BRAM STOKER'S
DRACULA

"The children of the night, what sweet music they make"

Up and coming London solicitor Jonathan Harker (Reeves) is sent to a remote castle in the Carpathian Mountains to complete the business transactions of Count Dracula (Oldman) as he buys property around the capital. When the elderly Count sees an image of Harker's fiancée Mina Murray, he entraps the young man and travels to London. When Jonathan escapes and heads back to London to save Mina, he discovers that Count Dracula has regained his youth and is pursuing the woman he loves. Seeking help, Jonathan is introduced to Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Hopkins) who knows who and what Dracula actually is.

After appearing in hundreds of movies and stories, Bram Stoker's classic character Count Dracula has never been completely adapted from the book, until now.

When screenwriter James V. Hart and director Francis Ford Coppola decided to adapt Bram Stoker's novel they realised that the book itself has never been completely transferred to film. While we have had many a classic adaptation or performance in role of the most famous vampire, with Christopher Lee and Bela Lugosi been forever connected with the role, the actual story and the mythos behind it have never truly been explored.

Taking the main components of the Bram Stoker story and the legend of the Romanian ruler Vlad the Impaler who took on the Turkish army, impaling everyone he captured on spears and displaying them to his enemies. This is still not a complete adaptation of the book but the closest there has ever been. The film takes an old-fashioned approach, relying on traditional visual effects techniques and the best costume and set design to create the turn of the century world and London, which the Count inhabited. This makes the movie a visual spectacle and one that recreates the period with great authenticity. The use of shadows, astounding makeup effects and old style trick photography techniques, make the movie look much better than some modern, computer-generated effects.

Following in the footsteps of Christopher Lee and Bela Lugosi was always going to be a difficult task to accomplish but British actor Gary Oldman raises to the occasion. From playing the older version of the Count who first meets Jonathan Harker in Transylvania, the younger version who pursues Mina Murray and the wolf and bat creatures that the vampire can transform into, Oldham embraces the role and injects a sadness and loneliness that the monstrous character has never had. Winona Ryder is the object of that affection and she makes it easy for you to understand her been the object of Dracula's obsession. Anthony Hopkins is perfectly cast as the slightly eccentric Professor Van Helsing, the man who knows what Dracula is and how they should stop him. There are also good performances from Sadie Frost as Lucy Westenra, Tom Waits as Renfield and a scene stealing appearance from Monica Bellucci. The performance that lets the film down however is that of Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker. In a serious piece of miscasting, Keanu really struggles to get to grips with the English accent and he looks completely out of place.

'Bram Stoker's Dracula' is a classic of the horror genre and a very faithful adaptation of the classic novel. While Coppola and writer Hart may have taken a few liberties with origins of the Dracula legend and the reincarnation plot is a little too much to take, the film is still an excellent piece of old style horror and one that succeeds in making Dracula much more of a passionate character than anyone has before.

PICTURE & SOUND

The Blu-Ray disc presents the movie in High Definition wide screen 1:85 up to 1080p, with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound.

BONUS FEATURES

Watch Dracula with Francis Ford Coppola
The acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola introduces the movie and then provides an informative commentary for the adaptation. He talks passionately about the film, offering fascinating insights into the production of the movie and the differences between the screenplay and the book. This is a good single person commentary from a Oscar winning director.

The Blood is the Life: The Making of Dracula (28.08 mins/Standard Definition)
Director Francis Ford Coppola, screenwriter James V. Hart, costume designer Elko Ishioka and stars Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves, Bill Campbell, Sadie Frost and Richard E. Grant talk about the making of Bram Stoker's Dracula. They revel that this is the first real adaptation of the classic novel and their approach to the movie and characters. The featurette takes you from the rehearsal stage through to production and postproduction, looking at set design, costumes and make up.

The Costumes are the sets: The Designs of Elko Ishioka (14.33 mins/Standard Definition)
Director Francis Ford Coppola and costume designer Elko Ishioka talk about the elaborate costumes of the production.

In Camera: The Naïve Visual Effects of Dracula (19.23 mins/Standard Definition)
Director Francis Ford Coppola, 2nd unit director and visual effects supervisor Roman Coppola, visual effects camera operator Christopher Lee Warren, visual effects supervisor Gene Warren and star Keanu Reeves talk about utilising old fashioned techniques to create the story of Dracula. Using forced prospective and other techniques used at the advent of film special effects the movie was the last big budget movie to not use computer generated effects.

Method and Machine: Visualising Dracula (12.06 mins/Standard Definition)
Director Francis Ford Coppola, 2nd unit director and visual effects supervisor Roman Coppola and storyboard artist Peter Ramsey talk about how art influenced the costumes and the design of the movie.

Deleted Scenes (28.14 mins/Standard Definition)
Entitled 'Prologue extended', 'Gypsies in coach (extended)', 'Lucy's party (extended)', 'Harker meets Dracula (extended)', 'Harker/Dracula Dinner', 'Harker explores the castle (extended)', 'Harker's escape attempt', 'Dracula on the Dementor', 'Rules talk/convent (extended)', 'The death of Renfield' and 'Ending (early version)', these deleted and extended scenes suffer from the lack of a commentary track or introduction.

Theatrical/Teaser Trailers
Watch the previews that showcased the movie at cinemas

Trailer
A preview of 'Ghost Rider'

OVERALL

The Blu-Ray treatment of 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' will please fans. The commentary by Francis Ford Coppola is very good and the featurettes cover most aspects of the film's production. This is a good High Definition disc to add to your collection.

Blu-Ray

---

The Usher Home | Hush, Hush... | The Big Story | The Usher Speaks

Stuck @ Home | Coming Soon | Links | Contact the Usher

HIGH DEFINITION REVIEWS