This is it, the quintessential vampire movie. Based on Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic masterpiece "Dracula." There are many arguments as to who was Stoker's influence for The Count, and the most rabid purists insist that it is NOT Vlad the Impaler. However, this movie forms it's basis around the Vlad story, and I'm obliged to agree that this is the most familar of all the various versions of the tale of Count Dracula, and whether or not this is where Stoker got his influence is a moot point and does not make this film any less of a masterpiece.

We begin with the young Count, a ruthless warrior on his way to defend against the enemies of Christ by battling the Muslim Turks . Acting on rage and a barbarian instinct the count impaled countless Turks across the countryside gernering him the title of "Vlad the Impaler." Although victorious, one day an arrow is shot into the castle of the Count with an attached note stating that the Count has fallen in battle. Distraught, Count Dracula's young bride pens a suicide note before plummeting hundreds of feet to the sea below.

 

 

Count Dracula returns to find the corpse of his bride at an altar, and laments how a God he fought so valiantly for could allow this to happen. Insult is added to injury by a priest who states that The Count's beloved wife will never find heaven because she took her own life thus damning her soul for eternity. Count Dracula then renounces Christ, and thrusts his sword into the crucifix causing a flow of the blood of life, which he then drinks turning him into the immortal bloodsucker we all know and love.

This movie is so well made I could go on for pages. However, I have never liked reading lengthy reviews of anything so I'll try to keep it to a minimum.

Casting for the movie is fantastic. I don't care much for Winona Ryder or Keanu Reeves, but the performances of Gary Oldman, Tom Waits, and Anthony Hopkins' masterful portrayal of Van Helsing more than make up for this oversight. The sets were epic, the use of shadowing was amazing. Basically this movie does a lot of what other vampire movies fail to do and that is to explain Dracula's aversion to mirrors (vanity disgusts him), crucifixes (he renounced Christ remember?), why he has to sleep in his native soil, etc. Dracula also keeps a pretty impressive stable of half-naked vampi concubines (one played by the beautiful Monica Bellucci.) The three of which alone satisfy this movies nudity quota.

Gary Oldman is by far the best Dracula ever. Showing the Count in all of his guises, wolves, bats, rats, old, young. He turns women's tears into diamonds (I hate when guys do that, how can we lesser mortals even compete with that?) More simply put, he's charming as hell, or slicker than whale shit in an ice flow if you will.... Waits' insect chomping Renfield is also one of the more notable performances of the film.
 

Excerpt from Horrorwatch.com located HERE
 

The Video:
This looks like the same master source from the latest SD DVDs (some compared HERE), but here improved/adjusted for High-Def. The shadows and dark areas here are stronger than in the DVD, I didn't find the result bad since this is supposed to be a dark movie and the intention behind this enhancement of dark areas maybe be related to the special effects, too much brightness in High-Def could be revealing. After watching the extras I noticed that the hi-def images of the movie (I am not referring to the "behind the scenes" recording) used in the Making-Of are indeed less contrasted and more bright with more details available, also making the artificial environment perceivable.

 

By watching the movie itself I already noted the miniatures and the settings a lot more in this Blu-Ray than on the SD DVD. But since there is a theater feeling behind the whole movie and the acting, I didn't find this overly distracting. The special effects here are just a detail anyway, and I don't believe they were meant to fool the audience but rather in a 'minimalist old-school style', way to transmit this gothic environment without deviating too much attention from the superb acting and narative.

 

 

So, having this belief in mind, I find the upgrades from the SD DVD are quite considerable. I couldn't actually find any disturbing flaws - the red cast that surrounds the movie is supposed to be there, the high contrast as well. This high exposure that sometimes hides details is also supposed to be there, but here it is more noticeable than before, but still I wouldn't consider it a problem.

The movie cinematography makes the background difficult to be seen and analyzed, not only by the intentional blurriness but by the exposure as well. On the other hand, everybody in the foreground is detached, the a possibly living dead appearance in the faces of the characters is now evident. I have to confess that watching this Blu- ray was the first time I noticed Anthony Hopkins plays two roles here, the priest who announces the death of the Dracula's wife, and Van Helsing. Many more details made me appreciate this movie a bit further with this Blu-Ray release.

Luiz R.