Customer Reviews

Dracula:Dead & Loving It

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Come on now, it's a Mel Brooks film so you know it's going to be funny. I'm a Dracula fan and love the original story so I was a little curious to see what Brooks would do to it. When I saw the film, my questions were answered and the laughter came in spades.

You'll see alot of Brooks' regular actors returning for this one including Harvey Korman, Megan Cavanaugh, Amy Yasbeck, Peter MacNicol, and even Ann Bancroft in a cameo in the beginning of the film. Steven Weber was great as Jonathan Harker as was Brooks as Van Helsing. Leslie Nielson mixed his "Naked Gun" character with Dracula and the results are definately pleasing. But the standout actor in this film is Peter MacNicol as Renfield, Dracula's slave under his power. MacNicol's performance is hands down the best of the film.

If you're looking for a good laugh, this film will deliver on every level possible. But this film comes second to Robin Hood: Men In Tights which is Brooks' best film of his career.

I thought this movie was absolutely hilarious, and it doesn't need to refernece almost everything to sex, like most of today's comedies do. It's just simple slapstick and great jokes and tons of funny scenes. I love it! I saw this movie a couple years ago, and have been searching for it since. Maybe this DVD will give me the chance I need.

This is an excellent movie, it's been one of my favourites for years. I believe that Mel Brooks is a true genius. However, reading the reviews for this movie, I hardly think that they do it justice. Everyone should watch this movie. And to those reviewers who listed great Mel Brooks movies, I DO agree with you, but HELLO! You are all forgetting his funniest movie ever-
ROBIN HOOD MEN IN TIGHTS!
There is no movie that can compare with this one in terms of comedy.
So, in conclusion, Dracula Dead and Loving It is excellent, you should buy it, Mel Brooks is a genius and you should all buy Robin Hood Men In Tights and watch it many, many times until you have learnt it all off by heart as I (and many of my good friends) have done.

Vampires -- they don't get made fun of nearly as much as they should. I adore the undead, but there's just SO much to joke about.

Fortunately, writer/director Mel Brooks took up the challenge in "Dracula - Dead and Loving It," a deliciously barbed spoof of movies about Count Dracula, including Hammer Horror schlockfests and that horrible Coppola movie. Sure, it's no Young Frankenstein but it is a big coffin-full of laughs and goofy running jokes... and yes, it's way more entertaining (and scarier!) than Twilight.

Real estate agent Renfield (Peter MacNicol) comes to deepest Transylvania to sell Carfax Abbey to Count Dracula (Leslie Nielson). However, after Renfield has a weird experience with some seductive women ("WRONG ME! WRONG MY BRAINS OUT!"), Count Dracula turns him into a gibbering bug-eating loon.

And soon after the Count arrives in England, the seductive Lucy Westenra (Lysette Anthony) starts suffering from blood loss, which is apparently connected to two tiny marks on her throat. Dr. Seward (Harvey Korman) calls upon the renowned Dr. Van Helsing (Brooks), who decides that Lucy has been bitten by a vampire... just in time for her to drop dead.

Sadly, this isn't the end of the affair, as Lucy has returned from the grave as one of the undead, and Count Dracula has turned his sights on her friend Mina Murray (Amy Yasbeck). The only way to save her is for Van Helsing, Seward and her dim-witted fiancee Jonathan Harker (Steven Weber) to set up an elaborate trap for the vampire...

Let's see -- we've got bat poop, "breasts" hair, independently moving shadows, autopsies, garlic, tangos, horny vampire women, hypnosis malfunctions, daymares, insect-eating, and the occasional geyser of blood. While "Dracula - Dead and Loving It" is actually pretty faithful to Bram Stoker's original novel, the main point of the movie is to be as funny as possible.

The beginning is a little dumb for a Brooks movie, particularly during the slipping-on-poop-and-falling-downstairs gag. Come on, Mel, you're better than that! But after Dracula leaves for England, the humor becomes classic Brooks stuff -- gags (the "we have Nosferatu today!" joke), physical comedy (Dracula arises from the coffin... and whacks his head on a chandelier), and funny dialogue ("You will be my bride throughout eternity. We'll share the endless passion of immortal love!" "Oh I can't wait!" "NOT YOU!").

And there are plenty of pokes at Victorian mores ("Let me show you the deep, raw passion of unbridled sexual frenzy!" "But Lucy... I'm British!"). Man, this stuff is funny -- and the hilariously ironic ending is perfect.

As for the acting, it's as good as you'd expect -- Leslie Nielson is hilarious as the long-suffering bloodsucker who has to deal with some really dumb people, and Brooks is excellent as the vaguely competent Dr. Van Helsing. There are also some hilarious performances by Weber as the repressed Jonathan, Korman as the enemy-happy Dr. Seward, and MacNicol doing his best impression of Dwight Frye ("Master, master... I mean, mister mister!").

"Dracula - Dead and Loving It" is not quite AS funny as it could have been, but after a shaky start it's full of vampiric laughs and spoofery. Ignore "Vampires Suck," and enjoy this instead.

I thought that this was a hilarious movie! Very funny, and fun. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes comedy and Mel Brooks.

You couldn't have comprehended Bram stokers novel very well considering twice you spelt it B.R.A.N. Not to mention all your other mispellings and atrocious grammar. As for Bram Stoker's Dracula. That was the worst Dracula movie ever made on a high budget.Like wow man... Keanu Reeves is like uh... totally convincing as an englishmen.Mel Brooks was totally in the right to blast that movie.Though he barely touched on that one.70% of it was a satire of the Bela Lugosi version,so chill out dude.The Wayan brothers? HA! The Wayan brothers say "When we grow up, we hope we'll have as much comedic genius in our entire bodies as Mel Brooks has in his little pinky. Amazons review section should have an indicator next to the reviews that are written by children 12 years or younger.Sometimes I feel a little guilty when I tell people off.BUT NOT IN YOUR CASE. On to the DVD.For itself it's a great movie. Picture dimensions compared to the VHS; the same at the top, a little more to the sides, but the bottom is cut off slightly.This only bothered me for one scene. On the VHS at the end of the autopsy you can catch a glimpse of the cadaver's face.(That's the dead body on the table,PAPERPLATER). On the DVD you can't see it at all.The commentary is good but not great(in the informative sense).Yet I've watched this 3 times with commentary,because it's fun to listen to.I would still like to know who composed that wonderful piece Dracula and Mina waltz to just when Dracula said "COME MISS MINA"at the ballroom dance.A music only track would have been nice.And a 20 minute behind the scenes with outakes and bloopers should have been included.If this dvd came out years ago,these things wouldn't bother me.But after such a long wait, my suggestions should have been included.The sound and picture quality is excellent.THIS ONE IS RECOMMENED as a keeper for the intelligent movie viewer.

I agree with everyone else in saying that it's not the funniest of Mel Brooks' movies (I think that title goes to Blazing Saddles), but it is my favorite. It needs to be released on DVD, as the tracking on the VHS is always off on my VCR and needs about twenty minutes worth of adjusting to get the audio to work.

We need a DVD!

This is one of Mel Brooks's finest movies, right up there with "Young Frankenstein", "Blazing Saddles," and "The Twelve Chairs". But two things bug me: there's no DVD and no soundtrack CD. A widescreen DVD with commentary by Mel Brooks, a couple theatrical trailers, a behind-the-scenes documentary, some outtakes, and interviews with the cast would be nice. This should've won the Oscars for Best Music Score and Best Actor (Leslie Nielsen).

This film better come out on dvd. It is just as funny as "SPACEBALLS". No wait its funnier than "SPACEBALLS"! Mel Brooks is a comic mastermine. He really did do a great job impersinating the 1931 black in white classic of the original dracula. You know the one where the guy was good friends with "Ed Wood". This film is so hilarious. It may seem goofy and gay but trust me it is great. Mel brooks is a comic genuis ever since "YOUNG FRANKISTEIN". Which is also great but this is indeed the best mel brooks movie of all time. This better come out on dvd.Because if it doesnt Ill.........Illl......Illl..... write a lot of letters and and send a lot of pizzas to the film company that they didnt order yeah, that'll show'em

I was sad to hear that this was Mel Brooks' last movie as a director, but that didn't affect me seeing it. Some of my favorite scenes are when Renfield is in the village and Anne Bancroft keeps doing that thing with her throat, the "fight scene" at the end, Prof. Van Helsing's autopsy, and Dr. Seward and Renfield's brunch. Leslie Nielsen couldn't be better (except in "Airplane!" or "Naked Gun"); Mel Brooks always casts the right people. I say this is Brooks' third best movie (1st would be "Young Frankenstein" and 2nd is "Blazing Saddles"). One complaint is that they didn't have Mark Blankfield, Megan Cavanagh, or Anne Bancroft at the end where they showed the characters. My most favorite thing about this movie is the music. I especially love that song over the pictures at the end. I wonder if someone at Amazon could get me something (like a CD) with that song on it? I LOVE it! Okay, great movie, five stars, and now, I take my leave. I am "sheduled" to have much to do and I have less time to do it in.