What can I say? Many have attempted it, but this movie is the first to truly capture the spirit of Bram Stoker's classic, Dracula. First published in 1897, this imaginative story has been told in such films as "Nosferatu the Vampire," "Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht," and "Nosferatu L.A. '02" - but never before with equivalent success. Furthermore, writer/director Roger Young has taken the movie a step further by maintaining thematic similarities between book and film while attaching a more familiar setting: the 21st century. When young American investment banker Jonathan Harker arrives at Vladislav Tepes's castle in Romania, he does so not in a carriage but a Porsche. When Harker and Dracula discuss business philosophy over dinner, the count slices their undercooked roast chicken not with a knife but an electric shredder. And when Lucy turns to Arthur and implores him for their love's sake to end her unworthy existence, Arthur rams her through the heart with not a stake but an automatic rifle.
Obviously, a novel as dated as Dracula has been failing to reach modern audiences not in lack of adherence to detail but in consequence of such. As the first man to truly understand this, Young has produced the final chapter in a long history of recent Dracula remakes. Finally, directors can feel satisfied that the job has been done well and conclusively. Working with a limited Italian mini-series budget, he has done a marvelous job overseeing such an undertaking.
Perhaps in another century visionaries will again need to reinvestigate the story of Count Dracula, but that is in the hands of our descendants, not us.
