Francis Ford Coppola Brings Horror Back to "Bram Stoker's Dracula"

Though Dracula may be an iconic figure come Halloween time, many forget that he originates from a book that is a bona fide gothic horror novel. If you haven't read it, you may be surprised at how scary it truly is and how much more graphic the descriptions are. I don't want to write my younger readers' report cards for them, but if they describe a Dracula who is wearing a black cape and walking slowly down the hall, their teacher is going to know they watched the Bela Lugosi movie instead of doing their reading assignment.

This is most likely why director Francis Ford Coppola decided to title the movie “Bram Stoker's Dracula”—because this film is truly about the Dracula who first captivated readers over 100 years ago. Instead of a Dracula who is slow and smiles creepily, we have a Dracula who drinks blood, wears exotic costumes, and is played as both a young and old man by Gary Oldman. He is a figure cursed to walk the Earth after renouncing God (something that is never encouraged in horror movies OR real life), secretly longing to be reunited with the love of his life.

The problem is, the woman he loved committed suicide, and the Church believes she will not go to Heaven as a result. So Dracula has essentially been walking the Earth, drinking people's blood to stay alive. Eventually, he stumbles upon a woman who looks just like his lost love, Mina (Winona Ryder), and sets out to claim her for his own. This doesn't sit well with Jonathan (Keanu Reeves, in what is easily the film's worst performance), who seeks out the help of others to destroy Dracula once and for all.

Some of this will be familiar to viewers who have heard the Dracula story over the years, while some of it will be news. “Bram Stoker's Dracula” is a modernized, visceral version of the story in every sense. Most will be surprised by the gothic, bloody violence. The mature storyline is not one families can sit down and watch together. For that matter, who knew there would be so much sex in a Dracula movie? In every way, Francis Ford Coppola brought the true horror back into the legend—and he did so with far more style than we had ever seen before.

While some of the special effects are a little dated now, the costumes, makeup, and production design remain first-rate, creating a vision of the Dracula mythos that has rarely been matched since. There may be only so many ways to tell this story, but Coppola directed the hell out of this film, and there has yet to be a Dracula movie with this level of visual ambition. If you remember Dracula merely as a campy monster, “Bram Stoker's Dracula” might shock you. For those who want a true, atmospheric horror film, consider this your invitation.