{"id":32921,"date":"2026-02-05T20:36:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T04:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=32921"},"modified":"2026-02-05T20:36:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T04:36:34","slug":"dracula-has-its-moments-but-doesnt-leave-a-lasting-impression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=32921","title":{"rendered":"DRACULA Has Its Moments, But Doesn\u2019t Leave a Lasting Impression"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 129 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature film from Vertical (previously known as\nVertical Entertainment) opens exclusively at theaters in Albuquerque and other\nmarkets in New Mexico.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to online sources, the classic Bram Stoker horror\nnovel Dracula<\/em> has received more than two hundred film adaptations,\naveraging out to more than one treatment per year. The latest production is\nfrom French director Luc Besson, known for his visually arresting titles La\nFemme Nikita, Leon: The Professional, The Fifth Element, Valerian and the City\nof a Thousand Planets<\/em>. So, does this version have enough bite to make an\nimpression?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The film begins with Romanian prince Vlad Dracula (Caleb\nLandry Jones) leading his army against the Ottoman empire This is between\nvisits to his adoring wife Elisabeta (Zo\u00eb Bleu). Tragedy strikes when Elisabeta\nis killed, with a furious Dracula renouncing God and becoming a vampire. Over\nthe centuries, he seeks out the reincarnation of his partner, creating several\nfemale bloodsuckers around Europe to help him locate her. One day, he is\nvisited at his castle by solicitor Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abib), who is\nhandling one of the count\u2019s properties in Paris. Dracula unexpectedly sees a\npicture of Harker\u2019s fianc\u00e9 Mina (Bleu again). Knowing the woman is his lost\nlove, he locks Harker up and sets out to claim her. Back in Paris, Mina is\nconcerned about her institutionalized best friend Maria (Matilda De Angelis)\nwho is actually one of Dracula\u2019s team. Maria escapes and tries to bring Mina\nand Dracula together, while visiting priest\/vampire slayer (Christoph Waltz)\nattempts to prevent the reunion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There have been a few tweaks to the original story,\nincluding a notable change in setting. This adds some beautiful French\nlocations to the story. Dracula\u2019s castle is impressive too, literally built\ninto the base of a mountain in the Carpathians. Both provide some visual\npanache. Landry fares reasonably well as Dracula, particularly in scenes using\nold-age makeup (although the character closely resembles Gary Oldman\u2019s take on\nthe role in the 1992 film Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/em> during these scenes).\nMatilda De Angelis is fun to watch as a troublesome and at times unhinged\nminion of the title vampire. And Waltz is entertaining as the Van Helsing\ncharacter, studying the bloodsuckers and their physiology. He also makes a\nvalid criticism of Dracula\u2019s motives in the hopes of convincing the villain to\nchange his ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The picture has been sold as a more romantic take on the\nlegend, emphasizing the count\u2019s agony and obsession over losing the love of his\nlife, and his efforts to search for her reincarnated soul over several\ncenturies. Truthfully, this aspect of the story was handled more succinctly and\neffectively in the noted 1992 version. This feature opens with heated intimacy\nbetween Dracula and Elisabeta, but otherwise there isn\u2019t any more depth or\ninformation about their eternal connection. This concept has always been a\ntricky one to pull off, and the fact that the characters are rarely onscreen\ntogether until the final third doesn\u2019t help build chemistry between the leads or\nsell the everlasting romance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additionally, the movie frequently switches tones between\nmelodrama and exaggerated humor. For instance, there is a sequence involving\nDracula attempting suicide repeatedly after the death of Elisabeta and failing.\nIt\u2019s played in far too light a manner given the severity of the situation, but\nit is amusing. One battle scene involving a vampire earns a big laugh when a\nflying, decapitated head bounces off of a shocked onlooker. The odd gag raises\na smile, but the majority do not land. There is a section set at a grand\nballroom that almost turns into a musical number and feels jarring. Dracula\nalso has a set of castle gargoyles who serve as clumsy servants. These\nCGI-characters are intended to generate laughs, but are simply grating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, the love story is essential to this particular\ntelling of the story, and it\u2019s difficult to connect with the lovelorn\ncharacters. That added silliness results in a bizarre tone that never congeals.\nHaving said that, bits and pieces work, resulting in a curious but inconsistent\nwork. Overall, this edition of Dracula<\/em> isn\u2019t likely to leave a\nsignificant mark on viewers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 129 minutes This feature film from Vertical (previously known as Vertical Entertainment) opens exclusively at theaters in Albuquerque and other markets in New Mexico. According to online sources, the classic Bram Stoker horror novel Dracula has received more than two hundred film adaptations, averaging out to more than one treatment per year. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[217,3295,3764,4362,6222,6224,6226,6227,7798,9319,12737,13416,15728,23665,23735,24776],"class_list":["post-32921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-217","tag-book-adaptation","tag-caleb-landry-jones","tag-christoph-waltz","tag-dracula","tag-dracula-film-review","tag-dracula-movie-review","tag-dracula-review","tag-france","tag-horror","tag-luc-besson","tag-matilda-de-angelis","tag-paris","tag-vampire","tag-vertical","tag-zoe-bleu"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32921\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}