Episode 9 - Bram Stoker's Dracula

The blood is the life!! Ed & Vivi cross oceans of time as they head to Transylvania to watch Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. 

Episode 9 – Published on Dec 2021

Written by Ed Mac

Spiel 

What is it about vampires that capture our imaginations? These fanged, pale monsters of the night have held sway over our dreams and nightmares for centuries like no other supernatural creature, apart perhaps these days from the zombie. From the earliest cinema with F.W. Murneau’s classic Nosferatu to last year’s Netflix adaptation of the most famous of all vampire stories, Dracula, vampires have been omnipresent within our culture as symbols of fear, horror, sex, and power. Whatever it may be, it remains unlikely that these mysterious creatures will ever fall out of popularity. What is likely, however, at least from my perspective, is that very few films about vampires will ever be as iconic, powerful or just plain entertaining as the 1992 film adaption, simply titled “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”.

In early 1991, filmmaking legend Francis Ford Coppola was tinkering about in his offices at American Zoetrope, his independent film studio based in San Francisco. It had been a reasonably successful time for the director, whose most recent venture was the final entry in the Godfather saga. Although it was considered a disappointment by many in terms of not being up to the quality of Parts 1 & 2, The Godfather Part 3 (or, the Godfather Coda: The death of Michael Corleone, as Coppola would re-title the picture upon its re-release last year) was still a decent enough financial and critical success that Coppola was finally able to start breathing easy again. He had nearly been wiped out 10 years before, after the disastrous commercial failure of his 1981 musical misfire “One from the Heart” forced him to sell his 23-acre Zoetrope studios complex just to stay afloat.  (Zoetrope studios was later re-named American Zoetrope in the wake of bankruptcy filings). Coppola spent much of the next decade paying back his debts by taking directing jobs on films that, while achieving moderate and mixed levels of critical acclaim, continued to add to his increasing record of financial busts. Now, though, he seemed buoyed again, ready to prove that he was not a spent force, that he could still make films that satisfied him artistically, while also being commercially successful. He just needed the right idea. Enter, Winona Ryder.

The actress had famously reneged on her agreement to play the crucial role of Mary Corleone, the Don’s daughter, in Godfather Part 3. This lead to Coppola casting his own daughter, Sofia Coppola, in the role, in which she received universally awful reviews and led to a cinematic hibernation, from which she did not emerge until her directorial debut in 1999’s “The Virgin Suicides”. Although he had gotten used to criticism, the overly nasty and hostile reaction to his daughter’s performance badly hurt the veteran filmmaker. It was also rumoured that he harboured ill will against Ryder for pulling out of the role. Although Coppola himself denied it, the actress felt strongly enough about it to visit him at his offices to break bread. She also happened to mention to him that she had a fantastic new script and encouraged Coppola to take a look for himself. He was immediately intrigued when he saw the title on the front page: “Dracula”.

Coppola had long been fascinated with Stoker’s novel of a Transylvanian Count who believes he has been betrayed by God, and so cheats death by feeding on the blood of others as both a way to insult the almighty while continuing to “travel oceans of time” to be reunited with his long-lost bride. I must admit that I have not read the original novel, but it is by all accounts equal parts horror and sensuality. The author, Bram Stoker was apparently a stodgy and uptight individual and so his lurid and graphic prose is all the more surprising. And it was this crucial element of sexuality and repressed passion that Coppola wanted to explore more fully than any other adaption so far.

On this count, and basically all other counts, Coppola’s film is a triumph. The tale of the Count is obviously the backbone and main feature of the story, but there is so much else that pulses around it. Themes of lust, obsession, and possession course through the film, embodied by the cast who are uniformly excellent, not withstanding Keanu Reeves’ much derided attempt at an English accent. All give themselves over fully to the material: Gary Oldman, in his first major Hollywood role, is immediately indelible as Dracula, able to gain our sympathies even as he commits increasingly nasty atrocities; Winona Ryder embodies the meek Mina Harker while still convincing us of the roiling passion that rages within her. Anthony Hopkins, fresh off his duties embodying Hannibal Lecter, gives us a Van Helsing only slightly less psychopathic than the cannibal psychologist and Sadie Frost giving an extraordinary performance as the doomed Lucy Westenra. Mina’s best friend, able to project empathy and sensual allure in one instant to then immediately transform into a malevolent threat.

Above it all, though, reigns the director. Coppola’s film is an astonishment of technical prowess. His mission was to only use film techniques and trickery that existed during the time the story is set (i.e. just before the turn of the 20^th century) as a means of not only immersing us further into that time, but also contributing a heightened sense of unreality and of giving us a screen adaptation of this story that we had never seen before. He succeeded wonderfully. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is unlike anything seen in a movie, before or since. It is a story of terror, love, betrayal, and tragedy that stirs the heart and the mind in equal measure, made by a master filmmaker, and a cast and crew that are all at the top of their games. You honestly can’t ask for anything more than this.

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