Tag Archives: Dracula

Movie Review: Dracula’s Daughter (1936)

20 Thursday Jul 2017

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The first sequel to the Universal Dracula franchise would be released just five years after its predecessor.

In the last outing we saw the demise of the titular character at the hands of Professor Van Helsing, (played once again by Edward Van Sloan, and the only returning character to the franchise) who interestingly enough is on trial for the murder of the Count.

That in itself is something I’ve often pondered about. In a world where vampires and werewolves are the stuff of legend, if they were to exist, how would one prove it after they’ve been through such an ordeal and essentially disposed of the evidence?
Anyway, I digress.

Dracula’s Daughter is not only a sequel, but the start of a trend for Universal in order to keep their booming business going when your lead villain has been dispatched – by introducing an offspring.

We would see this repeated again with the likes of Son of Dracula and Son of Frankenstein.
In this instance the Dracula bloodline flows down to his daughter, Countess Marya Zaleska, with a suitably melodramatic performance from Gloria Holden (The Life of Emile Zola).

Her portrayal of the female vampire with a craving to be human (an act that she hopes will come true with the destruction of her father’s body) served as an inspiration to Anne Rice’s Queen of the Damned.

The notion of a vampire’s desire to be human has often been looked at in films and novels throughout the years, but as far as I know, this is the first instance of it on the silver screen.

When Countess Zaleska burns the body of Dracula, with the help of her manservant, Sandor, she discovers that the curse has not been broken, so resorts to an alternate method of psychiatry instead.

In steps Dr. Garth (Otto Kruger, Saboteur) who may just have the answer she needs. Garth entices her to confront her demons head on, but her desire for blood proves too strong and she attacks a girl named Lili.

Broken and lost, the Countess feels her only option is to remain a vampire, but decides that Dr. Garth would prove a suitable companion in the after life.

So she resorts to kidnapping his true love, Janet (Marguerite Churchill, The Big Trail) and luring him back with her to Transylvania.

Dr Garth is willing to give up his life for the sake of Janet’s freedom, and all seems doomed for the Doctor, when the manservant Sandor puts a halt on the proceedings and kills the Countess in a jealous rage with an arrow through her heart.

Before he is able to exact his fury further, he too is brought down, when he is shot by a policeman.

~

Critics have been somewhat split in their reviews of Dracula’s Daughter, some citing its lush cinematography and praising both Director Lambert Hillyer’s work and the performance from Holden. Others say that it pails in comparison to Dracula.

I for one, found it strangely mesmerising and almost hypnotic with some of its lesbian overtones and this is in part down to Holden’s captivating presence on screen.

And like other critics, I too noticed a similarity to Sunset Boulevard in its themes, a film that I’m a great lover of and perhaps why I find myself drawn to this movie, despite it not carrying the same weight as Dracula.

I applaud its effort to push the story into a whole new direction and to offer some alternative narrative to the tried and tested monster storyline.

For this alone, I believe that Dracula’s Daughter its place alongside the movies that made Universal pictures a force to be reckoned with, and its perhaps a shame that it has been lost in the shadows of time due to the overwhelming impact that both Dracula and Frankenstein had on the industry.

– Paul Farrell
Lead Surgeon

Movie review: Dracula Untold (2014)

06 Monday Mar 2017

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OUR FINAL entry into the Dracula reboot section looking back at Universal Horror movies is the most recent.

In this instance, the idea was to go back and tell an origin story (Will they ever learn?) behind Cinema’s most infamous villain.

Unofficially, this film is part of the ‘new Universal Horror’ franchise, but not necessarily part of the merged universe at this stage.

Universal Pictures definitely want to go all out with the release of The Mummy starting Tom Cruise, which is set to land mid-way through the year.

And whether or not Dracula makes another appearance down the track Dracula Untold marks a turning point for the film production company that allows them to bring ‘their’ monsters to a new generation.

When the movie was first being tauted, Alex Proyas had been listed to direct with the title, Dracula: Year Zero, which I can only have been a cross between Batman Begins and The Crow.

That would have been an interesting premise.

As it stands though, the title changed and directorial duties fell to Gary Shore.

Yeah, we’ve never heard of him either, but he does share the birthplace of Dublin with the creator of Dracula, Bram Stoker, and he has since gone on to direct a short segment as part of the feature, Holidays.

Essentially we see Vlad, protect his lands from the Turkish Empire, only to need to defend his people once more when he refuses to give up his son and 1,000 other boys to said Empire.

It’s a moment that furies the Sultan, played by Dominic Cooper, who looks like he’s loving the opportunity to play the villain of the piece.

So, Vlad has to turn to a chance encounter, Charles Dance living in a mountain, who is evil incarnate and as we know it the true darkness, a vampire that would turn Vlad into the infamous Count Dracula that we know and love today.

If Vlad can resist the need to feed, he will return as normal within 3 days, but as we all know that won’t happen or the legend will never begin.

Tragedy will strike and it will involve his family, the only things that tie Vlad to this world.

The film is unequivocally carried by Luke Evans as Dracula with his charismatic charms and devotion to his family.

Plus he’s ripped as fuck, which helps.

There are some support roles that would suggest the casting agent spooled through the Game of thrones cast, with the likes of Charles Dance, Paul Kaye, and Art Parkinson all playing significant roles, but all of them can’t help to disguise the lack in plot and storyline, and the absence of depth in the characters.

It feels like a paint by numbers piece, but instead of paint, the filmmakers are using state of the art CGI for their palette.

It’s all style, no substance and one can only wonder what the movie would look like if Luke Evans weren’t there to push the momentum forward.

And with an open ending, Universal definitely had great plans for this franchise.

But with a poor critical reaction to the release, it doesn’t bode well, unless The Mummy can unravel all the criticism that came about and bring Dracula back from the dead.

I guess we’ll find out in June.

  • Paul Farrell

LINKS:
Dracula Movies on Hammer Horror Productions

 

Movie review: Dracula (1979)

04 Saturday Mar 2017

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IT WOULD BE forty-eight years before Universal would look to reboot the Dracula franchise for the silver screen. 

A lot had changed in the world since then and because of that we’re presented with a much more sexually charged Dracula.

A far cry from Bela Lugosi’s representation.

I’d never seen this version before writing this review and upon watching this version, I saw so many images that were reflected twenty years on with Bram Stoker’s Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola, including Gary Oldman’s hair.

But this was 1979 and Coppola’s version was not yet on his radar. 

He was knee deep in Apocalypse Now terrain at the time.

In this instance, directorial duties fell to British-American John Badham (Saturday Night Fever, Blue Thunder, WarGames, Short Circuit).

His leading man would be Frank Langella, (Skeletor folks!!) who seems to carry such sinister presence on screen, whether he is portraying Nixon, Boris Balkan, or in this case, Dracula himself.

There’s actually a lot like in this version of the Dracula story.

With the Tagline “A Love Story”, the focus on romance suited Langella’s dashing stature alongside Kate Nelligan as Lucy, (not Mina in a decision where these roles would be switched from the novel).

The film would dive straight into the action too, jumping straight on board the ship Demeter, as it crashes of the coast of Whitby.

There is a lot of focus on Dracula’s transformative states, be it wolf or bat, to great effect for its time.

There are great support roles too with Trevor Eve’s stoic Jonathan Harker, Lawrence Olivier’s restrained performance of Van Helsing, and the always brilliant, Donald Pleasence as Dr Seward.

Yes it does take liberties with some of the choices narratively speaking but it’s an enjoyable movie all the same that comes highly recommended from the Surgeons team.

  • Paul Farrell

LINKS:
Dracula Movies on Hammer Horror Productions

Movie review: Dracula (1931)

03 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by in Universal Horror

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THE THIRTIES would prove to be a truly golden era for Universal Pictures opening the way for greatest horror monsters to grace the silver screen ranging from Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and The Mummy.

Leading the charge though, was one of THE most iconic characters, Count Dracula.

Based on the novel by Bram Stoker, the creature of the night, the nosferatu who oozes charm would need to have an enigmatic personality to portray him.

And Universal would find their man in Hungarian born Bela Lugosi, who made his name capturing the titular character on stage before winning the role for the film, despite not being the first choice.

Cinematic history would be made though the moment Lugosi saunters across the screen and speaks with his authentic Eastern European tones that sent women swooning.

But it wasn’t just Lugosi’s performance that would captivate and would path the way for Dracula to become a classic in its own right.

Almost stealing the limelight from Lugosi came through the guise of Dwight Frye’s maniacal portrayal of Renfield.

His haunting laugh sends chills to the bone and Frye injects enough erratic energy that it pushes the picture forward with adequate momentum and is a delightful contrast to Lugosi’s slow and decisive movements.

Combine that with Edward Van Sloan’s Van Helsing, a performance that set up a precedence for all those that would follow in his footsteps as Dracula’s key nemesis.

Above all of this though, credit should be bestowed upon the director, Tod Browning.

His career had been carved through his strong career, starting in the silent era back in 1917 with Jim Blumbo.

Browning would go on to form a formidable pairing with actor Lon Chaney in a total of 10 films together, including The Unholy Three, and the awesome movie, The Unknown, which also featured Joan Crawford.

Dracula wouldn’t even be Browning’s first foray into the vampire genre, directing London After Midnight four years prior.

He would also go on to direct cult favourite Freaks…“One of us. One of Us!” a year after Dracula was released.

Interestingly though, Browning’s detailed approach was strangely absent and rumours have circulated since that the production was often in disarray.

Browning even left much of the direction with cinematographer Karl Freund although he would never be officially credited for his involvement.

Despite this, the film was ultimately a success and would spawn a series of gothic horror movies that would stretch a further couple of decades and a further five more sequels.

  • Paul Farrell

LINKS:
Dracula Movies on Hammer Horror Productions