h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is a lovely little entry. There is something strangely iconic about BS's Dracula; it is not well written (though not as awful as the unbelievably popular The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins) but it somehow touches a nerve of the Zeitgeist.

I found it extraordinary in the achievement of an eponymous anti-hero that is not in the least sympathetic, despite attempts in recent films to make him so. There is something of the reptile, if not the insect, about the character. I'm sure it was a portrait of Irving.

Coppolla's film is utterly misnamed: "Bram Stoker's Dracula" it certainly is not. Gary Oldman does a wonderful job, but the vampire ends up as the most sympathetic character instead of the least. The rest of the cast appear to have been having tremendous fun on the set, which is no fun for the viewer. Tom Waits is embarrassing, Keanu Reeves hopeless, Anthony Hopkins is phoning it in. Winona Ryder actually says "teddibly". Gah.

The only redeeming feature of the film is Coppola's loving use of old-fashioned low-tech special effects. The endless arm and the unruly shadow are hilarious, and Gary Oldman crawling head-first down the wall is unforgettable.

Thanks!
That's an entry I was very happy with. I'm too easily scared to watch horror films, so my only experience of Dracula films is of old black-and-whites on television when I was a child. But just from the reviews, I could tell that "Bram Stoker's Dracula" was nothing of the sort.

Interesting idea, Dracula as Irving!

Azara