Dracula Thread

[madhair60]

What is the best Dracula? What Dracula do you like? This thread is because of I saw Bram Stoker's Dracula last weekend and I thought it were bloody brilliant.

[bgmnts]

Whichever one Keanu Reeves floats through.

[chveik]

Murnau's Nosferatu obviously. I quite like the Herzog one too, Klaus Kinski is terrifying.

[Dr Rock]

This fella

[Small Man Big Horse]

About a decade ago on a different forum I took part in a thread where we reviewed every major Dracula release, and this was my top 10:

1) Nosferatu (Werner Herzog, 1979) - Herzog has created a genuinely chilling film here, with an unsettling tone, a unique take on The Count, and memorable imagery throughout the film. I really loved it, and it's an absolute classic in my books - 9.5 / 10.

2) Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1921) - And it at no. 2 is the original version, I was really impressed by Murnau's eye for imagery too, and Schreck's deranged take on the lead role make it all wonderful stuff. 9 / 10

3) Dracula (Dan Curtis, 1973) I really enjoyed Jack Palance's Dracula, for me he's definitely one of the more menacing screen Counts, plus the added back story to make his love for Lucy much more convincing, and so the film as a whole felt a lot more satisfying. 8 / 10

4) Dracula (John Badham, 1979) - Badham surprised me here with a very solid take on the Dracula tale, Langhella made for a very charming but still disturbing Count imo, and with a strong cast in general and a tight running time, maybe it offers little artistically but it is a lot of fun. 7.5 / 10.

5) Dracula (Terence Fisher, 1958) - The famous Hammer version in 5th place? Have I gone quite mad? Erm, well, the juries out on that, but my problem with it is there's just not enough of Christopher Lee in the movie. He puts in such a superb performance that it's a real disappointment not to see more of him, and despite enjoying other elements of the film, that's why it comes so low in the list. 7 / 10

6) Dracula (Todd Browning, 1931) - Okay, it's definitely a bit too stagey / theatrical, but I really enjoyed Bela Lugosi's take on the role and especially the verbal sparring between Val Helsing and the Count which some of the other films lacked, and found it really intriguing stuff in general. 7 / 10

7) Dracula (Jess Franco, 1970) - Thankfully there's more of Lee here, which made me enjoy this a fair amount, but some dodgy camera-work and ideas in general means it only takes 7th place - though don't get me wrong, I did enjoy this a fair amount. 6.5 / 10

8) Dracula (BBC, 1977) - The first of the adaptations that I wouldn't really recommend to people, Louis Jourdan failed to impress, it's really over long, and a bit too all over the place for my liking. 6 / 10.

9) Dracula - (Bill Eagles, 2006) - Funnily enough the same can be said of this latest Beeb adaptation, Marc Warren's great in old man / vampire mode, but fails to charm as the young Count, and it's just too bland for my liking. Sophia Myles saves it from taking bottom place though.  5. 5 / 10

10) Bram Stoker's Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola, 1992) - Whilst it is of interest, this was the worst film for me, it's let down by some truly appalling performances, and OTT imagery, and whilst Oldman's fantastic, it's not enough to save the movie. 5 / 10.

[Kelvin]

The first two thirds of The Film Bram Stoker's Dracula Not The Book Bram Stoker's Dracula are great, the last third is rubbish.

In fact, The Book Bram Stoker's Dracula Not The Film Bram Stoker's Dracula is exactly the same as The Film Bram Stoker's Dracula Not The Book Bram Stoker's Dracula, now I come to think of it. In fact, the great/crap ratio might be even worse in The Book Bram Stoker's Dracula Not The Film Bram Stoker's Dracula than The Film Bram Stoker's Dracula Not The Book Bram Stoker's Dracula.     

[Bazooka]

Blade 3, hammer horror to the core.

[notjosh]

[biggytitbo]

[Shaky]

10) Bram Stoker's Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola, 1992) - Whilst it is of interest, this was the worst film for me, it's let down by some truly appalling performances, and OTT imagery, and whilst Oldman's fantastic, it's not enough to save the movie. 5 / 10.

I loved this when it came out because of it's silly excess (and boobies) but seeing the film again recently, it really is rubbish. Even Tom Waits is shit, somehow. It's so pleased to be "Famous Director Coppola doing a 90's Dracula film... with movie stars!!!" it forgets to include any genuine wit, emotion or verisimilitude.

[magval]

There's a class bit in Blacula 2 where he has a go at some pimps for making slaves of themselves in the image of their ancestors and making slaves of their sisters after they try and sell him some women walking down the street.

But sure he's just making slaves of people himself. I've made it sound trite but it's actually quite profound. It's a great film, much better than the first.

Best Draclier film though is Taste The Blood Of Draclier, or maybe Prince of Darkness. Definitely a Hammer one.

Best Draclier story ever is that issue of Tomb of Draclier where he accidentally gets addicted to heroin by eating two junkies to get out of prison and cleanses his tainted thirst by killing L Ron Hubbard, satisfying in doing so a personal vendetta as well.

[Dr Rock]

Dracula vs The X-Men. Was good as I recall.

[biggytitbo]

There's a class bit in Blacula 2 where he has a go at some pimps for making slaves of themselves in the image of their ancestors and making slaves of their sisters after they try and sell him some women walking down the street.

But sure he's just making slaves of people himself. I've made it sound trite but it's actually quite profound. It's a great film, much better than the first.

Best Draclier film though is Taste The Blood Of Draclier, or maybe Prince of Darkness. Definitely a Hammer one.

Best Draclier story ever is that issue of Tomb of Draclier where he accidentally gets addicted to heroin by eating two junkies to get out of prison and cleanses his tainted thirst by killing L Ron Hubbard, satisfying in doing so a personal vendetta as well.

Dracula AD 1972 is ruddy marvellous, a Dracula loose in permissive 1970s London! Of course that film has the amazing distinction of been the only Vampire film inspired by a contemporary, then in the news 'vampire' case - the highgate vampire.

[Kelvin]

I loved this when it came out because of it's silly excess (and boobies) but seeing the film again recently, it really is rubbish. Even Tom Waits is shit, somehow. It's so pleased to be "Famous Director Coppola doing a 90's Dracula film... with movie stars!!!" it forgets to include any genuine wit, emotion or verisimilitude.

I still think it works as a piece of extremely high camp. Its just a very daft, gorgeous, mad film, full of entertainingly ridiculous performances.

My friend and I still shudder "take me away... from all this... death" at one another

[Brundle-Fly]

Honorary mention for the other greatest screen vampire who ever drew blood

[madhair60]

Honestly, if you think Bram Stoker's Dracula is bad you can fuck off. Jesus.

[Gulftastic]

[Shaky]

Honestly, if you think Bram Stoker's Dracula is bad you can fuck off. Jesus.

Somehow I missed the fact you mentioned it in the first post, so I wasn't having a go at your taste or anything. I just... like the thing a hell of a lot less than I used to.

[Shit Good Nose]

Honestly, if you think Bram Stoker's Dracula is bad you can fuck off. Jesus.

Hair boobs.

[Shit Good Nose]

Murnau's Nosferatu obviously. I quite like the Herzog one too, Klaus Kinski is terrifying.

Herzog's Nos is amazing, but far from terrifying - Kinski plays him devastatingly lonely and pitiful, to the point where you feel sorry for the fella.  There's a touch of that in the Badham-Langella one too ("I've buried many friends and I'm weary now", "the children of the night - what SAD music they make" and "I am the last of my kind").  I have a lot of time for Badham's Dracula - if nothing else it's one of the best looking and the production design is amazing - it's just such a shame about Olivier as Van Helsing.  He's REALLY bad in it.

And, unlike SMBH, I'm also quite fond of the BBC one with Louis Jourdan - very measured and low key.  Unlike Coppola's...

[mothman]

No love at all for Love At First Bite? "You ssink it's FUN beink dressed as a head VAITER for seven hundred years?!"

[Attila]

No love at all for Love At First Bite? "You ssink it's FUN beink dressed as a head VAITER for seven hundred years?!"

Hello! I saw this film with a group of my pals in the cinema on release, and we loved it; only real bummer now is it's very hard to find a version that still has 'I Love the Nightlife' in it (removed because of copyright laws). I adored Richard Benjamin as a kid (my mom had been a big fan of Him & Her.)

We all went to see it because we were batty (har!) about an incredibly silly, sadly shortlived programme running on US TV at the time called Cliffhangers.

There were three separate serials running, all in the spirit of the old cliffhanger shorts of 1930s and 40s cinema. One was about Dracula, who was living in modern day California and working as a university lecturer

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078591/

Me and my friends were about 13 years old at the time, and fucking loved the silliness of this segment; I still have a 'novel' I wrote at the time that incorporated large swathes of the plot and characters who were in the serial. The Dracula one (starring a young Michael Nouri as the count) was the most popular, and got the 'let's jam together edits from loads of episodes together to make a "movie"' treatment -- which is the only way you can find any vertige of the show now, sadly.

(The other serials were one that involved a cowboy from the late 19th century who ends up finding a secret underground city run by space aliens and a third one with Susan Anton as a reporter or something https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliffhangers_(TV_series)  Sadly, it never stood a chance as it ran on Tuesday nights at 8pm -- directly opposite Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. Even though I think the former had literally long since jumped the shark by 1979, nothing short of the second coming could have competed against the Fonz in them days).

If all 1,225 episodes of Dark Shadows were preserved and are now available on DVD, then I wanna see 'The Curse of Dracula' again as a series of episodes and not the awful crammed-together 'movie'.

(All 470 hours' worth  of DS can be yours for a mere £350 or so).

ETA -- The Coppola Dracula is a hoot -- and is absolutely gorgeous and a must-see on a big screen (if I'm not mistaken, all of the effects are analogue -- no digital effects used at all). I've got a book that I bought at the time that's fulla pictures about the set and costume designs.

[Kelvin]

I'm genuinely confused by this image. Is it a black man in blackface?

edit: It's kind of green, though? Why is his face painted like that?

[JesusAndYourBush]

Christopher Lee, definitely!  Viewed today, the films might be a bit comedic for some people though, but I still like them.

Best Draclier film though is Taste The Blood Of Draclier

I like the bit where Clegg from Last Of The Summer Wine says something like "I won't drink that filthy muck!"

[chveik]

Near Dark is a great one too.

[marquis_de_sad]

Drácula, the Spanish language version shot at the same time and on the same sets as Tod Browning's Dracula, is brilliant. More dynamic cinematography than the English language version. It's only let down by Carlos Villarías hammy performance, which is fun but sets the wrong tone. If only Lugosi was in that version, it would be wonderful.

[magval]

Its Van Helsing isn't as good as Edward Van Sloan either. The best comparison is when Dracula is moving in for the kill at the table (in front of everyone) and sees the cross. Lugosi sort of grimaces, this weird "aw fuck, maybe later eh?" look on his face. Villarias THROWS his cape over his face and recoils backwards. Watched in quick succession, the latter is extremely funny.

There's no doubt about it, the Spanish team really showed Browning up on that one. Maybe that's why there don't exist similar Spanish versions of Frankenstein etc?

[NoSleep]

The best dracula is Sheryl Lee in Vampires.

[thecuriousorange]

Fun fact. Dracula 2000 was released as Dracula 2001 in some countries.

[New Jack]

You know in I am Legend, the book? How he gets really wound up, really affected psychologically, really upset - because he misses the human world but the female vampires start being lurid and trying to coax him out with sex?

And how he's fighting it, every night, he's going spare from desire, as they pose and beckon him and he loses his sanity trying to ignore his insane lust?

At the risk of sounding a bit simple, why doesn't he just have a wank