Bram Stoker’s Dracula – Dracula (1992)

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola | 127 minutes | drama, horror, romance | Actors: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves, Richard E. Grant, Cary Elwes, Billy Campbell, Sadie Frost, Tom Waits, Monica Bellucci, Michaela Bercu, Florina Kendrick, Jay Robinson, IM Hobson, Laurie Franks, Maud Winchester, Octavian Cadia

Irish writer Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker (1847-1912) will be best remembered for his 1897 Gothic novella ‘Dracula’, about an aristocratic vampire in Transylvania. The story became one of the most filmed in the world. The well-known German filmmaker FW Murnau was the first to attempt a film adaptation in 1922, and his ‘Nosferatu, einen Symphonie des Grauens’ is still regarded as a classic. Due to a rights issue, Murnau was forced to change the name of his protagonist to Count Orlok. Since that too was not enough for the Stoker heirs, all copies of the film were destroyed. Since not all copies could be found by far, Murnau’s version remained available for later generations. Also known is the 1931 version by Tod Browning, with Bela Lugosi in the title role, and the Hammer variants from the 1950s in which the bloodthirsty vampire is played by Christopher Lee. The film made by Francis Ford Coppola in 1992 is of a completely different order, starring such names as Gary Oldman, Anthony Hopkins, Winona Wyder and Keanu Reeves. Coppola’s bombastic Gothic style appealed to both the press and the public at the time, but has not stood the test of time in a convincing way.

Coppola called his film ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ for a reason, as the title underlines that James V. Hart’s screenplay remains very faithful to the book. The film kicks off with a beautiful, visually impressive prologue in which the character Vlad is presented as a brutal fifteenth-century warrior who defended his homeland Romania against invaders with a heavy hand. However, his heart breaks when he learns that his beloved Elisabetha has taken her own life because she thinks Vlad did not survive the battle. Out of despair and grief, he decides to turn against God and vows to rise from the dead one day to avenge Elisabetha. Then we jump four centuries ahead in time and we see Vlad reincarnated as the eccentric Count Dracula (Gary Oldman), eager to buy property in London and contact a local real estate agent. Naive Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) travels to Transylvania to seal the deal. Coincidentally, his fiancée Mina (Winona Ryder) looks like Elisabetha and when Dracula sees a picture of her, he is sold. The count is prepared to go to great lengths to win her over and possess her. When vampire hunter Abraham van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) gets wind of this, however, he is determined to put a stop to it.

Francis Ford Coppola was given the script thanks to Winona Ryder, who felt he had to make amends to the director. She was supposed to play the part of Michael Corleone’s daughter in ‘The Godfather III’ (1990), but canceled at the last minute, forcing Coppola to perform a trick and out of sheer desperation his own daughter Sophia – now a successful director herself. – had to turn on. Coppola was impressed by Ryder’s ‘make amends’ and started working on the script. Like more of his films from the eighties and nineties, ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ mainly catches the eye visually. Sumptuous costumes, stunning nineteenth-century sets and detailed decoration; unsurprisingly, the film’s three Oscars were all in aesthetic categories. Due to the lavish decoration and the emphasis on drama that Coppola places, the creepy element is almost lost and this ‘Dracula’ is more kitsch than horror. That the director was more concerned with what it would look like than with telling a story, is also noticeable in the confusing structure and the loose ends that are never tied up. The acting could have set things straight, but remarkably enough, that is also disappointing. There is little to complain about Oldman, who puts down a stylish Dracula and surprisingly makes it the most sympathetic character in the entire film. There Ryder is just a colorless Mina and Reeves looks throughout the film as if he has no idea what he is doing (the press unanimously slammed his contribution and rightly so). Even Sir Anthony Hopkins shares in the malaise and that can safely be called a rarity.

Perhaps today’s audience is spoiled, but ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ no longer meets the needs of our time. Visually there is plenty to enjoy, for example the beautiful camera effects of Coppola’s son Roman. Wojciech Kilar’s dreamy score is also of significant added value. For all those positives, the film deserves kudos. But we don’t just want to be stimulated on the surface. We want to immerse ourselves in the drama, the fatal love obsessions and the tragedy surrounding Count Dracula. Unfortunately, we don’t get that opportunity with this film. And that makes ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ beautiful to watch, but eerily empty inside.