Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1417 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-10-22
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Box set, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 122 minutes

DVD Description
Francis Ford Coppola's take on the Dracula myth is visually stunning and overflows with passionate seduction and Gothic romance. In Bram Stoker's Dracula, Coppola draws from the original source of the Dracula story to create a modern masterpiece. Gary Oldman's metamorphosis as Dracula, who grows from old to young, from man to beast, is breathtaking. Winona Ryder brings as much intensity to the character of the beautiful young woman who becomes the object of Dracula's devastating desire. Anthony Hopkins co-stars as the famed doctor who dares to believe in Dracula and then dares to confront him. Opulent and irresistible, Bram Stoker's Dracula is an unforgettable film.

Synopsis
A seductive retelling of the legendary tale, BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA is Francis Ford Coppola's opulent, erotic, blood-filled feast. Count Dracula (played with irresistible intensity by Gary Oldman) reunites with his soul mate, Mina (Winona Ryder), after four centuries. Mina's friend Lucy (Sadie Frost) succumbs to the deadly bite of Dracula while Renfield (Tom Waits), locked in an asylum, eagerly waits for his master's return. Mina's fiance, Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves), with the help of the eccentric Professor Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins), attempts to save Mina's life and soul before she can become Dracula's eternal bride.


After Dracula attacks Mina’s friend Lucy (Sadie Frost), Dr. Jack Seward (Richard E. Grant) calls in the legendary Professor Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) to cure Lucy’s "disease of the blood." Jonathan escapes from the castle and he and Mina are married while Lucy dies and is resurrected as a vampire. When Dracula appears to Mina in her sleep, she declares her undying love for him. Professor Van Helsing, Jack Seward, and Lucy’s fiancé, Arthur Holmwood (Cary Elwes), join Jonathan and travel to Transylvania to destroy Dracula, but Mina tries to save her tortured lover.


Musician Tom Waits appears in the film as Renfield, a Victorian lunatic singing the praises of Dracula. Ornate costume design and lighting awash in shades of blood make this film a seductive and scary must-see.
In his version of the oft-told tale, Francis Ford Coppola takes Bram Stoker's archetypical horror story and accentuates the romantic angle. Blood still flows in large amounts, and Coppola opted to do all the eye-pleasing visual effects in-camera, utilizing shadow puppets, smoke, miniatures, and other time-honoured tricks of the trade--creating a visual style not unlike that of a storybook come to life.

Customer Reviews

Upgrade your old vanilla edition NOW!
This film really cast a spell on me when I saw it in the cinema back in the early nineties and I was always slightly disappointed with the vanilla edition DVD, because it always seemed that there was such a lot to say about a film which looks so good.

I know the Coppola take on Dracula was not to everyone's taste, but this great edition gives the full story, for those who want to know. Lovely packaging, presentation, great commentary from Mr C himself. By far though, it's the 3 or 4 documentaries which make this release. Why? Because they illustrate brilliantly the single-minded process which went into creating the film.
I was stunned to learn that Coppola insisted on all old-style effects, so that everything done in actually done ON SCREEN i.e. no CGI. Usually documantaries are a bit take-it-or-leave-it but here it's totally fascinating: how they created Dracula's separate shadow, the long arm of the coachman, even little illusions which go by almost un-noticed in the film.

Also, a seperate doc on the costumes and again, you really appreciate how important that was (Coppola:"the costumes ARE the set for this film")

The most incredible thing for me was learning that the WHOLE FILM was shot on a soundstage - that almost defies belief. As Coppola says at one point - it's the restrictions which lead to inventiveness.

The only let down was the lack of really up to date interviews with the actors, but in a sense this is Coppola's show, and with this disc he opens up his bag of tricks and gives us a quick but fascinating glimpse inside.

Buy without worry. By far, the most interesting take on the book in the last fifteen years now has a worthy DVD to match.

Her prince is coming

When Francis Ford Coppola is good, he's very very good. When he's bad... he turns out something like "Bram Stoker's Dracula." Whose title is also very inappropriate, since only a tattered, abused outline of Stoker's original novel is left.

Instead, somebody (probably writer James V. Hart) decided to turn the story of Dracula aka Vlad the Impaler into a tragic star-crossed love story. But not only does this revamped "Dracula" not make much sense, but it rapidly degenerates into a feverishly baroque eruption of schlock, horribly wooden acting and endless drippy sympathy for an avowed brutal murderer.

Prince Vlad the Impaler went off to war, and came back to find that his wife had high-dived into the river. Enraged, he renounced God (I'm not sure why) stabbed a cross (which started inexplicably bleeding), and became a vampire.

Centuries later, Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) arrives in Transylvania to sell a house to Count Dracula (Gary Oldman) -- only to find that Dracula's castle is a depraved, bloody horror house. As he's tormented by Dracula's brides, Dracula travels to England and encounters Harker's fiancee Mina (Winona Ryder), who apparently is the reincarnation of his late wife. So he wines and dines her, while seducing her lusty pal Lucy (Sadie Frost).

And as Lucy grows sickly, lustier and weirder, Doctor Seward (Richard E. Grant) calls his old mentor Dr. Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) to help cure Lucy. Of course, she's being turned into a vampire by Dracula, who is none too pleased that Mina is now rushing to marry Jonathan. Van Helsing's little group sets out to destroy Dracula once and for all -- but Mina is going to make things difficult.

Despite including Bram Stoker's name in the title, it's pretty obvious that Coppola only sticks to the bare bones of Stoker's classic vampire novel. This isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself -- some changes to books are good things. Unfortunately "Bram Stoker's Dracula" is changed in mostly negative ways -- an illogical love story, absurd costumes and hair, schlocky special effects, and some really rotten acting.

And sadly, turning the story into a soggy tragic romance causes a number of plot holes -- Renfield is superfluous, Harker mysteriously survives a fall that killed Elizabeta, and Mina goes on sexy dates while her best pal is dying (there's a friend for you!). And the appalling James V. Hart's attempts at romantic dialogue fall painfully flat, especially when they come from from the legendary Vlad the Impaler ("I have crossed oceans of time to find you!").

Even worse, the beginning of the movie is soaked in schlock -- red satin, animal helmets, muscle armor, creeping shadows, and Dracula's hilarious "breasts" hairdo. Coppola thankfully tones down the schlock factor pretty quickly, although the hyperactive cameras never quite calm down. Many of the following scenes are genuinely lovely: bridal vampires, polished crypts, haunted forests and a gloriously ruinous Carfax Abbey bathed in flames.

But while the story of "Dracula" has a fair dose of subliminal sex, someone apparently decided it isn't blatant enough. So we get random lesbian kisses, screamed orgasms, bare breasts, green mist sex, Mina snogging Van Helsing, and Lucy getting raped by a werewolfized Dracula on a bench.

Gary Oldman makes a solid enough Dracula, although even his formidable talents can't make me sympathize with a brutal mass murderer just because he's an incurable romantic and has pretty hair. Hopkins makes an outstandingly quirky Van Helsing, and Cary Elwes makes a solidly stiff-upper-lipped Arthur Holmwood. Bill Campbell and Richard E. Grant also make solid contributions.

Unfortunately, more spotlight time is given to the appallingly bad Ryder and Reeves. Ryder's acting is mostly confined to looking dewy-eyed all the time, and her outrage upon finding that "her prince" killed her best buddy is all too fleeting. Reeves devotes most of his questionable acting skill to wrestling with a splotchy British accent. Eventually this pivotal part is reduced to clumping around randomly, looking befuddled.

This would be better called "Francis Ford Coppola and James V. Hart's Dracula," soaked in superfluous sex, wooden acting, plot holes, and a feverish haunted-house ambience. Oldman and Hopkins are sublime, but not much else is.

What almost was
I found the original "Bram Stoker's Dracula" to be a jerky unpolished piece [Note I do not even discuss the Dick Van Dyke impression Mr Neo Matrix gives]. The lack of physical chemistry between the leads is too old a story for me to drag up here: But it remains a sumptuous visual feast all the same. This two disc version has a very fine director's commentary & a number of deleted scenes which, had they been cut into the main feature would have smoothed out the flow of the story, as well as some glaring continuity errors [Dr Steward sitting on Quincy's hat for instance]. The Extras reveal Mr Oldman to be a bit of a stroppy actor, but how they managed the non CGI effects is a delight. In essence, if you're a fan of the film, BUY. If you like cinema, buy if you like to see how they make mistakes in films & try to fix them against the budget, but a "Directors Cut" it is not.