Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

 Francis Ford Coppola's 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' was a project born more of economic need then creative desire. While the 1970's had been a great decade both creatively and financially for Francis, the 1980's were considerably less so. With his production company American Zoetrope in dire straights, the early 1990's would see the autor concentrating on projects with built in commercial appeal, 'The Godfather Part III' in 1990 and 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' in 1992.

Wanting popular young stars as an audiance hook, Coppala brought in Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves as the juvenile leads Mina and Jonathan. While Ryder is okay, Reeves performance is famiously bad, he underplays everything and both actor and director came to acknowledge this casting as a mistake. The youngsters look even weaker when forced to act against Gary Oldman's Dracula and Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing, with Hopkins giving what is now my favorite portrail of the character.

Early in the movie there is a scene where a 15th century Dracula curses God and hits a stone crucifix causing it to bleed. Similarly Coppala manages to get blood from a stone, offering a fresh take on over done material. Ironically much of what feels new in this adaption comes from going back to what's old, story elements from the original novel usually left out of other adaptions. Examples of this range from big, Lucy's three suiters (usually condensed to one), when paired with Van Helsing are among my favorite parts of the film; to small, such as a brief apperence by the blue fire, which isn't gotten into in detail but by its very unexplained presence ads an extra element of enjoyable weirdness.

The romance angle between Darcula and Mina is considerably played up to good effect, the whole film is rather overtly sexual. Visually they pull out all the stops, using a variety of styles and employing some brilliant practical effects. Uneven but ambitious this Dracula mostly works, is a real creative accomplishment on most fronts, and worth seeing if your not put off by the eroticism. ***