Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

In 15th-century Romania Count Dracula returns from the Crusades to discover his wife Elisabeta has committed suicide, believing him to have been killed in battle.

As a result of her death, Dracula renounces his Catholicism and becomes a vampire.

Four centuries later, estate agent Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to sell the Count a London property, but when the Count sees a picture of Harker’s fiancée Mina he becomes obsessed that she is the reincarnation of his dead wife and imprisons Harker in his castle while he travels to England.

Eerie, romantic and operatic, this exquisitely mounted revamp of the undead legend is a supreme artistic achievement.

Francis Ford Coppola’s film is grandiose in visual approach and uses every cinematic trick – from the basic atmospheric lighting of the silent era to today’s more sophisticated techniques – to accentuate the poetic sensuality of Bram Stoker’s novel rather than the more exploitative bloodsucking elements.

As the tired count who has overdosed on immortality, Gary Oldman’s towering performance holds centre stage and burns itself into the memory.

Dracula
Gary Oldman
Mina Murray/Elisabeta
Winona Ryder
Professor Abraham Van Helsing
Anthony Hopkins
Jonathan Harker
Keanu Reeves
Doctor Jack Seward
Richard E Grant
Lord Arthur Holmwood
Cary Elwes
Quincey P Morris
Bill Campbell
Lucy Westenra
Sadie Frost
RM Renfield
Tom Waits
Dracula’s bride
Monica Bellucci
Dracula’s bride
Michaela Bercu
Dracula’s bride
Florina Kendrick

Director
Francis Ford Coppola

Video