Dracula

Before there was "Frankenstein" there was "Dracula". And for that period it was the greatest horror film ever. But then Boris and his creature came along and ruined it all for the King of Ham Lugosi. But for that short period, Lugosi was the man, and as is mentioned a lot, he even had the chance to continue ruling, but the ego got in the way. Good thing for the world it did. But this review is about "Dracula", so let's get down to that film alone.

"Dracula" starts with a real estate agent traveling to meet a client by the name of Count Dracula. He finds himself in a Transylvanian village with all the people telling him not to go to the castle. Up there lives a VAMPIRE!!! He decides to go ahead with his plans and ignores all warnings. So off he goes. Once there he finds it to be a creepy castle. The place is a mess. There he finds The Count. He seems like a nice guy, but then he starts to get worried. From there The Count makes our man Renfield (the real estate man) into a servant. Then The Count embarks on his trip to his new house to get his new love! And then battles Dr. Van Helsing. The outcome is as you would expect.

The movie itself starts as a tour de force of the Gothic visual's, and remains one as long as we are in Dracula's castle. But once we move from there to England, the movie loose's all steam. There is no denying the over acting of Lugosi's Dracula, but somehow it works to almost perfection. The man just spilled charisma in this movie. Everybody else is also fine, with the exception of Dwight Frye as Renfield who is probably the best thing in this movie.

The pictue quality of this DVD is possibly the best this movie has looked since it first popped onto that silver screen. But don't think that I am saying this is a stellar presentation, it is not. The picture is full of speckles and dust and dirt and other crap to get in the way from time to time. But it by no means hampers the viewing of this movie. The sound also has its fair share of pops and stuff, this is not the same stunning work done over on "Frankenstein", but it is still an admirable work over considering the age of the movie.

This DVD is probably the most lavishly put together of all the Universal DVD's yet. Not only do you get the original movie, but you also get that same movie with a new music soundtrack by famed composer Philip Glass, played by Kronos Quartet! To some this is good news, to others this is a horror in itself. The main problem being that if you only have video capabilities, this is the only version out there for you. The bad thing about that is that this is a movie that works very well with the lack of music. The other bad thing is that Philip Glass is the type of composer that is a very aquired taste. He is what I believe in the classical music stylings is called a minimalist (if this is wrong, I apologize, I ran from classical music training 10+ years ago), by that I mean he finds two notes and sticks with him. The main theme gets pounded into you head REAL fast. Then he also doesn't fit the moods too well. A light moment is matched with deep, forboding music. In fact, the whole soundtrack is given a sinister score. The video was rumored to have a too loud music track, but Universal must have toned it down for this release since it is not too over-powering. This is a nice idea they had, but I will stick with the original version.

Just when you think that is it, they give you the Spanish version. Dubbing didn't exist (to the best of my knowledge, I think that's what they said in all the stuff that came with the DVD) in the old days, so they just re-shot the whole blasted thing. So at night when Bela returned home to his wife and recreational things (ahem!), the Spanish film crew and actors raced onto the set to film their version of this movie. In recent years people have been saying that this is the superior version. True enough, the camera work is better, but the script is still the stiff thing it was before.

The Spanish version runs about a half hour longer, but don't think that that is due to more substance in the script. It is actually due to longer pauses by the cast. There is a ton of silence in this movie. If this director had been able to work with the US cast and shortened his silence part up, then we would have had a much better film than either version that we do have. But the script still hurts this thing. Oh, by the way, along with the better camera work, the added cleavage is also a nice feature of the Spanish version. Sorry to the female readers, but it does help break-up the boredom.

Universal once again does the amazing job with the extra's. This time the documentary is brilliant. Hosted by Carl Laemmle's niece, Carla Laemmle. The docu is called "The Road To Dracula" and is a fascinating look at the whole Dracula being. This might be the best of the documentaries. It offers interviews with the regular cast of these things and a few new faces. Bela Jr. actually gets in on the whole thing also, that is a nice addition.

David J. Skal is our host for the commentary. Finally we get a commentary by the man himself. This is also a scripted track, but Mr. Skal is so well learned on this topic that he speaks it like he has grown up speaking these very words. The man knows this film very well. It features commentary on inside stories, film technique and also on the book and the Spanish production. Very well done, indeed. Also is the standard "Poster and Photo Montage", "Production Notes", "Theatrical Trailer" and web links.

All in all this is a great DVD. The price is extremely fair, I paid $20.00 US currency for this thing through Amazon.com. That is quite fair I would say. I was never that much of a vampire fan, much less a Dracula fan. I always enjoyed the monsters that looked like monsters. Vampires never really scarred me (with the exception of Klaus Kinski in "Nosferatu"), so this one really never did. But now as the years have passed me by, I have gained a whole new fondness for this movie. The atmosphere in the beginning is beautifully executed. The hamminess of Lugosi is priceless. Dwight Frye is a lifeline that keeps the second half from tanking. So, if this is a movie you enjoyed to begin with, buy this! If you like classic horror, buy it! If you like a good deal in your DVD's, buy it. So what it comes down to is just buy this DVD. You will not be disappointed.