Coppola’s Dracula was flawed but it was a grand, operatic, hysterical and glorious failure
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) was a comeback for Francis Ford Coppola.
After the 1970s triumphs of The Godfather (I and II) and Apocalypse Now, Coppola had a quiet next decade, ending with the letdown of The Godfather Part III in 1990.
But Dracula was a thunderous return to form. Almost.
Coppola was introduced to the script by Winona Ryder, who would take the pivotal role of Mina Harker, inspiring Dracula to journey to London from Transylvania and restart his reign of terror.
Coppola insisted there be no digital effects and that everything he wanted to see must be achieved ‘‘in camera’’. Coppola and cinematographer Michael Ballhaus revived techniques that hadn’t been properly used in decades – back-projection, miniatures, double exposures and forced perspective made up the effects toolkit. These were skills from the 1920s and earlier, but Coppola made them dance again.
Seen today, Coppola’s vision for Dracula has a grandeur and physical presence that a digitaldriven film can’t attain. Digital effects age badly, as our visual acuity catches up and stops being fooled. But in-camera and model-based effects have a timelessness that owes everything to their physical existence in space, defined by real light.
The costume designer, Eiko Ishioka, won an Academy Award and is credited with freeing Dracula forever from the caped cliches of earlier incarnations.
Although, this is in no way perfect. Many people will tell you it is not even a great film. As the Count, Gary Oldman is wonderful – the perfect mix of menace, charm, intelligence and physicality the role demands.
But around him, Ryder is insubstantial as Mina – and Anthony Hopkins, as the vampire hunter Van Helsing, never got the memo that this was not an old Hammer horror. Hopkins preens and mugs, apparently humps someone’s leg at one point and never seems a worthy foe for Oldman.
And then, there’s Keanu Reeves as Mina’s fiance´, who turns up here like a goldfish in a shark tank. Imprisoned in Dracula’s castle, he is kept by a coven of female vampires, who, err, drain him every night, to keep him too uninspired to even get out of bed. Yes, it’s as unintentionally comic as it sounds.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a grand, operatic, hysterical and flawed film. But it is also an incredible spectacle. If this Dracula truly is a failure, I wish more films could fail this beautifully.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is now available to rent from iTunes, GooglePlay and YouTube.