Dracula: Dead and Loving It - Television Tropes & Idioms

"My God! What are you doing to the furniture?"

Dracula: Dead and Loving It is a 1995 Mel Brooks movie (and, as of 2011, his last directorial effort) starring Leslie Nielsen as Dracula. It starts as a young solicitor from London, Thomas Renfield (Peter MacNichol), meets the mysterious Count Dracula. He begins to suspect that something is amiss, but the Count hypnotizes him before he can escape. The pair then travel to London, where the Count has purchased a manor next to an insane asylum. He meets his next-door neighbors at an opera: Dr. Seward (played by Harvey Korman), his daughter Mina (Amy Yasbeck), her friend Lucy (Lysette Anthony), and Mina's fiancee Jonathan Harker (Steven Weber). Shortly thereafter, Lucy becomes mysteriously ill. This prompts Dr. Seward to seek advice from his old friend Dr. Abram Van Helsing (played by Mel Brooks).

Van Helsing informs Jonathan and Harker that they have "entered ze realm of ze supernatural!" and that Lucy is the victim of a vampire attack. It is imperative that the vampire is stopped before Lucy dies, or she vill become vun herrself! Sadly, Lucy does indeed die and rise again as a member of the evil bloodsucking undead. This finally convinces Harker and Dr. Seward that there is a vampire in their midst. They set off to stop him...just as Mina begins to develop the same symptoms that Lucy had before she died.

All along the way, Hilarity Ensues (literally, in this case).

This movie provides examples of:

Affectionate Parody
Bedlam House: Where Renfield is kept and treated with enemas.
Bloody Hilarious: Lucy's corpse spews a veritable fountain of blood when she is staked.
- Even more hilarious due to Enforced Method Acting (see below).
Brick Joke: Van Helsing has to get the last word.
- Dracula gets in the last word himself at the very end of the end credits, making this even more hilarious because at that point He was DEAD.
British Stuffiness: A main source of humor in the film.
Ceiling Cling: Dracula uses this to escape detection. A slamming door causes him to come loose.
- Modified version where Dracula acts like Spider-Man to free Renfield. Then flies to the ground. Renfield attempts to follow. Dracula points out:
"I fly. You don't."
Classical Movie Vampire: Dracula is a parody of this.
Cloud Cuckoolander: Everyone has this to a certain extent, but Renfield is the most obvious one.
Cobweb Jungle: Carried over from Dracula and Played for Laughs.
Compelling Voice: Played with as Dracula attempts to give instructions, but has difficulty getting people to do exactly what he wants and controlling multiple people at the same time. Usually results in general sillyness, which is par for the course in a Mel Brooks flick.
Distracted by the Sexy: Vampire Lucy attempts this on Harker, to seduce him into vampirism.
Harker: But Lucy, we're British!
Lucy: [exposing her cleavage] So are these!
The Ditz: Renfield. He gleefully eats insects and spiders in front of Dr. Seward, leads the heroes straight to where Dracula is hidden even while knowing that they were following him, and exposes his master to sunlight in a bid to rescue him, finishing Dracula off.
Dream Sequence: Dracula has a "daymare," where he believes his vampirism is cured and goes out to enjoy the beauty of the light. Then he bursts into flame and wakes up screaming and running.
Enforced Method Acting: Steven Weber had no idea how much blood was going to be splattered on him during the "staking Lucy" scene. Look closely and you can see him trying not to crack up.
- And it led to the ad lib "She's dead enough."
Eye Poke: Used in the climax of the film against Dracula (who'd just tempted fate).
Fake Brit: Most of the cast.
Gag Boobs: Jonathan is British! But then, so are Lucy's boobs.
Glamour Failure: Used in the dancing scene, when a huge mirror is produced and Dracula shows no reflection.
I Do Not Drink Wine: Subverted during Dracula's dream.
The Igor: Renfield to Dracula.
Living Shadow: Parodied in several scenes. In one, Dracula falls down the stairs and claims to be perfectly fine. His shadow is then seen limping up the stairs behind him.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: During the climax of the movie, the shadow clearly shouts "Uh-Oh!" and runs away when Van Helsing and the others show up to kill Dracula.
The Load: Renfield proves to be more of a liability to Dracula than Van Helsing ever was, up to and including killing him accidentally.
Mood Whiplash: When Lucy bites the cemetery night guard, it's surprisingly scary for a part in a Mel Brooks movie. Not Nightmare Fuel-level scary, thankfully, but still enough to catch viewers off guard.
Pivotal Wake-up
- Averted by a chandelier.
Precision A Strike: "Renfield, you asshole!"
Rain of Blood: This is why Van Helsing insists on standing out of the way during Lucy's staking.
- Not to mention The Renfield's finger cut. It squirts like a geyser.
Sick and Wrong: Renfield's initial reaction to Dracula's brides trying to seduce him. It doesn't last long.
Renfield: What are you doing? No! This is wrong! This is wrong, this is wrong! *beat* Wrong me, wrong me, wrong my ''brains'' out! Mm-mm-mmm-mmm-MM!
Staking the Loved One: Parodied.
Van Helsing: It must be done by one who loved her in life!
Harker: I only liked her!
Van Helsing: Close enough!
The Renfield: Played by Peter MacNichol, who had previously played a Renfield in Ghostbusters II.
Ted Baxter: Dracula says at one point, "They are fools to think they can match wits with me! Me who can control the forces of darkness! Me who has commanded the creatures of the night to do my bidding!" This is the same ancient evil who cannot rise from his coffin without banging his head on the chandelier.
- Not to mention that he crashes into Lucy's bedroom window as she closed it. Who would have thought you can keep out vampires with Windex?
Vampires are Sex Gods: Upon turning into a vampire, Lucy changes from a proper upper-class Victorian English lady into a lusty temptress. Even being bitten is enough to make the equally patrician Mina more frisky than usual. Neither of their charms work on Jonathan.
- Dracula himself, on the other hand, is the more traditional "gentlemanly vampire".
Vampire Dance: Van Helsing and co. set up a party for the high society. Dracula begins an elaborate dance with Mina. Then the cover is pulled off of the floor-length mirror, revealing that Dracula has no reflection.
- Hilarity ensues when he spirals her in the air, and in the mirror it looks like she's flying in circles.
Victorian Britain
A Worldwide Punomenon: "Yes, we have "Nosferatu". We have "Nosferatu" today!"
Yiddish as a Second Language: Mel Brooks as Van Helsing.
You Are The Translated Foreign Word: Played with. Van Helsing tells Harker that Lucy has become Nosferatu. Harker's response: "She's Italian?"