31 Days of Halloween Films #19: Dracula
The Lowdown: The naive Jonathan Harker journeys to the estate of Count Dracula to…you know what? If you don’t know the story of Dracula then go fuck yourself.
The Breakdown: Dracula. Yep. That Dracula. Quite possibly the most popular of all movie monsters, Dracula is an enigma, an icon so powerful, so recognizable that over 80 years beyond Bela Lugosi’s immortal portrayal of the character, filmmakers and horror fans are still revisiting this story. Few of the iterations have had a lasting impact. There are pedestrian efforts such as Dracula 2000, or the ridiculous version of the character in Van Helsing that are a total joke. However, in my opinion the greatest Dracula not named Bela has to be Gary Oldman in Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula.
Much like some of the other films in my countdown, Dracula is not perfect. Keanu Reeves phones it in, for sure, and some of the effects in the Count’s castle are a little cheesy by today’s standards. However, the weaker elements of this film melt away when viewed behind Oldman’s towering performance, both with and without extensive makeup. Oldman’s characterization is mesmerizing, striking an ethereal balance between macabre and sophisticated. His ultimate foil, Van Helsing, is played by the endlessly talented Anthony Hopkins, also delivering the goods in every scene. If there’s one amazing element of the film, these performances are certainly at the heart of it. If there’s one true strength outside of these performances, it would have to be the brilliant atmosphere. From the blood red sunsets to the dreaded castle itself, everything in this film perfectly echoes the base elements of great gothic horror. Dracula has a definitive darkness to it that you really feel right from the outset. Capturing the feeling of evil is a tough thing, but without being jump scare heavy the film does a good job making you fear Dracula’s power, echoing Legosi’s own take on the character.
The Comedown: It’s no easy feat reinventing a classic horror story. While he doesn’t fully succeed, Coppola does a lot right with Dracula, so much so that it has endeared ever since it was released in 1992. While Oldman hadn’t really come into his own yet, this is one of his very best performances, ranked alongside his iconic performances in the Dark Knight trilogy, Leon and True Romance. Dracula’s mix of gothic horror and dark romance is a fantastic Halloween film, and one that people should keep in mind this time of year.