Bram Stoker's Dracula [Blu-ray]
Starring: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu ReevesDirector: Francis Ford Coppola
Studio: Columbia Pictures
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
Running Time: 127 minutes
DVD Release: October 2nd 2007
Buy DVD:
DVD Review
Columbia Pictures Bram Stoker's Dracula (Collector's Edition) (Blu-ray)
Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder and Anthony Hopkins star in director Francis Ford Coppola's visually stunning, passionately seductive version of the classic Dracula legend. In "Bram Stoker's Dracula," Coppola returns to the original source of the Dracula myth, and from that gothic romance, he creates a modern masterpiece. Gary Oldman's metamorphosis as Dracula who grows from old to young, from man to beast is nothing short of amazing. Winona Ryder brings equal intensity to the role of a young beauty who becomes the object of Dracula's devastating desire. Anthony Hopkins co-stars as the famed doctor who dares to believe in Dracula, and then dares to confront him. Opulent, dazzling and utterly irresistible, this is Dracula as you've never seen him. And once you've seen "Bram Stoker's Dracula," you'll never forget it.
User Reviews
90s Dracula - Rating: 3/5
Dracula in the 90s is much more pure. The vampire myth, dead in the 80s, made a 90s comeback, and this is the best vampre flick made in the 90s, sucessful enough to spawn a video game. I liked it, it wasn't scary. It is gothic. Liked it. Enjoy!
Stupid movie, dishonest title - Rating: 1/5
Coppola should be sued for this title; this is NOT Bram Stoker's Dracula. Not even close. For one thing, Stoker's novel was well done. This movie is trash. From the ridiculous-looking make-up for Gary Oldman to the high-school-play English accent of Keanu Reeves... all trash. And let's not forget Dracula's "scary" shadow doing "scary" things. Tremble; shiver. Actually, I groaned and laughed.
People always pretend they can read Stoker's mind and claim he was REALLY writing about Victorian sexual repression; well I think I can read COPPOLA'S mind and I've discovered he's a dirty old man. He keeps finding ways to add sex and nudity to this movie that weren't even hinted at in the novel.
If you want Bram Stoker's Dracula, read the book. No movie has ever captured him correctly. I have a suggestion though, let's ask Peter Jackson to make the final, definitive version of the film. I think he could finally do it right. But Coppola's version... well, you might be able to get a buck for it in a garage sale.
A masterful retelling. - Rating: 5/5
How do you begin to describe this movie?
Let's start with beautiful, brutal, well paced, superbly acted, and at times disturbing.
Disturbing? Well yes, it is, but I'm not going to give away any details.
It's not so disturbing that it makes the movie unwatchable by any means.
It is beautiful, the caste is amazing and Coppola does a great job of recreating London from that era.
Great acting, great music, a very well done and haunting movie.
A must see?
Definitly!!!
Her prince is coming - Rating: 2/5
When Francis Ford Coppola is good, he's very very good. When he's bad... he turns out something like "Bram Stoker's Dracula." Whose title is also very inappropriate, since only a tattered, abused outline of Stoker's original novel is left.
Instead, somebody (probably writer James V. Hart) decided to turn the story of Dracula aka Vlad the Impaler into a tragic star-crossed love story. But not only does this revamped "Dracula" not make much sense, but it rapidly degenerates into a feverishly baroque eruption of schlock, horribly wooden acting and endless drippy sympathy for an avowed brutal murderer.
Prince Vlad the Impaler went off to war, and came back to find that his wife had high-dived into the river. Enraged, he renounced God (I'm not sure why) stabbed a cross (which started inexplicably bleeding), and became a vampire.
Centuries later, Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) arrives in Transylvania to sell a house to Count Dracula (Gary Oldman) -- only to find that Dracula's castle is a depraved, bloody horror house. As he's tormented by Dracula's brides, Dracula travels to England and encounters Harker's fiancee Mina (Winona Ryder), who apparently is the reincarnation of his late wife. So he wines and dines her, while seducing her lusty pal Lucy (Sadie Frost).
And as Lucy grows sickly, lustier and weirder, Doctor Seward (Richard E. Grant) calls his old mentor Dr. Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) to help cure Lucy. Of course, she's being turned into a vampire by Dracula, who is none too pleased that Mina is now rushing to marry Jonathan. Van Helsing's little group sets out to destroy Dracula once and for all -- but Mina is going to make things difficult.
Despite including Bram Stoker's name in the title, it's pretty obvious that Coppola only sticks to the bare bones of Stoker's classic vampire novel. This isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself -- some changes to books are good things. Unfortunately "Bram Stoker's Dracula" is changed in mostly negative ways -- an illogical love story, absurd costumes and hair, schlocky special effects, and some really rotten acting.
And sadly, turning the story into a soggy tragic romance causes a number of plot holes -- Renfield is superfluous, Harker mysteriously survives a fall that killed Elizabeta, and Mina goes on sexy dates while her best pal is dying (there's a friend for you!). And the appalling James V. Hart's attempts at romantic dialogue fall painfully flat, especially when they come from from the legendary Vlad the Impaler ("I have crossed oceans of time to find you!").
Even worse, the beginning of the movie is soaked in schlock -- red satin, animal helmets, muscle armor, creeping shadows, and Dracula's hilarious "breasts" hairdo. Coppola thankfully tones down the schlock factor pretty quickly, although the hyperactive cameras never quite calm down. Many of the following scenes are genuinely lovely: bridal vampires, polished crypts, haunted forests and a gloriously ruinous Carfax Abbey bathed in flames.
But while the story of "Dracula" has a fair dose of subliminal sex, someone apparently decided it isn't blatant enough. So we get random lesbian kisses, screamed orgasms, bare breasts, green mist sex, Mina snogging Van Helsing, and Lucy getting raped by a werewolfized Dracula on a bench.
Gary Oldman makes a solid enough Dracula, although even his formidable talents can't make me sympathize with a brutal mass murderer just because he's an incurable romantic and has pretty hair. Hopkins makes an outstandingly quirky Van Helsing, and Cary Elwes makes a solidly stiff-upper-lipped Arthur Holmwood. Bill Campbell and Richard E. Grant also make solid contributions.
Unfortunately, more spotlight time is given to the appallingly bad Ryder and Reeves. Ryder's acting is mostly confined to looking dewy-eyed all the time, and her outrage upon finding that "her prince" killed her best buddy is all too fleeting. Reeves devotes most of his questionable acting skill to wrestling with a splotchy British accent. Eventually this pivotal part is reduced to clumping around randomly, looking befuddled.
This would be better called "Francis Ford Coppola and James V. Hart's Dracula," soaked in superfluous sex, wooden acting, plot holes, and a feverish haunted-house ambience. Oldman and Hopkins are sublime, but not much else is.
The best vampire film ever! - Rating: 5/5
Personally, I hated the novel and hoped to see the film was done a lot better. Coppolla really did add some good touches to the novel, as well cast some unforgettable actors. Gary Oldman is the master as Dracula, who really makes you cry and fear him. Ryder is pretty good, though I have disliked some other stuff she's done. The other supporting cast in incredible, making the story seem real and alive.
Probably one of the best things about the film, despite the nudity, was the soundtrack by Wojeich Kilar. Some songs are scary enough not to listen to at night, but grab you and make you visualize the images of the film. It deserved the 3 Oscars it won, though Oldman should've gotten a reward for his stunning performance. This is the vampire film all fans should own, or at least see once in their lifetime, because is this is what immortal love is all about.
