Dario Argento's Dracula (4 Stars)

Last week it was Black Friday again. I wonder sometimes how many people in Europe understand the significance of Black Friday. In America it's the day after Thanksgiving, but there's no Thanksgiving holiday in Europe, for obvious reasons. I doubt many Europeans could tell me what Thanksgiving  is about or when it takes place. I'll have to test my friends some time. If they're smart they might tell me that it's the day before Black Friday.

I wait for Black Friday every year. If there's something expensive I want to buy from Amazon, I wait for the Black Friday sales to start. Some years I buy a lot. This year I didn't. I already have a large television set, a Kindle and an Amazon Echo. There are no television box sets that I want. Only one item stood out: "Dario Argento's Dracula". I didn't even know the film existed before I saw it in the list of lightning deals. Reduced from 15.99 Euros to 4.95 Euros. I couldn't click the Purchase buttonfast enough.

I'm well acquainted with Dario Argento's horror films from the 1970's and 1980's. It was fascinating to see a recent film from him; he directed it in 2012. He made the film in English, even though none of the actors are native English speakers. Count Dracula is played by Thomas Kretschmann (German), Abraham Van Helsing is played by Rutger Hauer (Dutch), Jonathan Harker is played by Unax Ugalde (Spanish), and all the other roles are played by Italians.

The film is based on Bram Stoker's novel, though it has various changes. Jonathan Harker visits the Count to catalogue his books. Dracula has a large library with shelves of old books. Harker asks Dracula how many books he has, to which Dracula replies, "That's what I want you to tell me". It would be a wonderful job, if Harker's boss weren't a vampire.

How many adaptations of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" are there? (Not including films that only include Dracula as a character). Empire Magazine once published an article listing 50 film adaptations. I don't remember the exact date of the article, but I cancelled my subscription to Empire in 2008, so it was at least 13 years ago. There are many more films that have been made since then, including Dario Argento's film that I watched today. I believe I have seven adaptations in my film collection. It would be interesting to watch them back-to-back in a single week. Maybe I'll do it early next year.

Dario Argento's adaptation isn't the best ever made, but it's a respectable attempt, despite being rated badly by most critics. Thomas Kretschmann plays the title role admirably. Instead of trying to compete with the great actors of the past, Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee, he portrays Dracula as a cultivated gentleman who does his best not to frighten people. Yes, he's a monster, but he tries not to show it.

As the poster above shows, this is a 3D film. Ugh! Luckily, the Blu-ray disc includes a 2D version.

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