Sometimes, when I select a thing to watch and then write about, specifically something I have not previously seen, I realize during the viewing that I made a bad choice. This occurred recently when I decided to watch Psycho Killer based upon a couple social media reviews saying it was “sneaky good”. That film started with promise, but I was ultimately bamboozled. My lesson from the experience simply reinforced that social media cannot be trusted. Yet, I am always looking for recommendations. So, when I recently finished listening to Audible’s fully casted adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, I wanted to stay in that world. Enter Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula from 1992.
Is Coppola a legendary director? Absolutely – The Godfather I and II and Apocalypse Now are considered masterpieces. Do I think his work is overrated? Sure do. I have never read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and if I had not just listened to Robyn Ahern’s adaptation, I am fairly certain Coppola’s movie would have played as a bunch of gobbledegook. Yes, it is stylish and there are some neat effects. The fact Dracula was shot almost entirely on a stage comes through beautifully to give the film a look and feel that you simply do not get from modern cinema. But my goodness, the story construction and flow is ragged and so hard to follow that it distracts from what the film should have been. Looking back at Coppola’s other work, I see the same flaws, but I so wanted to believe The Godfather and Apocalypse Now were these behemoths of cinema, that I blindly accepted that maybe I needed to like them even if it took multiple viewings to really understand what I was watching and be able to make sense of the story. Coppola made art, but some of it is not my cup of tea.
This version of Dracula is more love story than horror. Dracula is less of an omnipotent threat and more of a lovesick old man. All the makeup and bemoaning of lonely centuries spent feasting on innocent people wastes Gary Oldman as the titular character, who never establishes himself as evil personified. While dealing with that disappointment, the viewer has to handle Keanu Reeves trying to be British while Anthony Hopkins plays a scattered and annoying Van Helsing. Thankfully, there are rays of sunshine in Tom Waits’ spectacular portrayal of Renfield, Dracula’s lackey. Even in darkness, there can be light.
Not every film or show is going to be a winner. I was excited to watch this film and wanted it to be a luscious ode to the Halloween season. Coppola let me down, as did Reeves’ accent. Stick a stake in Dracula and cut off its head, for its decades of terror are at an end.
