Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Its gothic, dark and very sexual which is an attraction for a lover of all things goth like myself hehe the acting is dodgy to say the least as we know, despite an all star cast the performances just don't seem to live up to the expectations. Oldman of course IS the film, his performance is unique, eerie and spellbinding as he almost over acts his way through the sets but most definatley adds his own touch. He is helped by the tremendous set work and costume designs which are lavish to say the least, Oldmans odd look clearly helps him realise his characters potential and he utilizes it to the maximum. Sets are huge and detailed nicely while matte paintings are used to great effect to bring home the emense size of Dracula's castle and the sweeping brooding countryside which surrounds it whilst every cast member looks truly epic in their duds.Its a shame the film is let down in various places and tends not to make sense from time to time, there is allot of love in this modern adaptation that's for sure so is still baffles me why Coppola cast Reeves as 'Harker'!! surely one of the worst casting errors made. That one decision virtually kills the whole film as Harker is a key element throughout, Ryder makes up for it slightly but even she isn't the best of options, Hopkins as always is solid but the damage is done with those bad casting choices, shame.The film is very faithful to the story which is good and what did impress me was the decision to use all old traditional methods for effects as much as possible such as matte paintings, forced perspective, real time monster suits and makeup etc...they tried to make the film in a style akin to the legendary Dracula of 1931 effects wise to give it more of a that classic silver screen appeal.Am erotic gothic dream is how I can sum this film up really, heavy romance set in blood and cobwebs which may just have suffered from to much Hollywood gloss in places, 'Mary Shelley's Frankenstein' is probably the more realistic grittier film but this is a glorious dark fairytale. The sequences with Dracula in a large wolf like form looks fantastic along with his brief bat creature incarnation, award winning makeup which still holds up today.