History YMMV / Dracula1979

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: A single shot, not above 1.5 seconds, of Mina driving to Carfax Abbey. The scene is simultaneously panoramic, claustrophobic, naturalistic, and surrealistic.

** Strongly averted, however, with the red lasers during Lucy and Dracula's love scene. It's badly out of place, being a modern-day/futuristic (at the time) effect in a movie that was strictly period. (The lasers themselves where borrowed from Music/TheWho; it was part of the stage effects for the tour they were on at the time.) Langella absolutely ''hated'' it, and continued to say so whenever asked about it later.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/SylvesterMcCoy is Walter, Dr. Seward's assistant.

* EvilIsSexy: Just look at the reviews on [=IMDb=]; practically all of them talk about how magnetic Creator/FrankLangella was in this movie.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Dracula is [[AdaptationalNiceGuy much nicer here]] than in [[Literature/{Dracula} source material]] or previous adaptations, while Jonathan is [[AdaptationalJerkass much more obnoxious and dismissive of his fiancé]]. The outcome is kind of obvious.

* RootingForTheEmpire:

** Strongly averted, however, with the red lazers during Lucy and Dracula's love scene. It's badly out of place, being a modern-day/futuristic (at the time) effect in a movie that was strictly period. (The lazers themselves where borrowed from Music/TheWho; it was part of the stage effects for the tour they were on at the time.) Langella absolutely ''hated'' it, and continued to say so whenever asked about it later.

** also, the scene of Lucy entering Carfax Abbey for her dinner with Dracula. The overhead shot is through a spider's web, showing Lucy [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic literally walking into it]].
** strongly averted, however, with the red lazers during Lucy and Dracula's love scene. It's badly out of place, being a modern-day/futuristic (at the time) effect in a movie that was strictly period. (The lazers themselves where borrowed from Music/TheWho; it was part of the stage effects for the tour they were on at the time.) Langella absolutely ''hated'' it, and continued to say so whenever asked about it later.

** badly averted, however, with the red lazers during Lucy and Dracula's love scene. It's badly out of place, being a modern-day/futuristic (at the time) effect in a movie that was strictly period. (The lazers themselves where borrowed from Music/TheWho; it was part of the stage effects for the tour they were on at the time.) Langella absolutely ''hated'' it, and continued to say so whenever asked about it later.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Milo Renfield, also a SubvertedTrope. At first, after Dracula first feeds on him, it seems as if he will develop along standard Renfield lines and become the vampire's insane, brainwashed slave and potential vampire convert (which seems to be a sincere offer, in this case). He plays along with this very briefly, but escapes Dracula at the first opportunity, showing an impressive degree of sanity and morality. Tragically, his fear and trauma is mistaken for insanity, and he is locked up in the asylum and left to die at Dracula's hands for his "ingratitude". To be fair, he does eat bugs, possibly as a symptom of his trauma at being fed on by a vampire, though Lucy Seward does imply that he has less-than-dainty personal habits at the best of times. Nonetheless, he seems to be a well-meaning and honest man, with an apparently justified grudge against this version's cold and cynical Jonathan Harker (who evidently sold the property he was living in and left him homeless), and even states - before learning that Dracula is a vampire - that he will warn the "poor count" not to trust his greedy and exploitative solicitor. Far from being a secondary antagonist redeemed at the last moment, he comes across as an altogether tragic victim of circumstance, emphasising the worst qualities of both the "heroes" and the villain.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Milo Renfield, also a SubvertedTrope. At first it seems as if the character will develop along standard Renfield lines and become Dracula's insane, brainwashed slave and potential vampire convert (which seems to be a sincere offer, in this case), only for him to play along but escape at the first opportunity, showing an impressive degree of sanity and morality. Tragically, his trauma is mistaken for insanity, and he is locked up in the asylum and left to die at Dracula's hands for his "ingratitude". To be fair, he does eat bugs, possibly as a symptom of his trauma at being fed on by a vampire, though Lucy Seward does imply that he has less-than-dainty personal habits at the best of times. Nonetheless, he seems to be a well-meaning and honest man, with an apparently justified grudge against this version's cold and cynical Jonathan Harker (who evidently sold the property he was living in and left him homeless), and even states - before learning that Dracula is vampire - that he will warn the "poor count" not to trust his greedy and exploitative solicitor. Far from being a secondary antagonist redeemed at the last moment, he comes across as an altogether tragic victim of circumstance, emphasising the worst qualities of both the "heroes" and the villain.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Milo Renfield, also a SubvertedTrope: as at first it seems as if the character will develop along standard Renfield lines and become Dracula's insane, brainwashed slave and potential vampire convert (which seems to be a sincere offer, in this case), only for him to play along but escape at the first opportunity, showing an impressive degree of sanity and morality. Tragically, his trauma is mistaken for insanity, and he is locked up in the asylum and left to die at Dracula's hands for his "ingratitude". To be fair, he does eat bugs, possibly as a symptom of his trauma at being fed on by a vampire, though Lucy Seward does imply that he has less-than-dainty personal habits at the best of times. Nonetheless, he seems to be a well-meaning and honest man, with an apparently justified grudge against this version's cold and cynical Jonathan Harker (who evidently sold the property he was living in and left him homeless), and even states - before learning that Dracula is vampire - that he will warn the "poor count" not to trust his greedy and exploitative solicitor. Far from being a secondary antagonist redeemed at the last moment, he comes across as an altogether tragic victim of circumstance, emphasising the worst qualities of both the "heroes" and the villain.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Milo Renfield, also a SubvertedTrope: as at first it seems as if the character will develop along standard Renfield lines and become Dracula's insane, brainwashed slave and potential vampire convert (which seems to be a sincere offer, in this case), only for him to play along but escape at the first opportunity, showing an impressive degree of sanity and morality. Tragically, his trauma is mistaken for insanity, and he is locked up and left to die at Dracula's hands for his "ingratitude". To be fair, he does eat bugs, possibly as a symptom of his trauma at being fed on by a vampire, though Lucy Seward does imply that he has less-than-dainty personal habits at the best of times. Nonetheless, he seems to be a well-meaning and honest man, with an apparently justified grudge against this version's cold and cynical Jonathan Harker (who evidently sold the property he was living in and left him homeless), and even states - before learning that Dracula is vampire - that he will warn the "poor count" not to trust his greedy and exploitative solicitor. Far from being a secondary antagonist redeemed at the last moment, he comes across as an altogether tragic victim of circumstance, emphasising the worst qualities of both the "heroes" and the villain.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Milo Renfield, also a SubvertedTrope: as at first it seems as if the character will develop along standard Renfield lines and become Dracula's insane, brainwashed slave and potential vampire convert (which seems to be a sincere offer, in this case), only for him to play along but escape at the first opportunity, showing an impressive degree of sanity and morality. Tragically, his trauma is mistaken for insanity, and he is locked up and left to die at Dracula's hands for his "ingratitude". To be fair, he does eat bugs, possibly as a symptom of his trauma at being fed on by a vampire, though Lucy Seward does imply that he has less-than-dainty personal habits. Nonetheless, he seems to be a well-meaning and honest man, with an apparently justified grudge against this version's cold and cynical Jonathan Harker (who evidently sold the property he was living in and left him homeless), and even implies - before learning that Dracula is vampire - that he will warn the count not to trust his greedy and exploitative solicitor. Far from being a secondary antagonist redeemed at the last moment, he comes across as an altogether tragic victim of circumstance, and of the worst qualities of both the "heroes" and the villain.

* EvilIsSexy: Just look at the reviews on [=IMDb=]; practically all of them talk about how magnetic Langella was in this movie.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: A single shot, not above 1.5 seconds, of Mina driving to Carfax Abbey. The scene is simultaneously panoramic, claustrophobic, naturalistic, and surrealistic.

* NightmareFuel: Lucy as the Bloofer Lady.