He reminds me somewhat of Gus Hedges from Drop the Dead Donkey, setting the cast teambuilding tasks and so forth. The amount of input the actors had into the script also helps to explain why it was so bad, movies always work best when they are made with one focused direction rather than by committee.

Not much else of interest on the disc, although there is of course the usual bumfluff of filmographies and a trailer. Urg, did I mention the horrendous jewel case? Somebody must like these, but I very much doubt if they`re human.

Conclusion

Never having seen this in the cinema, and not knowing much about it beyond the trailer, I had no idea what to expect. Unfortunately what I got was just a mildly entertaining movie, with that entertainment probably coming from things the director didn`t intend.

Reeves English accent is very good, well for Keanu anyway. For anyone else it would be considered abysmal, but at least his poor attempts add a missing humorous tone to the proceedings, alongside his acting. Richard E. Grant is in there playing somebody almost different from the role he always (and usually only ever) plays, and the rest of the supporting cast seem capable of delivering their lines without laughing, something they deserve credit for.

The script was incredibly disjointed, and the actual plot supposedly as close to Bram Stoker`s original novel is just plain dull and totally uninteresting. The dialogue isn`t much cop either, many characters lines are bordering on the camp. There is a scene where Mina, gently played by Ryder, is throwing loose pages off a boat into the sea, I found myself wishing this was the script. I don`t know, maybe the whole thing would have worked better in mime.

Still, it`s not all bad, Oldman and Hopkins are extremely good as you would expect, in fact Anthony has the only funny line in the entire film, and doesn`t waste the opportunity. But not even these two class acts can save Dracula, the continuity is dreadful, imagine a 1950`s black and white flick intercut with a pop video and this is what you would get.

The chance for a scary modern update of the classic horror tale wasted. One to avoid if you can, the scariest thing here is Keanu`s acting.