Dracula (1992)

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Dracula

Credits
Title:	Dracula
Directed by:	Francis Ford Coppola
Written by:	James V. Hart
Produced by:	Michael Apted; Robert O'Connor; Francis Ford Coppola; Fred Fuchs; James V. Hart; John Veitch
Music by:	Wojciech Kilar
Cinematography:	Michael Baulhaus
Edited by:	Anne Goursaud; Glen Scantlebury; Nicholas C. Smith
Production
Distributors:	Columbia Pictures; American Zoetrope
Released:	November 13th, 1992
Rating:	NC-17
Running time:	128 min.
Country:	USA
Language:	English
Budget:	$40,000,000 ^[1]
Gross:	$82,522,790 (US) ^[1] $215,862,692 (Worldwide)^[1]
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Dracula, or, Bram Stoker's Dracula, is an American feature film blending elements of romance and horror. It is an adaptation of the novel Dracula, written by Irish author Bram Stoker and first published in 1897. The film was directed by Francis Ford Coppola with a script written by James V. Hart. It was produced by Columbia Pictures and Coppola's own production company, American Zoetrope, and released theatrically in the United States on November 13th, 1992.

Plot[]

Wikipedia entry[]

In 1462, Vlad Dracula, 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 that his wife is now 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 a fit of rage, he stabs the cross with his sword and drinks the blood which pours out of it.

In 1897, newly qualified solicitor Jonathan Harker takes the Transylvanian 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 raped and fed upon 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 rapes 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 out of mercy the following night.

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. Morris is stabbed in the back during the fight 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 demonic form. He asks Mina to give him peace. They share a kiss as the candles adorning the chapel light up, Dracula turns back to his younger self, and Mina shoves the knife through his 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. ^[2]

DVD Summary[]

Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder and Anthony Hopkins star in director Francis Ford Coppola's visually stunning, passionately seductive version of the classic Dracula legend.

In BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, Coppola returns to the original source of the Dracula myth, and from that gothic romance, he creates a modern masterpiece. Gary Oldman's metamorphosis as Dracula - who grows from old to young, from man to beast - is nothing short of amazing. Winona Ryder brings equal intensity to the role of a young beauty who becomes the object of Dracula's devastating desire. Anthony Hopkins co-stars as the famed Doctor who dares to believe in Dracula, and then dares to confront him. Opulent, dazzling and utterly irresistible, this is Dracula as you've never seen him. And once you've seen BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, you'll never forget it. ^[3]

Cast[]

Actor

Role

Gary Oldman

Dracula

Winona Ryder

Mina Murray/Elisabeta

Anthony Hopkins

Professor Abraham Van Helsing

Jay Robinson

Mister Hawkins

I.M. Hobson

Hobbs

Laurie Franks

Lucy's maid

Maud Winchester

Downstair's maid

Octavian Cadia

Deacon

Robert Getz

Priest

Dagmar Stanec

Sister Agatha

Eniko Öss

Sister Sylva

Nancy Linehan Charles

Older woman

Tatiana von Furstenberg

Younger woman

Jules Sylvester

Zookeeper

Hubert Wells

Zookeeper

Daniel Newman

News hawker

Honey Lauren

Peep show girl

Judi Diamond

Peep show girl

Robert Buckingham

Husband

Cully Fredricksen

Van Helsing's assistant

Ele Bardha

Grave digger

Alain Blazevic

Van Helsing's student

Mark Borkowski

Van Helsing's student

Christina Fulton

Vampire girl

Jeff Johnson

Van Helsing's student

Michael Laren

Priest

Moreen Littrell

Impaled dancer

Joe Murkijanian

Monk

Adamo Palladino

Dock loader

Philip Pucci

Lorryman

Heidi Schooler

Young courtesan

Notes & Trivia[]

This film is generally regarded by its full title, Bram Stoker's Dracula, which redirects to this page.

Production on Bram Stoker's Dracula began on October 14th, 1991. Principal photography concluded on January 31st, 1992. ^[1]

The tagline for the film is, "Love Never Dies".

Director/Producer Francis Ford Coppola likes to give credit to authors in his film titles, which is why the full name of the movie Bram Stoker's Dracula. He used the same pattern with Mario Puzo's The Godfather. ^[4]

Francis Ford Coppola toyed with the idea of just calling the film D., which is how Dracula signs his name in his correspondance with Jonathan Harker, but decided against it. ^[4]

Francis Ford Coppola finally gets Winona Ryder to star in a film. Winona was originally cast to play Mary Corleone in Coppola's The Godfather: Part III, but dropped out due to illness. The part then went to his daughter, Sofia Coppola. ^[4]

The events of this film take place in the year 1897. This is indicated on the captain's log of The Demeter. This is also the same year in which the novel, Dracula, was first published.