Revisiting...Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Bram Stoker’s Dracula poster: (From the top) A demonic face is flanked by two dragon faces, like stone gargoyles, framing a black doorway. Here is an intense-looking Dracula in his human form, holding Mina against him. They are surrounded by white light. Mina’s head is turned a little away from Dracula, revealing her neck and bare shoulders in a low-cut dress. Her hand is pressed across her collarbone. The tagline reads LOVE NEVER DIES in white above the title in dripping red. Grey, ghostly figures surround them. (Left) The vampire brides look seductive, the elderly Dracula with his iconic domed ponytail has his hand outstretched to a scarily alluring gesture, and a shadowed figure thrusts a crucifix triumphantly in the air. Mina laughs with her friend, Lucy, at the bottom. (Right) Dr. Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) holds a blazing torch in front of him, bellowing something as if to ward something away. Mina strokes Jonathan’s cheek, while another picture of Mina shows her hair is loose, and her dress exposes a lot of her cleavage. Tattered flags and poles go to war below her.

 Confession time: vampire films are my guilty pleasure. I partly blame The Twilight Saga for starting it, but that’s a revisit for another day (she types, laughing nervously).

My teenage obsession was so all-consuming that I wrote about vampires as part of my English Language GCSE and A-Level. I did so while vowing to watch every movie I could get my hands on. One such film was Bram Stoker’s Dracula which I officially wrote a review for it in 2015; by then, it had already cemented itself as one of my favourites. 2023 also marks the 30th anniversary of its UK cinematic release and the 30th anniversary of my birth, so this feels fitting and fortuitous.

As ever, my thoughts from 2015 will be written in blue.

2015: Dracula is a…cult figure in literature and horror films, inspiring numerous adaptations – some more of a miss than a hit… [T]he late Sir Christopher Lee’s multiple performances as the Count are the stuff of movie legend, but Hammer’s raunchy horror in the Sixties’ seemed to belay its darker undertones.

2023: Meanwhile, Bram Stoker’s Dracula embraces ALL of it. Unlike many previous “adaptations,” it keeps faithful to the book’s unique structure of various points of view told through diary entries. For example, Dr. Seward (the brilliant Richard E. Grant) records his thoughts directly via phonograph. This makes complete sense, as he’s a man of science, and it also introduces us to the troubled mind of his patient, Renfield. Played with growling zeal by Tom Waits, Renfield is a broken solicitor obsessed with flies and spiders and the concept of blood being “life” for his master. This version of Renfield is why I’m forever compelled to say “hors d’oeuvres” or “canapé” with a weird accent whenever the appropriate opportunity arises. So, er, thank you, Tom Waits.

Renfield’s replacement is Jonathan Harker (a burnt-out Keanu Reeves). 

2015: Sadly, Keanu Reeves ruins the magic with that English accent. Ah, well, you can’t have everything.

2023: Yup, we lose his infamous accent along the way, and his stiff performance doesn’t help, either. It would be a long ol’ time before Reeves found his mighty stride as John Wick, but one can’t help but wonder what Johnny Depp, Charlie Sheen, or Christian Slater would have brought to the role.

2015: Many of the film’s scenes seem to come directly [from] the book itself, specifically when the carriage takes Harker to Dracula’s castle. It materialises out of the mist in utter silence, surrounded by the mournful howls of the wolves. The result is spectacularly chilling. 

2023: Francis Ford Coppola indulges a flair for the dramatic with sumptuous imagery. Scene transitions are exceptional and seamless, Dracula’s shadow has a mind of its own, and the infamous scene where he helps poor Harker shave (while the walls literally start closing in) is both terrifying and homoerotic in equal measure.

Ahem. 

Image Description: In a dingy, decadently furnished room, Dracula (Oldman) holds a long-nailed hand out expectantly to Harker (Reeves), who recoils away in outrage and fear. Dracula is pale and wrinkled, with a baggy red kimono, and his white hair is up in an elaborate triple bun around his head with a long plait down his back. Harker wears a brown waistcoat and a white shirt rolled up to his elbows. His thick hair is brown, cut to his temples.

 

Costume designer Eiko Ishioka’s work fulfils Francis Ford Coppola’s brief of the costumes being “…the set,” She even got an Oscar for her talent, combining Eastern and Western cultures; Ishioka was particularly inspired by insects and lizards. Indeed, Dracula is iconic in a bright phoenix-red kimono with braided hair when we first meet him, all before he later scuttles down the castle wall! As one of Dracula’s brides, Lucy wears a huge ruff like an Australian collared lizard.

In short, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is one of the most gorgeous horror films ever made. From the first opening strings of Wojciech Kilar’s score, it is lush and capable of conveying swooning romance and shocking violence, often in a single scene. 

2015: Nevertheless, there’s more to this particular Dracula than just a mind set on world domination. 

2023: Allegedly, Gary Oldman was won over by the role because of the excuse to tell someone he had “crossed oceans of time” to find them. I can’t blame him; it is achingly beautiful in such a chaotic moment.

2015: Winona Ryder is a fresh-faced Wilhelmina [and] the reincarnation of [Dracula’s] beloved...who committed suicide when she believed he had been killed during his war against the Turks.

2023: Okay, the film’s prologue is utterly ludicrous…but that doesn’t mean I don’t love it regardless. Dracula starts out as a young warrior prince, and the war is depicted through shadow puppets(!) After we see her plummet to her death, Elisabeta is miraculously brought to a church with a pretty little smudge of blood at her mouth and wet clothes as her only sign of trauma. Then, upon finding his fiancée’s body, Dracula stabs a crucifix, which bleeds – and it all somehow works! Oldman’s version of Dracula is intense; he cries openly and can control the “WIIIIIND!” Yes. I also quote this often.

2015: The moment where Dracula [officially] meets her (in his more handsome, human form) is very clichéd but utterly romantic. The hustle and bustle of the crowd seem to slow as their eyes meet, and Mina, dressed in a bright, pea-green gown and hat, looks hurriedly away. Their chemistry is close to crackling. 

 

Image Description: In a room lit with a fancy chandelier, Mina  (Ryder) stands by a varnished table holding a golden candelabra. Dressed in a vibrant red gown with her hands limp at her sides, Mina has a silver necklace below her collarbone. Her hair is dark, bunched in a half-brad with curls loose down to her breasts. She is turned towards Dracula behind her, who has a ringed hand pressed against her stomach and holding her jaw and throat to kiss her passionately.

2023: Until their last few scenes together, when that chemistry completely vanishes. In particular, when Dracula reveals who he really is, Mina’s reaction is hammy and all over the place, and you can hardly hear what they are saying to one another. Apparently, Oldman scared Ryder to get a good reaction during a scene, and she was none too pleased about it (they have since patched things up, but Oldman remains notorious for his alarming vehemence as an actor).

Sadly, a woman has yet to direct a Dracula adaptation (although there are plenty who have directed vampire films). Although there are hints of a warm friendship between Mina and Lucy (Sadie Frost) here, you genuinely feel for Lucy when Dracula turns his attention to her because she is relatively innocent. I say “relatively” because she’s a young woman with three handsome guys intent on marrying her, one of which happens to be a Lord played by an oh-so-British Cary Elwes. Of course, a cynic might say Lucy is punished for her lewd behaviour; either way, whose idea was it for one of Frost’s breasts to almost constantly be on show while Lucy is under Dracula’s control?  

Image Description: In the shadow of a large, thin crucifix, Lucy (Frost) snarls. While her fanged mouth is bright red, Lucy’s skin is deathly pale, matching her crazy silk headdress, which covers her hair entirely and looks like a flower. In addition, she wears a stiff lace collar like a threatened lizard.

 

Needless to say, this adaptation does not shy away from depictions of sex. At all. Tellingly, our antagonist seems horrified, even embarrassed, when Mina catches him with Lucy in the storm. Dracula also happens to be in the form of a werewolf, so it’s all incredibly messed up.

In fact, Dracula appears in four shapes, which can be a little wearying as the film progresses. Nevertheless, my favourite remains the exotic foreign prince in a top hat and tinted sunglasses, murmuring, “see me now…” Blimey, my younger self didn’t know what hit her.

Side note: I encountered Oldman’s startling bat costume slumped on display at the Planet Hollywood Café in Disneyland Paris eighteen years ago. Sadly, the restaurant closed this year, but as introductions to pivotal film characters go, it has always stuck with me. 

2015: Antony Hopkins is a gruff, eccentric Van Helsing. Honestly, why has he never played that role before? 

2015: It should be mentioned Antony Hopkins also played the captain of The Demeter, the priest in Dracula’s church, and the narrator. It seems a bit ridiculous now I’ve written it down. Hopkins’ Van Helsing is, above all, a scientist (and mentor to Dr. Seward). He is blunt to the point of offense to other characters.

Still, upon learning of Dracula’s shenanigans, we are teased with Van Helsing triumphantly proclaiming, “A foe I have pursued all my life!” all while laughing with delight. It’s frustrating to think we’ve yet to have a decent film that explores this idea properly (okay, yes, I love Stephen Sommers’ Van Helsing, but not because I think it’s particularly good). Lucy’s brutal end being immediately cut to Van Helsing carving up a bloody bit of beef, will never stop being darkly funny. The man has one hell of an appetite.

For every vampire film I see, I always ask if they are depicted uniquely. The hissing man, cowering away from a crucifix, is a bit old hat, so this Dracula roars instead. These vampires are uncanny, purring, and moving like insects, which filmmakers achieved with the simple technique of running the film backwards. I particularly like how, in the throws of her transformation, Mina instinctively opens her fanged mouth when Van Helsing’s hand gets too close. It’s the little things that make all the difference.

Like Dracula for Elisabeta, my love for Bram Stoker’s Dracula hasn’t wavered in all this time. It straddles the line of absurdity for the sake of art, but it’s still gorgeous from its costumes, score, to its cast, too. While some of the performances are far from award-winning, you can’t deny it’s memorable. Just…be careful about watching it if you’re underage!

My Rating:

2015: 4 STARS OUT OF 5

2023: 3.5 STARS OUT OF 5

My Sources:

Bram Stoker’s Dracula poster: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103874/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1

Who was offered the role of Jonathan Harker? - https://screenrant.com/dracula-1992-jonathan-harker-actors-almost-cast-keanu-reeves/

Image – Dracula and Jonathan Harker: https://www.bigissue.com/culture/film/30-years-on-bram-stokers-dracula-is-still-the-most-beautiful-film-committed-to-celluloid/

Bram Stoker’s Dracula trivia - Costume designs, the issue between Oldman and Ryder, and why Keanu Reeves looks so uncomfortable: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103874/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv  

Bram Stoker’s Dracula costume designer - https://www.academymuseum.org/en/bram-stokers-dracula-launched-eiko-ishiokas-career-costume-designer

Image – Mina and Dracula: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/tamytattoo/bram-stoker-dracula-costumes/

Has a woman ever directed a Dracula adaptation? - https://nerdist.com/article/12-great-female-directed-vampire-movies/

Image – Lucy the vampire: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnarcher/2017/10/11/bram-stokers-dracula-4k-blu-ray-review-the-blood-is-the-life/ 

Is Disneyland Paris Planet Hollywood still open? - https://www.laughingplace.com/w/articles/2023/01/07/planet-hollywood-closes-at-disneyland-paris/