My Review of Dracula (1931)

 

Written by Garrett Ford

Directed by Tod Browning

Count Dracula: "I am Dracula. I bid you welcome."

Seeing as I have been doing a watch of Universe Monsters take on classic monsters, of course that meant I'd have to watch Dracula as well. I've seen this one before but it was a delight to go back and watch it again.

Cast in the role of the Count himself was Bela Lugosi. No stranger to this particular franchise, playing the role of Dracula of course would be his most iconic. The film itself also would be seen as an iconic iteration of the character.

Doing a role swap, it ain't Jonathan Harker this time but it's Renfield (Dwight Frye). Normally he's Dracula's subservient right hand man but here he assumed the Harker role as the lawyer tasked with spending time with Dracula in Transylvania. Renfield was warned by the villagers to avoid the Count. Renfield chose not to listen.

The funny thing about this movie was that John Harker (David Manners) did appear in the film, once things were directed back to London. There's even a relationship of sorts between him and Mina Seward (Helen Chandler). It's charming enough I suppose, until Mina nearly killed John while under the influence of Dracula.

This adaptation certainly picks and chooses what to keep and what to play around with. The remainder of Renfield's story did play out like it normally did but he also got John's story as well. Similarly this version of Mina wa the daughter of Dr Seward (Herbert Bunston) while Lucy Weston (Frances Dade) was also quickly dispatched of. Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) seemed the most in character.

In terms of performances, Bela Lugosi undoubtedly was the highlight of the film. He's absolutely captivating as the Count and his best scenes were ones that involved Renfield, Mina and Van Helsing. Of course this was not a great film for John Harker, with the character largely ineffectual but oftentimes that's the curse of the guy. 

- Bela Lugosi had played Dracula on stage, prior to this movie. He'd also play different characters in this particular franchise.

- At least two different scenes, including an epilogue akin to the prologue from Frankenstein (1931) were added in later releases. There are also silent and foreign language versions of this movie.

- Standout music: Tchaikovsky's  Swan Lake.

- Chronology: The late 1800s, both in Transylvania and London.

Dracula (1931) to this day will remain one of the best versions of the Count in live action. Bela Lugosi set the bar for a performance and his chemistry with his costars is magnetic. It's a beautiful looking movie and very eerie in parts. I love it.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

Horror Hunks - Final Guys, Bad Guys And So On

It's Halloween 🎃 and the end of the month. I've indulged in plenty of horror movies this month. For my final blog, I thought I'd do something a little different. Here's a rundown of some of my favourite guys in the genre. Enjoy.

Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) - Psycho (1960-1990)

He might be an unstable mama's boy but who can resist the unhinged motel owner? Or at the very least the gorgeous Anthony Perkins.

Dewey Riley (David Arquette) - Scream series (1996-2022)

Every franchise needs it's sensible and collected player and for five movies in the franchise, we had everyday hero Dewey Riley. Still not happy about his death.

Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman/John Shepherd/Thom Mathews) - Friday The 13th series (1984-1986)

Tommy Jarvis was the closest to a proper foil that Jason Voorhees had in this franchise and any future revival should absolutely cast a fourth actor in the role. Best character in that franchise outside of Jason and his mommy.

Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton) - A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

The guy can scream louder than anyone should, even in in distress but Jesse Walsh is one of the iconic Final Boys. In a movie that's pretty explicitly gay coded throughout.

Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) - Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) 

Dodgy attempts of an English accent to one side, there's something very delectable about Keanu Reeves in arguably the most thankless role in the bestest live action adaptation of this classic tale. He's a dreamboat here.

Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) - Halloween Ends (2022)

I don't care what other fans of the franchise say. Not only did I genuinely last year's conclusion to the Blumhouse trilogy but Corey Cunningham was one of the best new characters introduced to the franchise.

Andrew (Ben Aldridge) - Knock At The Cabin (2023)

The faithless human rights lawyer turned sort of action man and unwitting husband killer. The guy went through a fricking lot in one movie. Hot guy though.

Eddie (Dylan Fergus) - Hellbent (2004)

I know this might be a niche, given that's it's a movie only a small audience has heard but I had to include a character from it. The good boy desk cop who copped off with a hunky bad boy while surviving a hunky killer felt like the right choice.

Jerry Dandrige (Chris Sarandon) - Fright Night (1985)

It wouldn't be a Horror Hunks list without at least one vampire in the mix. My choice would be the bad boy next door neighbor who had too much fun in tormenting Charley Brewster and seducing his girlfriend. 

Caleb Danvers (Steven Strait) - The Covenant (2006)

Oftentimes I refer to this movie as the boy version of The Craft as it's largely the same plot/similar enough. Now I love Sebastian Stan's sexy bad boy in it but Steven Strait's equally sexy good boy is also a delight too. 

Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) - Gremlins series (1984-1990, 2023)

Yes, this might be more light-hearted family friendly horror compared to some of the others on here, but it still counts. I always liked Billy Peltzer as a character and found him rather sexy moreso in the underrated sequel to this franchise.

Philip Morgan (Farley Granger) - Rope (1948)

There's many a fascinating performance and character in this Alfred Hitchcock classic. None more than Farley Granger's eternally twitchy posh boy killer, Philip Morgan. Oh and he can tinkle the old ivories pretty well too.

John Constantine (Matt Ryan) - Constantine/Legends Of Tomorrow/DCAU (2014-2022)

Saving the best for last. There was no way I was going to do this type of blog and not include the best horror male. Of course I had to specifically reference Matt Ryan's sublime version of John Constantine. The man set the gold standard and is the ultimate horror hunk for me.

Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. Agree/disagree, let me know, lol. Oh and Happy Halloween 🎃

My Review of Dracula's "The Dark Compass"

Written by Mark Gatiss & Steven Moffat
Directed by Paul McGuigan

Jack Seward (to Dracula/Zoe): "It's going to be a beautiful day."

Well, um, this happened then. After a terrific opening episode and a quieter second episode that led to a bit of a game changer for this miniseries, I hate to admit that in spite of some interesting moments, the third act kind of let things down to be honest.

First of all, let's go back to 1897 where Sister Agatha traded her own life so that Mina Murray could live and largely be inconsequential in this adaptation. Then let's focus on Dracula telling Agatha that she was going to be a part of him for centuries to come because he wasn't being fanciful with words there. He actually raised a point.

Then let's cut to 2020 where Dracula emerged from the sea and the woman who greeted him wasn't Sister Agatha, but her descendant, Zoe Van Helsing (also played by Dolly Wells), who has spent her lifetime work tracking down the Count while helping to run the Jonathan Harker foundation with Bloxham (Lindsay Marshall).

Of course Dracula initially escaped Zoe's clutches but his inability to keep a low profile and Zoe's determination soon resulted him in being a prisoner at the foundation until his lawyer Renfield (Mark Gatiss) showed up to get him out of there, much to Zoe's irritation.

Now a free man, Dracula had fun adapting to 21st century life and getting food one swipe away but he soon found himself drawn to social media party girl, Lucy Westenra (Lydia West) - also the object of Zoe's protege Jack Seward (Matthew Beard). Unfortunately for Jack though, Lucy soon became engaged to a certain Quincey Morris (Phil Dunster) but that didn't stop the Count from pursuing Lucy nonetheless.

I've seen people online being quite vocal about Lucy's fate and while there was certainly a further unpleasant element when they went down the Bloofer Lady route with the character, there's no getting away from the fact that the character usually always suffers an unpleasant fate in most adaptations. Here it did seem like Moffat and Gatiss went somewhat overboard but at least the character had more to do before Jack ended her misery for good. The same certainly couldn't be said about Mina.

As for Zoe, I think Wells did a good job of differentiating between her and Agatha but I preferred the latter as a character and something about Zoe dying felt a little predictable. Still though, her tainted blood did become key into Dracula's own demise after the latter had his own epiphany and that's probably what felt the most unsatisfying as well. Not the character dying as such but the way it happened just didn't work for me.

- Did we lose one of Lucy's other suitors so she could have a gay best friend in this episode? Jack should've copped off with the best mate to be honest.
- I found it funny that Lindsay Marshall effectively played a similar role here to the one she played a decade ago in BBC3's Being Human. I really loved that show. Mark Gatiss also had a Dracula documentary on BBC2 after this episode aired.
- Standout music: This episode has now added another horror element to Robbie Williams Angels. Thanks for that.
- Chronology: 1897 and 2020 of course.

The Dark Compass was somewhat a disappointing way to conclude this series and for the time being, I'm going to assume this is a conclusion. If it gets a second series (and I'd be surprised if it does), I'm not sure where else it can go to be honest but for three nights, we got some excellent performances from Claes Bang and Dolly Wells and that's something good we can definitely take away from this interesting but uneven adaptation.

Rating: 6 out of 10

My Review of Dracula's "Blood Vessel"

Written by Mark Gatiss & Steven Moffat
Directed by Damon Thomas

Sister Agatha: "Welcome to England, Count Dracula. What kept you?"

Yeah, I admit, I should have seen this one coming. I mean, it's the sort of thing that both Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss said they weren't going to do, so of course, it would be the thing they'd end up doing. All I can say is that they've certainly changed the game for the last episode of the series and that should be fun to watch.

As for the bulk of this episode, it was a rather fun and intellectually charged battle of wits between the Count and Sister Agatha over a game of chess as the two of them challenged the other's expectations throughout the 90 minutes of this lighter in action middle installment and this was a very light on action episode in spite of Dracula acting like a pig with truffles.

On the boat named Demeter, we saw the Count charm and mostly snack on the crew while also presenting an undead Agatha as a murder suspect before Captain Sokolov (Jonathan Aris) deduced that the Count himself was a murderer and it was something of a game of the survivors trying to stay one step ahead of the Count while trying to get to England.

For a quiet episode though, it did have fun seeing Dracula go through various members of the ship, playing certain people off one another and exploiting others greed and vulnerabilities but like the previous episode, it's really Van Helsing herself who is driving this series. I've liked Dolly Wells in other things I've seen her in but here, she's been an absolute revelation as Sister Agatha. She's got to appear in more dramatic or horror roles after this series is done with.

As for the last scene - Dracula showing up in present day England, greeted by a detective Agatha. Maybe it did annoy some fans but not me. I loved the twist and given the interplay between the two of them throughout the episode, it's actually satisfying as well. I just hope the pay off works out though as our Count will have to grapple with 21st century habits.

- Our current Master, Sacha Dhawan popped up here as a Doctor Sharma with a child. He didn't make it out of the episode alive.
- Dracula encountered a former conquest Grand Duchess Valeria (Catherine Schell) and we had a closeted gay couple, an actor from Stranger Things and one of the co-writers of this series in here too.
-  There was a reference to a character from John Polidari's The Vampyre, Lord Ruthven who also appeared in this episode. He was in a relationship with manservant, Adisa.
- Chronology: By the end of this episode, I guess the Count can sample life in 2020.

Blood Vessel is a very talky, light on action episode, the kind that Steven Moffat in particular has definitely crafted in some of his past works but it also succeeded with it's twists, interplay between the guest characters and capturing the sense of cabin fever and there was a lovely reference to another BBC series, which I'm sure everyone caught as well. I really hope the last episode doesn't blow the good work set up here.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Dracula's "The Rules Of The Beast"

Written by Mark Gatiss & Steven Moffat
Directed by Jonny Campbell

Dracula (to Jonathan): "As I've been trying to tell people for centuries, you are what you eat."

It's been three years since Sherlock came to a rather unsatisfying end but that alone was never going to deter Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss from teaming up to give us a rather fresh-ish update on a certain Count and with the first of a three part series, this certainly got the appetite going.

Anyways not to bore too much but the story mostly remains the same with a few classic Moffat/Gatiss writing tropes thrown into the mix. Jonathan Harker (John Heffernan) finds sanctuary in a convent with the rather sharp Sister Agatha (Dolly Wells) getting him to recount the events that led to his current predicament.

In flashbacks we see the shy lawyer rock up in Transylvania to stay with Count Dracula (Claes Bang) who as the episode progresses becomes rather younger while the opposite effect happens to Harker. When Jonathan realises what's happened to him, he tries to escape, encounters some brides before becoming one himself and yeah, everything else goes to hell for the poor guy as the episode comes to a face ripping conclusion.

There's always been a homoerotic interplay with Dracula and Harker and this episode leaned heavier into that than other iterations have done in the past. It even got to the point where Sister Agatha even asked if Harker and Dracula had actually had sex with each other but Jonathan unfortunately didn't make it out of the episode alive and Dracula's attentions soon turned to Mina (Morfydd Clark), the latter of whom I found to be quite weak as a character in spite of her attempts to humanise her would be husband before his death.

In terms of highlights, I can definitely see why Moffat and Gatiss went with Claes Bang as he's a revelation in the role but I think Dolly Wells might have upstaged him and that was even before we got to the reveal of her being a gender swapped Van Helsing. I'm not surprised a male character got gender swapped here but it did work for me as did the horror, gore and overall attempts of dark humour to boot.

- I see we got some references to both Sherlock Holmes and Clara Oswald in this episode. am I shocked that we'd get a hint of Mina being bisexual? Of course not, lol.
- Joanna Scanlan was somewhat wasted as Mother Superior, even if she did get a decent death scene when Dracula got into the convent.
- The ratings for this were under four million on BBC1. Again, like Doctor Who, I was expecting more for this.
- Expect the next two episodes Blood Vessel and The Dark Compass over the next two nights.

The Rules Of The Beast kicks this miniseries off to a good start. It's not hard to spot both Moffat and Gatiss's fingerprints all over it and that can be both a good and a bad thing to a point. Still though, the leads were excellent, the humour didn't jar and the horror was excellent. This should bode well for the remaining two episodes.

Rating: 8 out of 10

First Look: Dracula, starring Claes Bang

Yeah, I haven't really talked much about Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss's upcoming BBC1/Netflix Dracula adaptation, so here's a little blog on that.

First of all the BBC have released two images of Claes Bang in the title role and while we have a list of the main cast, we still don't know who is playing whom, though there's a rumour that Joanna Scanlan will be playing a female version of Van Helsing.

Cast listing so far though is ....

Claes Bang as Count Dracula
John Heffernan
Dolly Wells
Joanna Scanlan
Morfydd Clark
Lujza Richter
Mark Gatiss
Jonathan Aris
Sacha Dhawan
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett
Catherine Schell
Youssef Kerkour
Clive Russell
Lyndsey Marshal
Chanel Cresswell
Matthew Beard
Sarah Niles
Lydia West
Sofia Oxenham

A lot of familiar faces, some of whom have already previously appeared in both Doctor Who and Sherlock over the last few years.

Directors for the three episode series are Jonny Campbell (Informer, Westworld), Damon Thomas (Killing Eve, Penny Dreadful) and Paul McGuigan (Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool, Sherlock) with Moffat, Gatiss and Sue Vertue producing the series.

Now it'll be interesting to see if both Moffat and Gatiss can strike the same lightning with Dracula that they managed to do for Sherlock's four series run and if we're even lucky, maybe avoid some of the pitfalls and overzealous fanbase as well. I'll be watching and reviewing the series as well when it finally airs.

Press Release: https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2019/dracula-first-look

Dracula will air on BBC1 and Netflix in the upcoming months. A date has yet to be confirmed.

Dracula - Moffat/Gatiss To Write Miniseries For BBC

With his time on Doctor Who coming to a close this Christmas and Sherlock over for the foreseeable future, Steven Moffat along with Mark Gatiss will be bringing another icon to the BBC.

From the press release ....

The brains behind the BBC's Sherlock series are to make a new version of Dracula, the corporation has confirmed.
Talks are under way with Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss about a series of 90-minute films based on Bram Stoker's novel about the Transylvanian vampire.
No scripts have been written and the Count has yet to be cast. According to the Radio Times, though, the series is likely to air in 2019.
Moffat's wife Sue Vertue will produce the show for Hartswood Films.
According to Variety, it is unclear whether Dracula, like Sherlock, will have a modern-day British setting.

I have to admit, I'm a little mixed on this one. The last time the BBC adapted the most infamous of vampires, it was back in 2006 with Marc Warren and it wasn't particularly a riveting adaptation. I'm not also sure if a miniseries will work, although it has to fare a little better than NBC/SkyLiving's attempts of a series back in 2013 with Jonathan Rhys Meyers. I'm also hoping that both Moffat and Gatiss resist the urge to make their version of the character into a Sherlock clone as well.  That said, I'm sure the casting for this will be exciting though.

Press Release: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-40347479

I'll post more information on Dracula as soon as it becomes available but hey, at least we know what Moffat and Gatiss's first Doctor Who/Sherlock project will be.

My Review of Dracula (1992)

Written by Bram Stroker And James V. Hart
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Dracula: "I am the monster that breathing men would kill. I am Dracula."

Like his other horror literary counterparts, Dracula has been adapted so many times and in so many ways that you could be somewhat desensitised to Bram Stoker's infamous bloodsucker, somewhat based on the sadistic Vlad the Impaler but out of all adaptations, this particular movie for me remains one of the most iconic and memorable.

Released in the early 1990s, this version of the bloodsucker is mostly faithful to Stoker's iconic novel as solicitor Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) takes a business trip to Transylvania where he meets the infamous Count (Gary Oldman) and it's a struggle for him to get out of the castle and back to his beloved Mina (Winona Ryder) to whom Dracula quickly has taken an obsession to.

If you wanted the original sensual and destructive vampire/human relationship, then the Count and his pursuit of Mina is where to be. It's an interesting and deadly story as the Count makes his presence known in England and even takes delight in tormenting and changing Mina's best friend, Lucy (Sadie Frost) into a creature of the night before Mina finds herself conflicted between her relationship with Jonathan and growing feelings for the most dangerous vampire of all time.

Of course, Dracula's pursuit of Mina does however make him a target of not only a vengeful Jonathan and Lucy's suitors - Quincy, Seward and Holmwood but also the most famous of vampire hunters - Van Helsing, played with relish by Sir Anthony Hopkins as Dracula finds his stay in England and obsession with Mina coming to a rather bloody end.

In a way, it's almost lucky we got this version in the nineties because I honestly think what we've get nowadays would be so much more anemic by comparison. Oldman is utterly superb in the lead role - genuinely menacing, alluring, dangerous, cruel and tragic and Ryder herself is actually quite superb as the more innocent but smart and sympathetic Mina. Reeves does well enough as Jonathan but I do think he's overshadowed a little by the rest of his cast members at times.

- Watch the commentary for this movie. A lot of the things that Coppola says are pretty mind blowing, especially about Keanu's casting for the role of Harker.
- This was originally meant to be a television movie before Winona showed it to Coppola.
- Some of the cinematography in this movie is truly stunning - the blood red skies, the fog sequences, the snowy Transylvania towards the end.
- Other actors considered for Dracula include Colin Firth, Daniel Day-Lewis and Nicholas Cage to name a few.

There have been many adaptations of this book but for me, Coppola's Dracula is definitely the most definitive of adaptations and one that has yet to be better as well. Primarily faithful to the source material itself but adding a little more, this movie is a classic.

Rating: 9 out of 10

First Look: Dracula

You're never far away from another interpretation of Dracula and it seems that NBC and SkyLiving themselves are getting in on the act with former star of The Tudors, Jonathan Rhys Meyers playing the titular role in their co-production. Carnivale creator Daniel Knauf will be running the series along with creator Cole Haddon.

In this ten part series, Meyers is playing the role of Alexander Grayson, who poses as an American entrepeneur who wants to bring modern science into Victorian London and it doesn't take him much time to make an impression on a variety of characters upon his arrival.

One of the significant people Alexander makes an impression on is Mina murray, played by Arrow actress Jessica De Gouw - the love interest of Jonathan Harker (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), a journalist desperate to make it in high society and in the trailer for the series, it seems that Alexander and Mina have something of a past and he's reluctant into making her into a vampire.

Other principal cast members include former Merlin actress Katie McGrath (she's popping up everywhere nowadays) as Lucy Westenra, Nonso Anozie as RM Renfield, the only confidant that Alexander seems to have and the more antagonist Lady Jane (played by Victoria Smurfit) and Thomas Kretschmann as Abraham Van Helsing. While we probably don't need yet another adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic novel, this does look genuinely stunning and it seems that the series is going for a more sympathetic take with Dracula too. Jonathan Rhys Meyers seems perfect for the role and the rest of the cast look good too. I'll definitely be watching this series when it airs on SkyLiving.

Press Release: http://www.spoilertv.com/2012/07/dracula-nbc-and-sky-living-hd-announce.html
Season 1 Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Z1jVcmDH43Y

Dracula will premiere on Fridays in the autumn on NBC and will air on SkyLiving soon.