“There is much to be learned from beasts.”
The Jake rate: 53/100
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is one hell of a ride. A weird ride, but a ride none the less. Just a heads up; I have not read the book, (movies are way better than books anyway, just kidding, books are good too…) so this review is based solely on the film directed by Francis Ford Coppola (Coppola is perhaps best known for directing The God Father movies).
Lets first talk about the cast. There is an amazing lineup of actors in this film: Gary Oldman (Dracula), Winona Ryder (Mina Murray/Elisabeta), Anthony Hopkins (Professor Abraham Van Helsing), Keanu Reeves (Jonathan Harker), Richard Grant (Dr. Jack Seward), and Cary Elwes (Lord Arthur 
Holmwood). Honestly, could this list be any better? I don’t think so! In my opinion, Gary Oldman sells the perfect adaptation of how Dracula should be portrayed. He is intelligent, creepy, and seductive with a dash of evil. Hopkins also owned his role as Van Helsing. While everyone is running around oblivious to the mortal danger they are all in, Hopkins is the calm, cool, and collected character that actually diagnosis vampirism for the other characters in the film, while at the same time giving us, the audience, logical explanations to assist in following the flow of the movie. Keanu Reeves is Keanu Reeves, and essentially acts the same in this movie as he acts in every other movie he is in, no surprise. But seriously, what’s up with his hair? Did anybody else notice by the end of the movie his hair was completely white? Maybe we are supposed to watch Keanu Reeves’ hair as an indicator of time progression?
What is interesting about the tale of Dracula is that it’s actually a very compelling love story. At the beginning of the film, Dracula’s wife is tricked into believing that her husband was killed in battle. As a result, she throws herself off a bridge, and out of rage from hearing this news, Dracula rejects God, stabs a cross with his sword in a church and drinks the blood that pours out and becomes…Nosferatu (yes that cross stabbing bit is a little odd, but it actually fits the 
style of the movie). But what makes the story even more dramatic is now that Dracula is being punished by God, he can never die to rejoin his wife in the next life. This leads us into the main plot which is Dracula trying to seduce and turn Mina into one of his brides because she reminds him of his old lover.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking this is going to be like every other Dracula/Vampire movie. Its really not a scary movie, and yet, there is lot of blood. In fact, I think a couple of times they go as far as showing red blood cells on the screen. If you get faint at the sight of blood, I would avoid this film like the plague. There are a few parts that are on par with the blender bed scene from A Nightmare on Elm Street. But seriously in spite of the gross amount of blood, its not scary at all. To reiterate, the focus of this version of Dracula is more about the love story then it is about mindless blood hungry vampires.
This isn’t a film I’d go out of my way to see again, but I also don’t regret watching it. At 25 years old now, this rendition of a classic story still stands strong amongst the competition.
| Originality | 5/10 |
| Intriguing storyline | 8/10 |
| Visually appealing | 6/10 |
| Acting | 10/10 |
| How it ended | 9/10 |
| Scare factor | 15/50 |
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