First I will admit I'm a fan of the original Dracula novel and any adaptation is always welcomed. In fact this one was my first time seeing one of such. Yeah needless to say there were moments in the film where I went "Huh? That didn't happen in the novel."
But as I grew older I came to appreciate it more. If there's one thing it did right it is capture the gothic mood of the setting. The outfits look gorgeous (which isn't surprising, the movie did win an Oscar for costume design after all) and there's some nice lighting effects. When it comes to the story though, yeah total ham and cheese. I'll give Gary Oldman props though, he certainly was an interesting Dracula. Menacing in a few cases (particularly when he goes monster) but otherwise stuck in "oh woo is me" mood through the movie. The rest of the actors give off some pretty awkward performances though that made it hard to take seriously. Though that one of the reasons why I do love this movie, it just feels so silly. The movie basically trying to do a love story with a frame of horror around it and can't really decide which on which one. I will say though the special effects are still quite neat, barely any CGI and mostly camera tricks and makeup. Classic stuff.
Yeah some of the effects are a bit obvious (rewinding or speeding up the tape to give the vampires an unnatural feel and a few cases of blue screen. It was early 90s after all) but you can forgive a few cases. Yeah it's not the most proper Dracula story. But I'm always willing to give certain re-tellings a chance as long as it's entertaining. And this is one of those times. If nothing else, see it for a bit of a laugh or a MS T3k-style night.
Silly and not at all faithful to the source materal. But a great guilty pleasure.
First I will admit I'm a fan of the original Dracula novel and any adaptation is always welcomed. In fact this one was my first time seeing one of such. Yeah needless to say there were moments in the film where I went "Huh? That didn't happen in the novel."
But as I grew older I came to appreciate it more. If there's one thing it did right it is capture the gothic mood of the setting. The outfits look gorgeous (which isn't surprising, the movie did win an Oscar for costume design after all) and there's some nice lighting effects. When it comes to the story though, yeah total ham and cheese. I'll give Gary Oldman props though, he certainly was an interesting Dracula. Menacing in a few cases (particularly when he goes monster) but otherwise stuck in "oh woo is me" mood through the movie. The rest of the actors give off some pretty awkward performances though that made it hard to take seriously. Though that one of the reasons why I do love this movie, it just feels so silly. The movie basically trying to do a love story with a frame of horror around it and can't really decide which on which one. I will say though the special effects are still quite neat, barely any CGI and mostly camera tricks and makeup. Classic stuff.
Yeah some of the effects are a bit obvious (rewinding or speeding up the tape to give the vampires an unnatural feel and a few cases of blue screen. It was early 90s after all) but you can forgive a few cases. Yeah it's not the most proper Dracula story. But I'm always willing to give certain re-tellings a chance as long as it's entertaining. And this is one of those times. If nothing else, see it for a bit of a laugh or a MS T3k-style night.