| Dracula |
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| At a lot of boards on the internet the question is asked:
"What is your favorite Universal horror movie?" Lately I've been wondering if that question shouldn't be:"What is the Universal horror movie that you watch the most?". While it isn't my favorite it would have to be the 1931 version of Dracula starring Bela Lugosi. If I have 90 minutes or less to kill and want to watch a Universal from the 30's more often than not I will slap Dracula into the dvd player. Yes the film is creaky, slow and talky. For crying out loud it was based on a couple of stage plays (not the book ) so it is going to be talky and stagey. However there is a really gloomy atmosphere hanging over the entire film and not just the first 20 minutes. For reference the scenes at Dracula's castle were not in either the 1924 or 1927 plays that the film is based on. If you haven't seen the movie because it is in black and white and has no gore I'll give you a brief rundown. Dracula decides he's tired of dining on the local European peasants and arranges a move to London to sample the cuisine there. He finds a couple of young ladies to snack on and runs into objections from the local males and a Dutch assassin of vampires. There is a lot of hand wringing, disbelief and off screen action before Van Helsing pounds a wooden stake in the Count's arse. It is easy to list all of the faults of this film that others have found. My gripes are few. Number one a lot of the action happens offscreen as they filmed it like the stage plays. We don't see the wolf, we don't see the sea of rats offered to Renfield and we don't see the staking of Lucy. But I've gotten used to it. Number two is that John Harker comes across as a petulant schoolboy with his knickers wadded up in a bunch. He's either whining at his elders or running around yipping "Mina! Mina! Mina!". Grow a pair will ya? Positive aspects for the film are plenty. Lugosi IS Dracula. The halting delivery of his lines, the powerful gestures and the seeming lack of humanity all pack a punch and make him fascinating to watch. He truly seems like an alien among men. When he is on screen he overshadows everything else. We can't forget the scenes at Dracula's castle which had to shake up the audience in the 30's. Especially fun is when Dracula walks through the spider web and doesn't disturb a strand of it. The use of silence adds to the disturbing atmosphere. Definitely a classic not to be missed. |
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| "Hey Drac. Wanna see some filthy photographs?" |