“Dracula 3D”
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The retelling of the classic horror romance featuring the Count Dracula and his love obsession, Mina Harker.
Argento’s vision of Dracula keeps his signature style but also smacks of Hammer films. The hair styles, costuming, sound, setting, all have the feel of a Hammer production. Even the U.S. version’s opening credits are done as red lettering on black background in the Hammer style. So immediately I knew what to expect and I wasn’t really disappointed.
The acting was unmemorable, even taking into account the sexy Asia Argento and veteran Rutger Hauer’s performances. The voice-overs were painfully obvious. The music was… well frankly, it was reminiscent of the theme music to Dune and that pulled me out of the movie more than once.
Visually, it was pleasant to watch. The cinematography was beautiful. Except the computer graphics. Save the audience from unintentionally bad, cartoonish CGI please! Argento has done stunning effects in the past, not sure what happened here.
The story itself departed from the source material which may annoy the purist Dracula fans, especially as the filmmakers consider this a horror/romance not a comedy (and there were a few scenes that were laughable). There were certainly aspects for which I didn’t care. Primarily that the changes made the storytelling seem rushed. Argento seemed far too focused on introducing The Count and his relationship with the village in the first half, then rather rushed through the rest.
I gave this 3 glasses of blood red wine, I thought it accomplished what it intended, Argento’s spin on the Hammer style full of blood and boobs. I liked it, but I may have questionable taste.
