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Written by Midnight Butterfly
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Thursday, 06 November 2008 22:33 |
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Page 2 of 2 
| The question, then, is entirely centered on whether or not you like Dracula as a romantic hero. I can remember seeing this with a young woman and by the end she was rooting for Lucy to run away with Dracula. That’s the way the film is structured, purposefully it seems, from top to bottom. After all, as the vampire fighters, Seward and Van Helsing, we have Donald Pleasence and Laurence Olivier, actors who carry some weight. As John Harker we have…Trevor Eve(who?). Eve does a creditable enough job but he certainly does not have the magnetism of a Frank Langella. Granted, Harker never does have the allure of Dracula. Aside from charisma, one of the other reasons that this Dracula is so attractive seems to be that the price of becoming a vampire is either ignored or forgotten. Presumably, Lucy is not going to run off to be a queen in some darkly romantic heaven. She’s going to die and lose her soul and become a monster who feeds on other human beings. Presumably. |
(But as someone pointed out to me recently, I seem to have more of an issue with this when it’s a male vampire being sexy than when it’s a female. Well, yes and no. Ingrid Pitt, for instance, doesn’t scare me. The Vampire Lovers is more fun and funny because there’s a lot of hot chicks in it and I know that going in. If, however, I’m looking to be scared I have to look elsewhere.) So there is much to recommend about this movie and much to have reservations about. What do you want from your Dracula? Eerie, creepy terror or adventurous tragic romance? This Dracula is not going to sneak up on you. You'll get what you pay for. It’s tagline was “Throughout history he has filled the hearts of men with terror and the hearts of women with desire.” Indeed. You can’t make intent much clearer than that.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 07 April 2009 19:14 )
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