Dracula [PG]

Deep in the heart of Transylvania, lives an evil that will soon engulf England. The Count Dracula is not of this life, but another life, a life beyond death: the Undead… a vampire. Terrorising the streets of London, he must be stopped before his next victim, the beautiful Miss Mina Harker becomes a slave to his wicked will. 

Forewarning: everything that I say in this review is going to be bias for one major reason: I am a modern girl and quite of these older films are going to seem outdated and a bit mundane to me. I’ll try to be as open-minded as I can, but I’m not guaranteeing anything. 

Deep in the heart of Transylvania lives an unspeakable evil that threatens to engulf England. The Count Dracula is not of this life, but another life, a life beyond death: the Undead… a vampire. Drinking the blood of the living to sustain his own existence, the Count leaves his native homeland and is soon terrorising the streets of London. But there is a group of scientists who are aware of his dastardly deeds, and now it’s up to them: Professor Van Helsing, Dr Seward, and Jonathan Harker, to stop Count Dracula before his next victim, the beautiful Miss Mina Harker, becomes a slave to his wicked will.  

As I was about halfway through this film, my dad informed me that it was the first horror movie that was done with sound. There you go, it’s a milestone in its own right and needs to be seen just for that. 

On a more trivial note before I start with the raves about the performances and such, I found the opening song very entertaining. Not only is a lovely and melancholy song from the ballet Swan Lake, it was used by Howard Shore for the soundtrack to the movie Ed Wood, which stars Martin Landau playing Dracula himself, Bela Lugosi. Having only watched Ed Wood the other night, I now understand the importance and the cleverness regarding the use of that track in the movie. 

As far as special effects and cinema tricks and techniques go, this film is almost prehistoric. None of the supernatural effects are believable and the burden of conveying the horror and supernatural falls upon the actors. 

Bela Lugosi stars as Dracula and he was thoroughly charming, somewhat enticing, but ultimately I was not scared, chilled, or moved in the lower stomach by his performance. I’m sure for that golden day and age, he was one of the most talented horror actors on the screen, but in this sorry day and age that is dominated by characters such as Fred Krueger, Jason, the Scream Killer, and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it was not meant to be. 

Lugosi’s performance was eclipsed by that of Dwight Frye who plays the tragic character of Renfield. A man forced into and driven mad by the slavery of Count Dracula, Frye’s performances was the spookiest thing in this film. Between his subdued and sinister manic laugh, his psychotic wide eyes, and his sudden aggressive outbursts, he made the film worth watching. 

Starring Helen Chandler, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan, Herbert Bunston, Frances Dade, Joan Standing, Charles K. Gerrard, Tod Browning, and Michael Visaroff, Dracula is an important film in cinema history and would have been scary at the time of its first release, but in this day and age it is rather outdated, unimpressive, and mundane. I do not regret watching the film, at least I can say that I have seen the first horror film that had sound, but I have no strong desires to add it to the collection.