History YMMV / BramStokersDracula

** 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 SexSignalsDeath trope.

* VindicatedByHistory: Divisive in its year of release, albeit commercially very successful, two decades hence it is considered a classic of visual effects, production design, cinematography, and style, with many considering it one of Coppola's best films and one of Creator/GaryOldman's best performances. While there are still complaints and issues raised about the nature of its adaptation and its artistic choices, it's generally agreed that it was a movie that proved that there's still a lot of new ways to tell a story as overexposed as ''Dracula'' by reworking the source material. It's still the only Dracula adaptation to win any Academy Awards, it became a classic in the vampire movie genre, and it had a substantial influence on vampires in popular culture, especially in the popular ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}''. It also helps that Dracula's FaithHeelTurn and fall from grace was an aspect of his backstory used for the incarnation of the character depicted in ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'', particularly from ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]]'' onwards.

* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Tom Waits isn't in that many scenes as Renfield but proceeds to steal most of them and imbue the character with a lot of depth.
** Likewise, the brides are pretty well liked.
** While the depiction of Lucy might be divisive (see above), Sadie Frost herself is considered one of the most entertaining incarnations of the character. Especially once she becomes a vampire.
---> '''Blog/UnshavedMouse''': "In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Sadie Frost is to the role of Lucy Westenra what Christopher Lee is to the role of Dracula; absolutely definitive. I honestly doubt anyone will ever play this role as well as she does."
** Lucy's three suitors Arthur Holmwood, Quincy P. Moriss, and Dr. Jack Seward thanks to being played by Creator/CaryElwes, Creator/BillyCampbell, and Creator/RichardEGrant.

* QuestionableCasting: Creator/FrancisFordCoppola himself expressed CreatorBacklash at casting Creator/KeanuReeves as a Victorian Londoner. Reeves was riding high from ''Film/BillAndTed'' and was chosen as a bankable heartthrob to draw in female viewers. This is not to say that he personally disliked Keanu, he just acknowledged that despite all of his efforts, the man just couldn't do the accent.

** Gary Oldman plays a [[UsefulNotes/{{Dracula}} monster with a bat motif]]. A decade later, he would play an ally to [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy a bat-themed character]].

* EvilIsSexy: For the ladies, you've got Dracula. For the guys, you've got the vampire brides, one of whom is Creator/MonicaBellucci.

'''Van Helsing:''' ''([[DissonantSerenity cheerfully]])'' [[BrutalHonesty Ja, she was in great pain!]] Then we cut off her head, and drove a stake through her heart, and burned it, and then she found peace.

** Any scene involving Music/TomWaits as Renfield or Creator/AnthonyHopkins as Van Helsing.

* FetishRetardant: Vampire Lucy is meant to be so irresistible that Arthur would jeopardise the team's mission. Kind of hard to buy when TheVamp is wearing what appears to be [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/evilbabes/images/2/25/Lucy_Westenra..jpg/revision/latest?cb=20190422100444 all of Queen Amidala's costumes at once]].

* 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]] did it 19 years prior (though in that case it was Lucy, not Mina), and the year before that, the blaxploitation film ''{{Film/Blacula}}'' also featured the vampire lead pursuing a woman who looks identical to his lost love.

* RomanticPlotTumor: One of the biggest. How much you like the film depends in part on how you feel about the romance (and how [[StupidSexyFlanders annoyingly sexy]] you find [[EvenTheGuysWantHim Gary Oldman]]). Extra {{squick}}y because the original attacks from the vampire were clearly meant to invoke ''rape''. A fan-edited version cuts out the love story, which shortens the film by an entire hour.
* RonTheDeathEater: Mina comes across as pretty unsympathetic, especially because Jonathan is such a loving and devoted husband (if a little boring and stuffy) while she openly longs to be with Dracula, who raped and killed her best friend. Vampires in this film do have incredibly potent powers of seduction, so it boils down to how much of Mina’s unsympathetic moments can be attributed to a sound mind.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: The film inspired a bevy of games, ranging from "uninspired ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' copy" (Game Boy, Game Gear) to "boring and oft-unplayable" (Genesis, SNES, Sega CD).

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: A moment of black comedy, [[{{Narm}} intentional or otherwise]], at [[spoiler:Lucy's funeral]], from [[NoSocialSkills Van Helsing]]:

* DesignatedVillain: The vampire hunters receive this treatment towards the end, if Van Helsing's comment about them becoming "God's madmen" is any indication. It may mean that their quest had led to [[spoiler:Quincey's death]], but it also comes across as a HeelRealization, as if they had became [[KnightTemplar fanatics willing to tramp true love to get their goals]]... Except for a little thing: the monster they were trying to destroy wasn't an innocent victim, but an enormously destructive creature who had committed many crimes and who could take over England if left unchecked. In fact, they were trying to spare an actual innocent person from the same horrible fate her best friend suffered, whom the three men were in love with.

* 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.]]

* {{Narm}}: Dracula's wispy green form, which looks like a mobile stink cloud.

* WTHCastingAgency: Creator/FrancisFordCoppola himself expressed CreatorBacklash at casting Creator/KeanuReeves as a Victorian Londoner. Reeves was riding high from ''Film/BillAndTed'' and was chosen as a bankable heartthrob to draw in female viewers. This is not to say that he personally disliked Keanu, he just acknowledged that despite all of his efforts, the man just couldn't do the accent.

* VindicatedByHistory: Divisive in its year of release, albeit commercially very successful, two decades hence, it is considered a classic of visual effects, production design, cinematography, and style, with many considering it one of Coppola's best films and one of Creator/GaryOldman's best performances. While there are still complaints and issues raised about the nature of its adaptation and its artistic choices, it's generally agreed that it was a movie that proved that there's still a lot of new ways to tell a story as overexposed as ''Dracula'' by reworking the source material. It's still the only Dracula adaptation to win any Academy Awards, it became a classic in vampire movie genre and had a substantial influence on vampires in popular culture, especially in the popular ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}''. It also helps that Dracula's FaithHeelTurn and fall from grace was aspect of his backstory used for the incarnation of the character depicted in ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'', particularly from ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]]'' onwards.

* RonTheDeathEater: Mina comes across as pretty unsympathetic, especially because Jonathan is such a loving and devoted husband (if a little boring and stuffy) while she openly longs to be with Dracula, who raped and killed her best friend. Vampires in this film do have incredibly potent powers of seduction, so it boils down to how much of Lucy's unsympathetic moments can be attributed to a sound mind.

** 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.

* VindicatedByHistory: Divisive in its year of release, albeit commercially very successful, two decades hence, it is considered a classic of visual effects, production design, cinematography, and style, with many considering it one of Coppola's best films and one of Creator/GaryOldman's best performances. While there are still complaints and issues raised about the nature of its adaptation and its artistic choices, it's generally agreed that it was a movie that proved that there's still a lot of new ways to tell a story as overexposed as ''Dracula'' by reworking the source material. It's still the only Dracula adaptation to win any Academy Awards, it became a classic in vampire movie genre and had a substantial influence on vampires in popular culture, especially in the popular ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}''.

* EvilIsSexy: For the ladies, you've got Dracula. For the guys, you've got the vampire brides.

** Keanu Reeves is wearing an incredibly fake looking grey wig in the scene where Dracula is found in Mina's room. What makes this bizarre is that it looks different to his hair in the rest of the film - after he returns from Transylvania it's iron grey, but is a light grey in just that scene.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
** Mina comes across as pretty unsympathetic, especially because Jonathan is such a loving and devoted husband (if a little boring and stuffy) while she openly longs to be with Dracula, who raped and killed her best friend. It's not helped by the movie never making it clear whether Mina is doing this of her own free will, Dracula is seducing her, or Elisabeta's spirit is overpowering her, or that LoveMakesYouDumb and LoveMakesYouEvil.
** There's also Dracula himself. The movie paints him as a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds but it still includes his undoubtedly cruel moments from the book - such as feeding a baby to his brides, trapping Jonathan in the castle with them and turning Lucy into a vampire ForTheEvulz (after months of torturing her as well).

** 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.]]

* TearJerker: Dracula's story, from the intro to the ending. Props to Creator/GaryOldman for coming across as a legitimate WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.