Bram Stoker's Dracula
Encyclopedia
Dracula is a 1992 American Gothic horror
-romance
film directed and co-produced by Francis Ford Coppola
, based on the novel Dracula
by Bram Stoker
. It stars Gary Oldman
as Count Dracula
and Winona Ryder
as Mina Harker
, also featuring Anthony Hopkins
as Professor Abraham Van Helsing
, Keanu Reeves
as Jonathan Harker
, and Sadie Frost
as Lucy Westenra
.
Dracula was greeted by a generally positive critical reception and was a box office hit. The film's score was composed by Wojciech Kilar
and featured "Love Song for a Vampire
" by Annie Lennox
as the closing credits theme.
, a member of the Order of the Dragon
, returns from a victory against the Turks
to find his wife, Elisabeta, has committed suicide
after receiving a false report of his death. Enraged at the notion of his wife being damned for committing suicide, Dracula desecrates his chapel and renounces God, declaring that he will rise from the grave to avenge Elisabeta with all the powers of darkness.
In 1897, newly-qualified solicitor Jonathan Harker
takes the Transylvania
n Count Dracula
as a client from his colleague R. M. Renfield
, who has gone insane. Jonathan travels to Transylvania to arrange Dracula's real estate acquisition in London
, including Carfax Abbey. Jonathan meets Dracula, who discovers a picture of Harker's fiancée, Mina
, and believes that she is the reincarnation
of Elisabeta. Dracula leaves Jonathan to be seduced by his brides
and sails to England with boxes of his native soil, taking up residence at Carfax Abbey. His arrival is foretold by the ravings of Renfield, now an inmate in Dr. Jack Seward
's neighboring insane asylum.
In London, Dracula emerges as a wolf-like creature amid a fierce thunderstorm and hypnotically seduces, then rape
s and bites Lucy Westenra
, with whom Mina is staying while Jonathan is in Transylvania. Lucy's deteriorating health and behavioral changes prompts Lucy's former suitors Quincey Morris
and Dr. Seward, along with her fiancée, Arthur Holmwood
, to summon Dr. Abraham Van Helsing
, who recognizes Lucy as the victim of a vampire
. Dracula, appearing young and handsome during daylight, meets and charms Mina. When Mina receives word from Jonathan, who has escaped the castle and recovered at a convent
, she travels to Romania
to marry him. In his fury, Dracula transforms Lucy into a vampire. Van Helsing, Holmwood, Seward and Morris kill Lucy.
After Jonathan and Mina return to London, Jonathan and Van Helsing lead the others to Carfax Abbey, where they destroy the Count's boxes of soil. Dracula enters the asylum, where he kills Renfield for warning Mina of his presence before visiting Mina, who is staying in Seward's quarters while the others hunt Dracula. He confesses that he murdered Lucy and has been terrorizing Mina's friends, but a confused and angry Mina admits that she still loves him and remembers her previous life as Elisabeta. At her insistence, Dracula begins transforming her into a vampire. The hunters burst into the bedroom, with Dracula claiming Mina as his bride before escaping. As Mina begins changing, Van Helsing hypnotizes her and learns via her connection with Dracula that he is sailing home in his last remaining box. The hunters depart for Varna
to intercept him, but Dracula reads Mina's mind and evades them. The hunters split up, with Van Helsing and Mina traveling to the Borgo Pass and the castle, while the others try to stop the Gypsies transporting the Count.
At night, Van Helsing and Mina are approached by Dracula's brides. They frighten Mina at first, but she gives into their chanting and attempts to seduce Van Helsing. Before Mina can feed on his blood, Van Helsing places a communion wafer
upon her forehead, leaving a mark. He surrounds them with a ring of fire to protect them from the brides, then infiltrates the castle and decapitates them the following morning. As sunset approaches, Dracula's carriage arrives at the castle, pursued by the hunters. A fight between the hunters and gypsies ensues, and at sunset Dracula bursts from his coffin. Harker slits his throat while a wounded Morris stabs him in the heart with a Bowie knife
. As Dracula staggers, Mina rushes to his defense. Holmwood tries to attack but Van Helsing and Harker allow her to retreat with the Count. Morris dies, surrounded by his friends.
In the chapel where he renounced God, Dracula lies dying in an ancient demon
ic form. He asks Mina to give him peace. They share a kiss as the candles adorning the chapel light up, and Mina shoves the knife through Dracula's heart. The mark on her forehead disappears as Dracula's curse is lifted. She decapitates him, and finally gazes up at the fresco of Vlad and Elisabeta ascending to Heaven
together.
) to the attention of Coppola. The director had agreed to meet with her so the two could clear the air after her late withdrawal from The Godfather Part III
caused production delays on that film and led her to believe Coppola disliked her. Coppola was attracted to the sensual elements of the screenplay and said that he wanted portions of the picture to resemble an "erotic dream". In the months leading up to its release, Hollywood insiders who had seen the movie felt Coppola's film was too odd, violent, and strange to succeed at the box office and dubbed it "Bonfire of the Vampires" after the notorious 1990 box office bomb The Bonfire of the Vanities
. Due to delays and cost overruns on some of Coppola's previous projects such as Apocalypse Now
and One from the Heart
, Coppola was determined to bring the film in on time and on budget. To accomplish this he filmed on sound stages to avoid potential troubles caused by inclement weather.
Coppola chose to invest a significant amount of the budget into costumes in order to showcase the actors which he considered the "jewels" of the feature. He had an artist storyboard
the entire film in advance carefully illustrating each planned shot, a process which created around a thousand images. He turned the drawings into a choppy animated film and added music, then spliced in scenes from the French version of Beauty and the Beast
that Jean Cocteau
directed in 1946 and stills of paintings by Gustav Klimt
and other symbolist artists. He showed the animated film to his designers to give them an idea of the mood and theme he was aiming for. Coppola also asked the set costume designers to simply bring him designs which were "weird". "'Weird' became a code word for 'Let's not do formula,'" he later recalled. "'Give me something that either comes from the research or that comes from your own nightmares.' I gave them paintings, and I gave them drawings, and I talked to them about how I thought the imagery could work."
Coppola brought in acting coach Greta Seacat to coach Frost and Ryder for their erotic scenes as he felt uncomfortable discussing sexuality with the young actresses. However he did ask Oldman to speak seductively off-camera to Frost while they were filming a scene in which she writhed alone in her bed in ecstacy. She later classified the things Oldman said to her as "very unrepeatable."
, the film holds an overall approval rating of 82%, with the consensus, "Overblown in the best sense of the word, Francis Ford Coppola's vision of Bram Stoker's Dracula rescues the character from decades of campy interpretations — and features some terrific performances to boot." Vincent Canby
described the film as being akin to "the work of a precocious film student who has magically acquired a master's command of his craft." Richard Corliss
said, "Coppola brings the old spook story alive ... Everyone knows that Dracula has a heart; Coppola knows that it is more than an organ to drive a stake into. To the director, the count is a restless spirit who has been condemned for too many years to interment in cruddy movies. This luscious film restores the creature's nobility and gives him peace."
Roger Ebert
awarded the film 3/4 stars, writing: "I enjoyed the movie simply for the way it looked and felt. Production designers Dante Ferretti
and Thomas Sanders have outdone themselves. The cinematographer, Michael Ballhaus, gets into the spirit so completely he always seems to light with shadows." Ebert did, however, voice mild criticisms on what he felt were "narrative confusions and dead ends." Jonathan Rosenbaum
felt the film suffered from a "somewhat dispersed and overcrowded story line" but that it "remains fascinating and often affecting thanks to all its visual and conceptual energy." Empire's
Tom Hibbert was unimpressed. Awarding the film 2/5 stars, he wrote, "Has a film ever promised so much yet delivered so little? There was so much potential, yet when it came down to it, Coppola made his Dracula too old to be menacing, gave Keanu Reeves a part and took out all the action."
, Best Costume Design (Eiko Ishioka
), Best Sound Effects Editing (Tom C. McCarthy, David E. Stone) and Best Makeup (Greg Cannom
, Michèle Burke
, Matthew W. Mungle) and was nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Thomas E. Sanders
, Garrett Lewis
).. It also won four Saturn Award
s, with Best Director
and Best Actor
for Coppola and Oldman, respectively.
In 2011, Total Film
named Oldman's portrayal of Dracula as one of the ten best performances of his career.
, which included a behind-the-scenes documentary
, and the original Dracula novel
by Bram Stoker in paperback
. Grey, gothic
statue heads (as seen on the original film poster) adorned the front cover of the book against a grey stone background.
Dracula was first released to DVD
in 1999 and again as a Superbit
DVD in 2001. Neither release contained any extra features. A two-disc "Collector's Edition" DVD and Blu-ray was released in 2007. The "Collector's Edition" special features include an introduction and audio commentary
by director Francis Ford Coppola, deleted and extended scenes
, teaser and full-length trailers, and the documentaries
"The Blood Is the Life: The Making of Dracula", "The Costumes Are the Sets: The Design of Eiko Ishioka", "In Camera: The Naïve Visual Effects of Dracula", and "Method and Madness: Visualizing Dracula".
Other merchandising for the film included a board game, a pinball game, and video game adaptations for the Super Nintendo
, NES
, Game Boy
, Sega Genesis, Game Gear, Sega Master System
, Amiga
, Sega CD, and PC
. A four-issue comic book adaptation and 100 collectible cards based on the movie were released by the Topps
company with art provided by Mike Mignola
.
Various action figures and model sets were also produced. In addition to these items, accurate licensed replicas of Dracula's sword
and Quincey's bowie knife
were available from Factory X. A novelization
of the film was published, written by Fred Saberhagen
.
Gothic fiction
Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story"...
-romance
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
film directed and co-produced by Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
, based on the novel Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
by Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
. It stars Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
as Count Dracula
Count Dracula
Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and archetypal vampire. Some aspects of his character have been inspired by the 15th century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler...
and Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
as Mina Harker
Mina Harker
Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's 1897 horror novel Dracula.- In the novel :She begins the story as Miss Mina Murray, a young school mistress who is engaged to Jonathan Harker, and best friends with Lucy Westenra...
, also featuring Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
as Professor Abraham Van Helsing
Abraham Van Helsing
Professor Abraham van Helsing is a protagonist from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.Van Helsing is a Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc." The character is best known as a...
, Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
as Jonathan Harker
Jonathan Harker
Jonathan Harker is one of the main protagonists in the 1897 horror novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. His journey to Transylvania and encounter with Count Dracula and the Brides of Dracula at Castle Dracula constitutes the dramatic opening scenes in the novel and most of the film adaptations.-In the...
, and Sadie Frost
Sadie Frost
Sadie Frost is an English actress, who currently runs fashion label Frost French and has designed the kitchens for a new development in the East End of London.-Biography:Frost was born Sadie Liza Vaughan in London...
as Lucy Westenra
Lucy Westenra
Lucy Westenra is a fictional character in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. She is the 19-year-old daughter of a wealthy family. Her father is not mentioned in the novel and her elderly mother is simply stated as being Mrs. Westenra. Lucy is introduced as Mina Murray's best friend. In the 1931...
.
Dracula was greeted by a generally positive critical reception and was a box office hit. The film's score was composed by Wojciech Kilar
Wojciech Kilar
Wojciech Kilar ; b. 17 July 1932 in Lwów, Poland) is a Polish classical and film music composer.-Biography:Wojciech Kilar is one of Poland’s esteemed composers. Born in 1932 in Lwów . His father was a gynecologist and his mother was a theater actress...
and featured "Love Song for a Vampire
Love Song for a Vampire
"Love Song for a Vampire" is a song by Scottish singer Annie Lennox. It was recorded as the theme song to Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 film adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. The song is used in the end credits of the film.- Music video:...
" by Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...
as the closing credits theme.
Plot
In 1462, Vlad DraculaVlad III the Impaler
Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia , also known by his patronymic Dracula , and posthumously dubbed Vlad the Impaler , was a three-time Voivode of Wallachia, ruling mainly from 1456 to 1462, the period of the incipient Ottoman conquest of the Balkans...
, a member of the Order of the Dragon
Order of the Dragon
The Order of the Dragon was a monarchical chivalric order for selected nobility,founded in 1408 by Sigismund, King of Hungary and later Holy Roman Emperor The Order of the Dragon (Latin Societas Draconistrarum) was a monarchical chivalric order for selected nobility,founded in 1408 by Sigismund,...
, returns from a victory against the Turks
The Night Attack
The Night Attack of Târgovişte was a skirmish fought between forces of Vlad III the Impaler of Wallachia and Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire on Thursday, June 17, 1462. The conflict initially started with Vlad's refusal to pay the Jizya to the Sultan and intensified when Vlad Ţepeş invaded...
to find his wife, Elisabeta, has committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
after receiving a false report of his death. Enraged at the notion of his wife being damned for committing suicide, Dracula desecrates his chapel and renounces God, declaring that he will rise from the grave to avenge Elisabeta with all the powers of darkness.
In 1897, newly-qualified solicitor Jonathan Harker
Jonathan Harker
Jonathan Harker is one of the main protagonists in the 1897 horror novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. His journey to Transylvania and encounter with Count Dracula and the Brides of Dracula at Castle Dracula constitutes the dramatic opening scenes in the novel and most of the film adaptations.-In the...
takes the Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
n Count Dracula
Count Dracula
Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and archetypal vampire. Some aspects of his character have been inspired by the 15th century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler...
as a client from his colleague R. M. Renfield
Renfield
R. M. Renfield is a fictional character in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.-In the novel:A description of Renfield from the novel:R. M. Renfield, aetat 59. Sanguine temperament, great physical strength, morbidly excitable,...
, who has gone insane. Jonathan travels to Transylvania to arrange Dracula's real estate acquisition in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, including Carfax Abbey. Jonathan meets Dracula, who discovers a picture of Harker's fiancée, Mina
Mina Harker
Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's 1897 horror novel Dracula.- In the novel :She begins the story as Miss Mina Murray, a young school mistress who is engaged to Jonathan Harker, and best friends with Lucy Westenra...
, and believes that she is the reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
of Elisabeta. Dracula leaves Jonathan to be seduced by his brides
Brides of Dracula
The Brides of Dracula are characters in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. They are three seductive female vampire "sisters" who reside with Count Dracula in his castle in Transylvania, where they entrance male humans with their beauty and charm, and then proceed to feed upon them...
and sails to England with boxes of his native soil, taking up residence at Carfax Abbey. His arrival is foretold by the ravings of Renfield, now an inmate in Dr. Jack Seward
John Seward
John Seward, M.D. is a fictional character appearing in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.-In the novel:Seward is the administrator of an insane asylum not far from Count Dracula's first English home, Carfax. Throughout the novel, Seward conducts ambitious interviews with one of his patients,...
's neighboring insane asylum.
In London, Dracula emerges as a wolf-like creature amid a fierce thunderstorm and hypnotically seduces, then rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
s and bites Lucy Westenra
Lucy Westenra
Lucy Westenra is a fictional character in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. She is the 19-year-old daughter of a wealthy family. Her father is not mentioned in the novel and her elderly mother is simply stated as being Mrs. Westenra. Lucy is introduced as Mina Murray's best friend. In the 1931...
, with whom Mina is staying while Jonathan is in Transylvania. Lucy's deteriorating health and behavioral changes prompts Lucy's former suitors Quincey Morris
Quincey Morris
Quincey P. Morris is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's horror novel Dracula.-In the novel:He is a rich young American from Texas, and one of the three suitors for the hand of Lucy Westenra. Quincey is friends with the two other suitors, Arthur Holmwood and Dr. John Seward, as well as Jonathan...
and Dr. Seward, along with her fiancée, Arthur Holmwood
Arthur Holmwood
Arthur Holmwood is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.-In the novel:He is engaged to Lucy Westenra, and is best friends with the other two men who proposed to her on the very same day — Quincey Morris and Doctor John Seward...
, to summon Dr. Abraham Van Helsing
Abraham Van Helsing
Professor Abraham van Helsing is a protagonist from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.Van Helsing is a Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc." The character is best known as a...
, who recognizes Lucy as the victim of a vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
. Dracula, appearing young and handsome during daylight, meets and charms Mina. When Mina receives word from Jonathan, who has escaped the castle and recovered at a convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
, she travels to Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
to marry him. In his fury, Dracula transforms Lucy into a vampire. Van Helsing, Holmwood, Seward and Morris kill Lucy.
After Jonathan and Mina return to London, Jonathan and Van Helsing lead the others to Carfax Abbey, where they destroy the Count's boxes of soil. Dracula enters the asylum, where he kills Renfield for warning Mina of his presence before visiting Mina, who is staying in Seward's quarters while the others hunt Dracula. He confesses that he murdered Lucy and has been terrorizing Mina's friends, but a confused and angry Mina admits that she still loves him and remembers her previous life as Elisabeta. At her insistence, Dracula begins transforming her into a vampire. The hunters burst into the bedroom, with Dracula claiming Mina as his bride before escaping. As Mina begins changing, Van Helsing hypnotizes her and learns via her connection with Dracula that he is sailing home in his last remaining box. The hunters depart for Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
to intercept him, but Dracula reads Mina's mind and evades them. The hunters split up, with Van Helsing and Mina traveling to the Borgo Pass and the castle, while the others try to stop the Gypsies transporting the Count.
At night, Van Helsing and Mina are approached by Dracula's brides. They frighten Mina at first, but she gives into their chanting and attempts to seduce Van Helsing. Before Mina can feed on his blood, Van Helsing places a communion wafer
Sacramental bread
Sacramental bread, sometimes called the lamb, altar bread, host or simply Communion bread, is the bread which is used in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist.-Eastern Catholic and Orthodox:...
upon her forehead, leaving a mark. He surrounds them with a ring of fire to protect them from the brides, then infiltrates the castle and decapitates them the following morning. As sunset approaches, Dracula's carriage arrives at the castle, pursued by the hunters. A fight between the hunters and gypsies ensues, and at sunset Dracula bursts from his coffin. Harker slits his throat while a wounded Morris stabs him in the heart with a Bowie knife
Bowie knife
A Bowie knife is a pattern of fixed-blade fighting knife first popularized by Colonel James "Jim" Bowie in the early 19th Century. Since the first incarnation was created by James Black, the Bowie knife has come to incorporate several recognizable and characteristic design features, although its...
. As Dracula staggers, Mina rushes to his defense. Holmwood tries to attack but Van Helsing and Harker allow her to retreat with the Count. Morris dies, surrounded by his friends.
In the chapel where he renounced God, Dracula lies dying in an ancient demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
ic form. He asks Mina to give him peace. They share a kiss as the candles adorning the chapel light up, and Mina shoves the knife through Dracula's heart. The mark on her forehead disappears as Dracula's curse is lifted. She decapitates him, and finally gazes up at the fresco of Vlad and Elisabeta ascending to Heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
together.
Cast
- Gary OldmanGary OldmanGary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
as Count DraculaCount DraculaCount Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and archetypal vampire. Some aspects of his character have been inspired by the 15th century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler...
/ Vlad III the ImpalerVlad III the ImpalerVlad III, Prince of Wallachia , also known by his patronymic Dracula , and posthumously dubbed Vlad the Impaler , was a three-time Voivode of Wallachia, ruling mainly from 1456 to 1462, the period of the incipient Ottoman conquest of the Balkans... - Winona RyderWinona RyderWinona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
as Mina HarkerMina HarkerWilhelmina "Mina" Harker is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's 1897 horror novel Dracula.- In the novel :She begins the story as Miss Mina Murray, a young school mistress who is engaged to Jonathan Harker, and best friends with Lucy Westenra...
(née Murray) / Elisabeta - Anthony HopkinsAnthony HopkinsSir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
as Professor Abraham Van HelsingAbraham Van HelsingProfessor Abraham van Helsing is a protagonist from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.Van Helsing is a Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc." The character is best known as a...
/ Priest - Keanu ReevesKeanu ReevesKeanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
as Jonathan HarkerJonathan HarkerJonathan Harker is one of the main protagonists in the 1897 horror novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. His journey to Transylvania and encounter with Count Dracula and the Brides of Dracula at Castle Dracula constitutes the dramatic opening scenes in the novel and most of the film adaptations.-In the... - Richard E. GrantRichard E. GrantRichard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...
as Dr. John SewardJohn SewardJohn Seward, M.D. is a fictional character appearing in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.-In the novel:Seward is the administrator of an insane asylum not far from Count Dracula's first English home, Carfax. Throughout the novel, Seward conducts ambitious interviews with one of his patients,... - Cary ElwesCary ElwesIvan Simon Cary Elwes , known professionally as Cary Elwes, is an English actor. The son of Dominick Elwes and Tessa Georgina Kennedy, Elwes acted in off-Broadway plays during college and moved to the United States in the early 1980s. He is known for his role as Westley in the cult classic The...
as Sir Arthur HolmwoodArthur HolmwoodArthur Holmwood is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.-In the novel:He is engaged to Lucy Westenra, and is best friends with the other two men who proposed to her on the very same day — Quincey Morris and Doctor John Seward... - Billy CampbellBilly CampbellWilliam Oliver "Billy" Campbell is an American film and television actor. In television, he is best known for his roles as Rick Sammler on Once and Again, as Det. Joey Indelli on Crime Story, as Jordan Collier on The 4400, and as Dr. Jon Fielding on the Tales of the City Miniseries...
as Quincey P. MorrisQuincey MorrisQuincey P. Morris is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's horror novel Dracula.-In the novel:He is a rich young American from Texas, and one of the three suitors for the hand of Lucy Westenra. Quincey is friends with the two other suitors, Arthur Holmwood and Dr. John Seward, as well as Jonathan... - Sadie FrostSadie FrostSadie Frost is an English actress, who currently runs fashion label Frost French and has designed the kitchens for a new development in the East End of London.-Biography:Frost was born Sadie Liza Vaughan in London...
as Lucy WestenraLucy WestenraLucy Westenra is a fictional character in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. She is the 19-year-old daughter of a wealthy family. Her father is not mentioned in the novel and her elderly mother is simply stated as being Mrs. Westenra. Lucy is introduced as Mina Murray's best friend. In the 1931... - Tom WaitsTom WaitsThomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
as R. M. RenfieldRenfieldR. M. Renfield is a fictional character in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.-In the novel:A description of Renfield from the novel:R. M. Renfield, aetat 59. Sanguine temperament, great physical strength, morbidly excitable,... - Monica BellucciMonica BellucciMonica Anna Maria Bellucci is an Italian actress and fashion model.-Early life:Bellucci was born in Città di Castello, Umbria, Italy as the only child of Luigi Bellucci, who was born in the British protectorate of Zanzibar, East Pakistan...
as Dracula's Bride - Michaela BercuMichaela BercuMichaela Bercu is a Romanian-Israeli model and actress. She grew up in Bucarest, Romania with her parents and now she's living in Paris with her husband and her children. She is represented by Elite...
as Dracula's Bride - Florina Kendrick as Dracula's Bride
- Jay RobinsonJay RobinsonJay Robinson is an American actor specialising in character roles. He was born in New York City.-Career:Robinson began his acting career in summer stock theatre and repertory companies, and eventually made his way to the Broadway stage, where he appeared in Shakespeare's As You Like It and Much...
as Mr. Hawkins
Production
Ryder initially brought the script (written by James V. HartJames V. Hart
James V. "Jim" Hart is an American screenwriter and author.-Career:He wrote the 2005 children's novel Capt. Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth, a prequel depicting J. M. Barrie's villain Captain Hook, the nemesis of Peter Pan, when Hook was a youngster...
) to the attention of Coppola. The director had agreed to meet with her so the two could clear the air after her late withdrawal from The Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III is a 1990 American gangster film written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by Coppola. It completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who tries to legitimize his criminal empire...
caused production delays on that film and led her to believe Coppola disliked her. Coppola was attracted to the sensual elements of the screenplay and said that he wanted portions of the picture to resemble an "erotic dream". In the months leading up to its release, Hollywood insiders who had seen the movie felt Coppola's film was too odd, violent, and strange to succeed at the box office and dubbed it "Bonfire of the Vampires" after the notorious 1990 box office bomb The Bonfire of the Vanities
The Bonfire of the Vanities (film)
The Bonfire of the Vanities is a 1990 American film adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name by Tom Wolfe. The film was directed by Brian De Palma and stars Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy, Bruce Willis as Peter Fallow, Melanie Griffith as Maria Ruskin, and Kim Cattrall as Judy McCoy,...
. Due to delays and cost overruns on some of Coppola's previous projects such as Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
and One from the Heart
One from the Heart
One from the Heart is a 1982 musical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The characters themselves do not actually sing but the powerful score dominates the movie. It is set entirely in Las Vegas, on the Las Vegas Strip and the desert surrounding the city...
, Coppola was determined to bring the film in on time and on budget. To accomplish this he filmed on sound stages to avoid potential troubles caused by inclement weather.
Coppola chose to invest a significant amount of the budget into costumes in order to showcase the actors which he considered the "jewels" of the feature. He had an artist storyboard
Storyboard
Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence....
the entire film in advance carefully illustrating each planned shot, a process which created around a thousand images. He turned the drawings into a choppy animated film and added music, then spliced in scenes from the French version of Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast (1946 film)
Beauty and the Beast is a 1946 French romantic fantasy film adaptation of the traditional fairy tale of the same name, written by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont and published in 1757 as part of a fairy tale anthology . Directed by French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau, the film stars Josette...
that Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
directed in 1946 and stills of paintings by Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects...
and other symbolist artists. He showed the animated film to his designers to give them an idea of the mood and theme he was aiming for. Coppola also asked the set costume designers to simply bring him designs which were "weird". "'Weird' became a code word for 'Let's not do formula,'" he later recalled. "'Give me something that either comes from the research or that comes from your own nightmares.' I gave them paintings, and I gave them drawings, and I talked to them about how I thought the imagery could work."
Coppola brought in acting coach Greta Seacat to coach Frost and Ryder for their erotic scenes as he felt uncomfortable discussing sexuality with the young actresses. However he did ask Oldman to speak seductively off-camera to Frost while they were filming a scene in which she writhed alone in her bed in ecstacy. She later classified the things Oldman said to her as "very unrepeatable."
Reviews
Dracula received considerable attention upon release, being greeted with generally positive reviews from critics. Based on 44 reviews collected from notable publications by popular review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, the film holds an overall approval rating of 82%, with the consensus, "Overblown in the best sense of the word, Francis Ford Coppola's vision of Bram Stoker's Dracula rescues the character from decades of campy interpretations — and features some terrific performances to boot." Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
described the film as being akin to "the work of a precocious film student who has magically acquired a master's command of his craft." Richard Corliss
Richard Corliss
Richard Nelson Corliss is a writer for Time magazine who focuses on movies, with the occasional article on music or sports. Corliss is the former editor-in-chief of Film Comment...
said, "Coppola brings the old spook story alive ... Everyone knows that Dracula has a heart; Coppola knows that it is more than an organ to drive a stake into. To the director, the count is a restless spirit who has been condemned for too many years to interment in cruddy movies. This luscious film restores the creature's nobility and gives him peace."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
awarded the film 3/4 stars, writing: "I enjoyed the movie simply for the way it looked and felt. Production designers Dante Ferretti
Dante Ferretti
Dante Ferretti is an Italian production designer, art director and costume designer for films.In his career, Ferretti has worked with many great directors, both American and Italian, such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Federico Fellini, Terry Gilliam, Franco Zeffirelli, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford...
and Thomas Sanders have outdone themselves. The cinematographer, Michael Ballhaus, gets into the spirit so completely he always seems to light with shadows." Ebert did, however, voice mild criticisms on what he felt were "narrative confusions and dead ends." Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum is an American film critic. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for the Chicago Reader from 1987 until 2008, when he retired at the age of 65...
felt the film suffered from a "somewhat dispersed and overcrowded story line" but that it "remains fascinating and often affecting thanks to all its visual and conceptual energy." Empire's
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
Tom Hibbert was unimpressed. Awarding the film 2/5 stars, he wrote, "Has a film ever promised so much yet delivered so little? There was so much potential, yet when it came down to it, Coppola made his Dracula too old to be menacing, gave Keanu Reeves a part and took out all the action."
Box office
The film opened at #1 at the box office with $30,521,679. However, it dropped off sharply in subsequent weeks losing 50.8% of its audience after just its first weekend in release and falling out of the top five after just 3 weeks. Still, it managed to become a box office hit, grossing $82,522,790 domestically and becoming the 15th highest grossing film of the year. It fared much better overseas, grossing $133,339,902 for a total worldwide gross of $215,862,692, making it the 9th highest grossing film of the year worldwide.Awards and honors
The film won three Academy AwardsAcademy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
, Best Costume Design (Eiko Ishioka
Eiko Ishioka
is an Oscar-winning costume designer, known for her work in stage, screen, advertising, and print media, and has been called "Japan’s leading art director and graphic designer," though she now works primarily in New York City....
), Best Sound Effects Editing (Tom C. McCarthy, David E. Stone) and Best Makeup (Greg Cannom
Greg Cannom
Greg Cannom is a Hollywood special makeup effects artist. Cannom has been nominated for nine Academy Awards and has won three times. He has also been nominated for seven Saturn Awards and received one.-Partial filmography:...
, Michèle Burke
Michèle Burke
Michèle Burke is an Irish-born make-up artist. She emigrated to Canada with her brother Mark in 1973 and first worked as a model in Montreal before becoming a make-up artist. She currently holds both Canadian and U.S. citizenship, in addition to her original Irish nationality...
, Matthew W. Mungle) and was nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Thomas E. Sanders
Thomas E. Sanders
Thomas E. Sanders is production designer. He has been nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:* Dracula * Saving Private Ryan -External links:...
, Garrett Lewis
Garrett Lewis
Garrett Lewis is an American art director. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:Brenner has been nominated for four Academy Awards for Best Art Direction:* Beaches...
).. It also won four Saturn Award
Saturn Award
The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...
s, with Best Director
Saturn Award for Best Direction
The following is a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Direction:-Multiple Winners:*James Cameron - 5 awards*Steven Spielberg - 4 awards*Peter Jackson - 3 awards*Bryan Singer - 2 awards...
and Best Actor
Saturn Award for Best Actor
The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed, who felt that films within those genres...
for Coppola and Oldman, respectively.
In 2011, Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
named Oldman's portrayal of Dracula as one of the ten best performances of his career.
Soundtrack
Home video releases and merchandise
In 1993 a special boxed set was released of Dracula, in the shape of a coffin. The box contained the film on VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
, which included a behind-the-scenes documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
, and the original Dracula novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Bram Stoker in paperback
Paperback
Paperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...
. Grey, gothic
Gothic art
Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...
statue heads (as seen on the original film poster) adorned the front cover of the book against a grey stone background.
Dracula was first released to DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 1999 and again as a Superbit
Superbit
Superbit was a brand of premium DVD-Video versions of motion pictures from Columbia TriStar Home Video, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Superbit DVDs aimed to improve picture quality over a standard DVD edition of a feature by increasing the bit rate of the encoded video...
DVD in 2001. Neither release contained any extra features. A two-disc "Collector's Edition" DVD and Blu-ray was released in 2007. The "Collector's Edition" special features include an introduction and audio commentary
Audio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
by director Francis Ford Coppola, deleted and extended scenes
Deleted scene
In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
, teaser and full-length trailers, and the documentaries
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
"The Blood Is the Life: The Making of Dracula", "The Costumes Are the Sets: The Design of Eiko Ishioka", "In Camera: The Naïve Visual Effects of Dracula", and "Method and Madness: Visualizing Dracula".
Other merchandising for the film included a board game, a pinball game, and video game adaptations for the Super Nintendo
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
, NES
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
, Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
, Sega Genesis, Game Gear, Sega Master System
Sega Master System
The is a third-generation video game console that was manufactured and released by Sega in 1985 in Japan , 1986 in North America and 1987 in Europe....
, Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, Sega CD, and PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
. A four-issue comic book adaptation and 100 collectible cards based on the movie were released by the Topps
Topps Comics
Topps Comics is a division of the American trading card publisher and gum/candy distributor the Topps Company, Inc. that published comic books from 1993–1998, beginning its existence during a short comics-industry boom that attracted many investors and new companies...
company with art provided by Mike Mignola
Mike Mignola
Michael Joseph "Mike" Mignola is an American comic book artist and writer who created the comic book series Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics. He has worked for animation projects such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the adaptation of his one shot comic book, The Amazing Screw-On Head.-Career:Mignola...
.
Various action figures and model sets were also produced. In addition to these items, accurate licensed replicas of Dracula's sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
and Quincey's bowie knife
Bowie knife
A Bowie knife is a pattern of fixed-blade fighting knife first popularized by Colonel James "Jim" Bowie in the early 19th Century. Since the first incarnation was created by James Black, the Bowie knife has come to incorporate several recognizable and characteristic design features, although its...
were available from Factory X. A novelization
Novelization
A novelization is a novel that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work.Novelizations of films usually add background material not found in the original work to flesh out the story, because novels are generally longer than screenplays...
of the film was published, written by Fred Saberhagen
Fred Saberhagen
Fred Thomas Saberhagen was an American science fiction and fantasy author most famous for his Berserker series of science fiction short stories and S.F...
.
External links
- W. Scott Poole, Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting (Waco, Texas: Baylor, 2011), 17.