Bram Stokers Dracula

This film was released in 1992, and it is one of many, many Dracula films. It was directed by acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola, who also made The Godfather trilogy, and Apocalypse Now. This version of the famous tale has Gary Oldman starring as Dracula. It also has Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Sadie Frost, and even has Tom Waits in a small role. Those actors mixed with Francis Ford Coppola directing, you know it’s going to be good.

This film follows the original story quite closely. Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to sell an estate in London to Count Dracula, a very old, strange, and secretive man. Jonathan has a girlfriend back in London, Mina, who is living with her best friend Lucy. Jonathan soon realizes that he is being held prisoner by Dracula, and three demonic women who suck his blood to keep him week. Dracula leaves Jonathan with the three women as he goes to London and becomes young again on the voyage. He bites Lucy and she becomes sick and slowly becomes a vampire. Eventually Jonathan escapes from the castle and comes back to London. They chase Dracula back to Transylvania and eventually kill him.

I tried to keep that simple, because there is a lot more to it, and I didn`t want to give it away. I absolutely loved this film, and I`m loving it more as time goes on. Gary Oldman plays Dracula so well; he really portrays the romantic, seductive side of the character really well. Coppola did that very well as well, he made the entire film very sexual and seductive again. He got rid of the cheesy Dracula and brought back the seductive, terrifying vampire we used to know. Gary Oldman also made the most amazing evil laugh ever recorded. Seriously, here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCEf5XAgh1M
It`s pretty damn good. This was also the first film I`ve seen with Winona Ryder, at least the first film since I`ve starting taking them seriously. She was really good, she was surprisingly good. She played a modest, young Victorian woman who eventually gives into her lustful desires for Dracula. Keanu Reeves was quite good as well, although I would have liked to have seen more of him, especially when he was held prisoner by the demonic women in the castle. Anthony Hopkins did a great job as Professor Van Helsing, he was eccentric, and at times he was quite funny. The entire cast was excellent. I only had one problem with the cast. The person I was looking forward to the most was Tom Waits, and while he was quite good, his character was pointless. There was no need for his character. He plays the man who went to Dracula before Jonathan and he is now in an Insane Asylum, calling for his master and eventually he is killed by Dracula. Coppola did an excellent job rejuvenating this classic tale.
This film was very sexual, but I think it should be. Vampire`s in nature are very sexual creatures, and this film made you see this side of them. There was quite a lot of nudity, but not to the point that it felt contrived, but because of the nature of the film, it could get away with quite a lot of nudity.

A very good film, while it was a horror film, it wasn`t extremely scary but it gave you some chills, like when you would see Dracula`s shadow do something different than Dracula was doing. Not for everyone, it is a horror and there are a lot of people who don`t like horror. There is nudity, and it is quite long, it’s just over two hours. But if you can sit through it, it is very good. Another thing I really liked was the introduction; it explained what happened to cause Dracula to do the things he does. Very good film, another one under the belt of Francis Ford Coppola.