Old Man Dracula

As mentioned previously, Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) is available on Netflix streaming, so we (re)watched it. 

I wanted to watch it for the late period practical effects - mostly in camera or simple double exposure. There were shadow plays, painted backdrops, vamps gliding on hidden skateboards, and so on. We noticed a trick from Vampyr - the shadows cast by no visible bodies. F.F. Coppola's art direction was sumptuous and decadent, but also sort of retro. Or is that just what movies looked like in the 1990s?

Keanu Reeves played Jonathan Harker like a stiff with a very wonky accent. I see now how we (mis?)judged him as a terrible actor in the day. We love him now, of course. When Anthony Hopkins shows up as Van Helsing, he kind of fades away from the movie. Even Cary Elwes, Billy Campbell, and Richard E Grant, as Lucy Westenra's (Sadie Frost) suitors, get more to do. And of course, Tom Waits' Renfield gets to have the most fun.

But the movie is really about Gary Oldman's Dracula, with a lot of different make-up looks, and Winona Ryder's Mina Harker. He got to play a lot of different types of role, from ancient to contemporary to bestial. She gets to play the victim as addict (possibly sex addict). 

I was more impressed with the look of the movie on this watch. But I think I felt the same way about the story as I did the first time: It doesn't really hold together. Too many parts jammed together, trying to do too much. Still, we did get to hear Oldman do the "I never drink... wine" line, and the one about the children of the night.