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List Price: $19.95 | | Label: Columbia Pictures
Salesrank: 3379
Released: October 2, 2007 |
| Our Price: $9.58 |
| Used Price: $8.15 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Blu-ray |
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Editorial Review:
With dizzying cinematic tricks and astonishing performances, Francis Coppola's 1992 version of the oft-filmed Dracula story is one of the most exuberant, extravagant films of the 1990s. Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder, as the Count and Mina Murray, are quite a pair of star-crossed lovers. She's betrothed to another man; he can't kick the habit of feeding off the living. Anthony Hopkins plays Van Helsing, the vampire slayer, with tongue firmly in cheek. Tom Waits is great fun as Renfield, the hapless slave of Dracula who craves the blood of insects and cats. Sadie Frost is a sexy Lucy Westenra. And poor Keanu Reeves, as Jonathan Harker, has the misfortune to be seduced by Dracula's three half-naked wives. There's a little bit of everything in this version of Dracula: gore, high-speed horseback chases, passion, and longing.
Description of Bram Stoker's Dracula [Blu-ray]:
Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 Bram Stoker's Dracula is a feverishly inventive movie that often overwhelms its own narrative flow, yet proves irresistible to watch. Coppola's baroque, operatic set design, costumes, and cinematography look as lavish as they did on the film's first release. The director's grab-bag of visual effects are still bold and unabashed, if often over-the-top, and the actors still appear caught up in a certain hysterical pitch that feels a little forced but can be a lot of fun to watch. Gary Oldman's imaginative performance as the titular vampire carries the weight of Coppola's vision of Count Dracula as a tragic-romantic hero with Christ-like overtones. Keanu Reeves still looks a little lost in the pivotal role of Jonathan Harker, the London clerk who finds himself a prisoner in a Transylvanian castle while a 400-year-old vampire makes a play for his fiancée back home (Winona Ryder). Anthony Hopkins is fearless as a daft Von Helsing, and Sadie Frost is very good as the doomed Lucy. --Tom Keogh
Bram Stoker's Dracula [Blu-ray] Reviews:
dracula 
2009-12-13 - The movie was good, a diifrent kind of dracula. I recevied product in a timely manner, would purchase from this buyer again
Different, but charming 
2009-12-09 - If you haven't read the book Dracula, then this movie might be a bit strange to you. However, this movie follows the plot line of the book almost exactly. Of course the writer had to add in a love story, but it fits. The first time I watched the film I was a little taken aback. Some of the acting looked stiff and fake to me, and even some of the accents were childish in sound. But, by the time the plot had picked up and the story had begun to unfold, I couldn't turn it off. This is a classic that any movie fanatic should own. You won't be disappointed if you buy this dvd. ;)
Bela Lugosi's distant relative.
2009-12-09 - This is my favorite movie. Excellent work. You can enjoy every second of it. Great script, cast & artwork, etc. What else do you need to make a movie like this. Oh yes, I almost forgot, a director, a real one, like F.F.Coppola. He is simply the best, at least on the American continent.
Bram Stoker's Dracula Best Dracula Movie that has been made
2009-12-05 - I saw Bram Stoker's Dracula in the theatre when it first came out. I think this version and movie is the best Dracula to date. The acting cast, sets, plot and story line including costume design were outstanding. I purchased the movie from Amazon and watched it on Halloween night. We happened to have a strange 70 degree so warm with wild winds that night in New England and the rustle of all the leaves outside I could hear through my open windows was the perfect setting. What a blast watching this movie with the atmosphere that night. Excellant experience. I would high recommend this version~
Maybe not entirely Bram's, but an excellent adaptation...
2009-10-23 - I was excited back in the day when this film was released; one of my best friends and I were ardent horror fans back then, and had both often talked of someone doing "Dracula" as it was written...I had seen Franco's "Count Dracula" on late-night television, but was anxious to see a big budget, and hopefully even more faithful, adaptation of Stoker's work.
I wasn't disappointed, per se, although I did have a major issue (more on that in a minute), but overall, I very, very much enjoyed the movie. The pageantry and scope of the scenery was marvelous. I was spellbound by the cinematography, and the eerie shadows and unearthly feel of the film, especially the sequences in Castle Dracula. I was a little put off by the red, Oriental-appearing garb that the Count wore in the beginning (although I understood the symbolism), but all in all Coppola's style and techniques made the film a very well-woven tapestry of dread and gothic style.
As far as performances go, I thought all of the acting was very well done (although I'm not a fan of Keanu Reeves' wooden style), but the standout to me was Anthony Hopkins. I dare say that his portrayal of Professor Van Helsing is the DEFINITIVE version...I take nothing from Peter Cushing, but from the book, I always pictured him as more of a swashbuckling, mystical man, one who spoke his mind and was perhaps a bit irreverent in his conviction...in short, EXACTLY as Hopkins performed him.
Now, for my issue: I was disappointed with the whole "reincarnation of lost love" theme that Coppola went with. Not only is this an old trick, but had no place in the novel at all. The only love story in the book is the love of the men who would sacrifice all to save a virtuous woman from the blackest of evil. I had looked forward to a monstrous and menacing Dracula as he was in Stoker's story, and while Oldman did a brilliant job, I was chagrined at the character being so sympathetic and played as a romantic lead. Whereas it did the movie in and of itself justice, to proclaim to be "Bram Stoker's Dracula", the addition of this element flew in the face of that claim. While I know this was done to draw a larger audience, the movie could have been as well done and beautiful without this contrivance.
A very good movie, in every way, and I highly recommend it...would have been a five-star rating if not for that one glaring departure from the story.
