History YMMV / BramStokersDracula

** While Lucy's costumes are beautifully made (if a little too revealing for the time period), many viewers questioned the choice to theme her wardrobe around ''lizards''. Her burial dress in particular, which was designed with a collar resembling a frill-necked lizard, is particularly divisive. Some viewers found it appropriately off-putting for a newly-risen vampire, while others just couldn't get past how strange the collar looks.

* OlderThanTheyThink: This isn't the first movie to use the "Dracula goes after someone because they look like a loved one" deal. The [[Film/Dracula1973 1973 version of Dracula]] actually beat em to it 19 years prior (though in that case it was Lucy, not Mina).

** Lucy's outfits. For some reason Eiko Ishioka decided that her wardrobe would be themed around ''reptiles.'' This is fine for her serpent dress -- although it still has a scandalously low neckline -- but then we get her highly revealing nightdress, complete with flowing scarves and done in various shades of orange, meant to resemble a serpent's belly. And then there's her wedding/burial dress, which was based on a frill necked lizard...

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The special effects are all very impressive, and although CGI had begun to come into its own by 1992, this movie's effects are all real. Taken UpToEleven by the fact that the effects were all done with technology that existed at the dawn of film. Not only is there no CG, there isn't even optical compositing (the primary method of combining multiple elements into one scene before digital compositing was possible). Practical effects and camera trickery were all they used and it looks ''awesome''.

* CompleteMonster: [[VampiresHarem Dracula's brides]] are a [[TheVamp trio of seductive women]] and brutal murderers. Lacking any of Dracula's own redeeming qualities, the trio have fed on blood through the ages, sexually assaulting Jonathan Harker and attempting to drain him before being satisfied by murdering and [[EatsBabies feeding on a baby]] Dracula brings for them. The brides proceed to torture and drain Jonathan to keep him weak over and over, later surfacing again to tempt Mina Harker into killing Van Helsing and violently [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals tearing apart Van Helsing's horses]] for sheer spite.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/MonicaBellucci has a small role as Dracula's lead bride - seven years before her worldwide breakout in ''Film/{{Malena}}''.

* BigDamnMovie:
** Fans of the film argue that the film made Dracula into a more multi-dimensional and interesting character, capable both of cruelty and carnage and of some human emotions, in contrast to his novel prototype, who was just straightforwardly and one-dimensionally evil and occasionally polite. Thus, it added more turmoil and drama to the whole thing.
** They also argue that introducing a dark love story between Dracula and Mina raises the stakes both for antagonists and protagonists, namely Mina herself, providing additional emotional complexity to the narrative. Dracula now not only battles for his own vampire survival by the end of the story, but also for obtaining and keeping Mina. Mina is torn between becoming undead and wanting to remain with Dracula. They feel this allows viewers to root both for protagonists and antagonists simultaneously, as protagonists remained sympathetic and understandable (Harker was trying to save his wife, Holmwood, Seward and Morris wanted to avenge Lucy, with Morris sacrificing his life in fight with Dracula’s henchmen), yet the antagonist’s plight is now also fleshed out and understandable.

* AudienceColoringAdaptation: Thanks to it being promoted as TruerToTheText, many have taken elements introduced in this movie as book canon. These include giving Dracula a connection to Vlad the Impaler, having a romance between he and Mina (the 2013 series likewise used the 'reincarnation of his dead wife' idea), and portraying Lucy as Mina's more promiscuous friend.

* BigDamnMovie:
** Fans of the film argue that the film made Dracula into a more multi-dimensional and interesting character, capable both of cruelty and carnage and of some human emotions, in contrast to his novel prototype, who was just straightforwardly and one-dimensionally evil and occasionally polite. Thus, it added more turmoil and drama to the whole thing.
** They also argue that introducing a dark love story between Dracula and Mina raises the stakes both for antagonists and protagonists, namely Mina herself, providing additional emotional complexity to the narrative. Dracula now not only battles for his own vampire survival by the end of the story, but also for obtaining and keeping Mina. Mina is torn between becoming undead and wanting to remain with Dracula. They feel this allows viewers to root both for protagonists and antagonists simultaneously, as protagonists remained sympathetic and understandable (Harker was trying to save his wife, Holmwood, Seward and Morris wanted to avenge Lucy, with Morris sacrificing his life in fight with Dracula’s henchmen), yet the antagonist’s plight is now also fleshed out and understandable.

** The team behind ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' made Dracula's backstory a SpiritualAdaptation of this movie, which means that ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow'' could be considered a StealthSequel of sorts where Dracula and Mina get reincarnated as [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Japanese high school students.]] Because anime.

** Lucy's adaptational promiscuity is also mistaken for book canon, which has prompted whole essays on Bram Stoker's supposedly regressive attitudes towards female sexuality.[[note]]In the book, Lucy is TheIngenue when she's introduced, and is more of a symbol of fading aristocracy rather than anything to do with sexuality. She does become a seductress after she's turned, but her suitors are repulsed because it's the complete opposite of her real personality. It's even said that she joins "other angels" in {{Heaven}} after she is killed - and what happens to her is presented as a tragedy rather than comeuppance for being too flirty.[[/note]] As [[WebVideo/VampireReviews Maven of the Eventide]] pointed out, this is influenced far more by 80s {{Slasher Movie}}s and their heavy use of the DeathBySex trope.* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Lucy isn't slutty, she's just flirtatious. Before she's attacked by Dracula she doesn't seem to have slept with any of her suitors, it's only after his attack that she begin to act overtly sexual towards them. [[spoiler: This is supported by how Mina acts after being bitten by Dracula, going so far as attempting to seduce Van Helsing.]]

** Lucy's adaptational promiscuity is also mistaken for book canon, which has prompted whole essays on Bram Stoker's supposedly regressive attitudes towards female sexuality.[[note]]In the book, Lucy is TheIngenue when she's introduced, and is more of a symbol of fading aristocracy rather than anything to do with sexuality. She does become a seductress after she's turned, but her suitors are repulsed because it's the complete opposite of her real personality. It's even said that she joins "other angels" in {{Heaven}} after she is killed - and what happens to her is presented as a tragedy rather than comeuppance for being too flirty.[[/note]] As [[WebVideo/VampireReviews Maven of the Eventide]] pointed out, this is influenced far more by 80s {{Slasher Movie}}s and their heavy use of the DeathBySex trope.
* AdaptationalContextChange: Dracula's biting Lucy and Mina in the original book parallels rape on account of Victorian London's fears about "swarthy decadent foreigners who want to steal our women". Here in the film, the attacks are far more seductive, and the scenes come across as Lucy and Mina giving into their forbidden desires.
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Lucy isn't slutty, she's just flirtatious. Before she's attacked by Dracula she doesn't seem to have slept with any of her suitors, it's only after his attack that she begin to act overtly sexual towards them. [[spoiler: This is supported by how Mina acts after being bitten by Dracula, going so far as attempting to seduce Van Helsing.]]

** Mina, with some fans feeling that she is an interesting character and others feel that she's unsympathetic. Creator/WinonaRyder's performance as her is still hotly debated to this day; there are some who feel she was horribly miscast and compare her unfavorably to Creator/KeanuReeves, while others feel she did a good job, and a third camp suggests that the problem comes from Mina becoming hard to sympathise with at certain points. There's also the matter of her accent; some feel it's terrible, while others find it decent enough.

** The team behind ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' made Dracula's backstory a SpiritualAdaptation of this movie, which means that ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow'' could be considered a StealthSequel of sorts where Dracula and Mina get reincarnated as [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Japanese high school students.]]

* HilariousInHindsight: Creator/GaryOldman plays a melodramatic, long-haired warlord in red armor and a horned helmet. Are we talking about Dracula or [[WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot Ruber]]?

* HilariousInHindsight: Creator/GaryOldman plays a melodramatic, long-haired warlord in red armor and a horned helmet. Are we talking about Dracula or [[WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot]]?

* PopularityPolynomial: Opened to a lukewarm reception, was VindicatedByHistory, and then suffered CriticalBacklash from new viewers who expected something in line with its fan reputation as the best and most true-to-canon ''Dracula'' film. Ironically, it now seems to have returned to being divisive as it was when it was first released, with new audiences tending not to be as impressed and the online media critic/analysis culture, which saw a major boom in the late 2010's, generally not portraying the film in as flattering a light as it received during the hayday of its vindication. In recent years the film has picked up the nickname "[[MaliciousMisnaming BS Dracula]]."

* BrokenBase:
** The romance plot. Some enjoy the change to a dark love story, arguing that the film version of Dracula, being sadistic and cruel while simultaneously harboring feelings for Mina, makes for a compelling vampire romance especially in the context of the modern oversaturated vampire romance genre, as the vampire in question remains true to its nature: an undead creature of the night, not a sanitized safe boyfriend with fangs and cool superpowers. On the other hand, some fans of the book tend to find the change more divisive, especially when compared to the relationship between Mina and Jonathan in the book, finding the romantic subplot between Mina and Dracula as a factor that ruins their enjoyment of the film. Those critical also argue that the change minimizes Mina's agency in the narrative and/or makes her [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic far less likable as a character]], given that she's involved with Dracula mostly due to a past life rather than any actual chemistry or working relationship and despite him assaulting her husband and murdering her best friend. Others think the romance between Mina and Dracula could have worked if it were handled better, while still others think it was handled just fine.
** A lot of fans question how faithful the movie is to the book. Detractors cite the Mina/Dracula romance and the downplaying of Jonathan and making Van Helsing into a more ambiguous figure. Supporters argue that like all literary adaptations, Coppola interpreted the book while remaining faithful to the style and themes of it.

* {{Narm}}:
** The entire film is a very veritable buffet of it. Whether it's Creator/KeanuReeves' terrible attempt at a British accent, the combined LargeHam of Oldman, Hopkins, Elwes, Frost, and Waits, or Dracula crying tears of... watercolor paint, this movie is a glorious helping of goofiness.
** Old!Dracula's butt hairdo, ruthlessly parodied by Creator/MelBrooks in ''Film/DraculaDeadAndLovingIt'', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E5TreehouseOfHorrorIV Treehouse of Horror IV]]" and Creator/GenndyTartakovsky and Creator/AdamSandler in ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania2'', is the flagship of the narm in this movie. Added to his fabulous red robe and rubber-like white face, it turns the character's introduction scene into a potential source of hysterical laughter regardless of the viewer's mindset.
** Lucy's outfits. For some reason Eiko Ishioka decided that her wardrobe would be themed around ''reptiles.'' This is fine for her serpent dress -- although it still has a scandalously low neckline -- but then we get her highly revealing nightdress, complete with flowing scarves and done in various shades of orange, meant to resemble a serpent's belly. And then there's her wedding/burial dress, which was based on a frill necked lizard...

** Dracula's hairdo when Jonathan first meets him is a frequent target of ridicule. Essentially it looks like a pair of ass cheeks.
** Lucy's wedding dress was modeled off frilled lizards of all things. To be fair, this is subtly [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in-universe by [[FacialDialogue the look on Jack's face]] when he first sees it, so it's entirely possible that its garish weirdness was intentional.

'''Seward:''' ''[walks away in disgust]''
* HilariousInHindsight:
** One of the brides that seduces Creator/KeanuReeves is Creator/MonicaBellucci. Years later in ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'', she would once again have to try to seduce him as the villain's FemmeFatale.
** Additionally in ''Film/VanHelsing'', Dracula's chief bride is played once again by an Italian. The actress in question - Silvia Colloca - has frequently been compared to Monica Bellucci too.
** Creator/KeanuReeves, who is rumored nowadays thanks to the Internet to be immortal, plays Jonathan Harker.

* PopularityPolynomial: Opened to a lukewarm reception, was VindicatedByHistory, and then suffered CriticalBacklash from new viewers who expected something in line with its fan reputation as the best and most true-to-canon ''Dracula'' film. Ironically, it now seems to have returned to being divisive as it was when it was first released, with new audiences tending not to be as impressed and the online media critic/analysis culture, which saw a major boom in the last 2010's, generally not portraying the film in as flattering a light as it received during the hayday of its vindication. In recent years the film has picked up the nickname "[[MaliciousMisnaming BS Dracula]]."