Bram Stoker's Dracula Review

Francis Coppola's horror film "Bram Stoker's Dracula" is heralded as the most faithful rendition of the original story. However, this does not mean the film is without flaws. Though certainly titillating, the cinematography and visuals fail to compensate for lackings in other important areas, particularly the acting and the musical score.

Among the cast, Anthony Hopkins is perhaps the only actor who carries out a decent performance. As Van Helsing, he plays the erudite yet sometimes emotionally retarded professor, which keeps the portrayal true to the novel (a memorable textual quote when Seward asks Van Helsing what he will do to Lucy's corpse: "Nothing much, I'll just put a stake through her heart and cut off her head"). Unfortunately, the performance of the rest of the supporting cast is less than decent. Sadie Frost's Lucy smashes the boundaries between coquette and promiscuous. Since she flaunts her sexuality more than necessary before the transformation, the human Lucy and vampiric Lucy seem promiscuous all the same. Next, Keanu Reevees' rendering of Jonathan is unremarkable, except for his facetious attempt at carrying out an English accent. Cary Elwes' Arthur and Bill Campell's Quincey are similarly unremarkable and well done as background characters. With a less than extraordinary supporting cast, one would expect the leads to pull some weights and carry a spectacular performance. However, Wiona Ryder's and Gary Oldman's theatrical executions are borderline between melodramatic and superficial. In short, they both put in too much drama where there should be less and too few where there should be more. For instance, the raging scene where Dracula learns that his lover Elisabeta is dead has the potential of being the best, most poignant scene, yet Dracula's perfunctory screaming, hurling random objects, and lack of emo-psychological pain fail to impress me. Mina, likewise, does not manifest much of the internal conflict her character supposedly has. Her eagerness to bed Dracula and lack of internal struggle seem to say that she absolutely cannot wait to be a vampire. Similar to the acting, the film's musical score imparts the audience with no impression. The mediocre composition falls short of conveying emotion when the situations calls for, be it suspenseful or bittersweet. The overused, inappropriate interjection of serious, grave-sounding chords in the fight scenes and sex scenes only adds to the melodrama and therefore invokes annoyance.

Still, Bram Stoker's Dracula has at least two redeeming qualities in the cinematography and the visuals. The costumes, particularly those of the women, are sexually provocative enough for their purpose. However, a great downfall in the costume design happens to be Dracula's appearance. Truth be told that Dracula should look exotic, but his bizarre hairdo, which resembles a pair of over-sized horns, makes him look terribly facetious and not at all frightening or even exotic. Better done than the costumes, the cinematography is no doubt the best element of the film. For example, the image of diminishing red blood cells ironically contrasts with Lucy's orgasmic response to Dracula. Another contrast is the withering plants shot in sequence as Mina engages in her affair with Dracula. The juxtaposition of polarizing elements truly touches on the paradoxical nature of the story and therefore imparts substantial, thought-provoking ideas to the film.

Overall, Bram Stoker's Dracula should only be commended as the most faithful rendition up to date and for having substantial cinematography. However, due to its major shortcomings in acting and accompanied music, the film is far from a masterpiece.