Red Letter Media

Favorite recurring character? (Select 4)

  • Jack / AIDSMobdy

    Votes: 225 23.7%
  • Josh / the Wizard

    Votes: 66 7.0%
  • Colin (Canadian #1)

    Votes: 416 43.8%
  • Jim (Canadian #2)

    Votes: 204 21.5%
  • Tim

    Votes: 354 37.3%
  • Len Kabasinski

    Votes: 190 20.0%
  • Freddie Williams

    Votes: 245 25.8%
  • Patton Oswalt

    Votes: 22 2.3%
  • Macaulay Culkin

    Votes: 474 49.9%
  • Max Landis

    Votes: 52 5.5%

  • Total voters
    949
You know, for all it's flaws, Coppola's Dracula is pretty danged accurate for an adaptation. Sure, it's got tacked on things like Mina being a reincarnation of Dracula's wife, but it follows the novel to the point where it even includes Quincey as a character. Virtually no adaptations bother to put him in there. The only bad thing that resulted from this movie, is that it seemed to kick off the start of that whole "Vampires are bad boys who just need love to be redeemed" thing which culminated in the Twilight series. (I'm not saying this movie was responsible for Twilight, but it was definitely an inspiration for it..)
 
You know, for all it's flaws, Coppola's Dracula is pretty danged accurate for an adaptation. Sure, it's got tacked on things like Mina being a reincarnation of Dracula's wife, but it follows the novel to the point where it even includes Quincey as a character. Virtually no adaptations bother to put him in there. The only bad thing that resulted from this movie, is that it seemed to kick off the start of that whole "Vampires are bad boys who just need love to be redeemed" thing which culminated in the Twilight series. (I'm not saying this movie was responsible for Twilight, but it was definitely an inspiration for it..)
Eh, that was actually a thing beforehand with the Anne Rice novels. The roots of the tragic, romantic vampire actually go all the way back to Carmilla, which predates Dracula.
 
Eh, that was actually a thing beforehand with the Anne Rice novels. The roots of the tragic, romantic vampire actually go all the way back to Carmilla, which predates Dracula.
Gah! I totally forgot about the Frank Langella version of Dracula, which also played up the romance. I guess you really can't blame pin down the Twilight phenomenon on a single source. I miss the days when Dracula was an alluring, but unequivocal villain. I always thought Christopher Lee had the truest interpretation: as a predator who takes victims and discards them at will like a Narcissist. Other than showing loyalty to a few flunkies and brides (usually after they've given their lives for him,) he's utterly cold to all people. Usually because they're either food or slaves to him.
 
Gah! I totally forgot about the Frank Langella version of Dracula, which also played up the romance. I guess you really can't blame pin down the Twilight phenomenon on a single source. I miss the days when Dracula was an alluring, but unequivocal villain. I always thought Christopher Lee had the truest interpretation: as a predator who takes victims and discards them at will like a Narcissist. Other than showing loyalty to a few flunkies and brides (usually after they've given their lives for him,) he's utterly cold to all people. Usually because they're either food or slaves to him.
You also have Barnabas Collins, who started out a total villain until becoming a Soap Opera romantic anti-hero. in the 60's There's been an inherent sexuality to vampires for a very long time. Tons of angst and fluid exchange and eternal youth. You also had The Hunger, which literally had rapidly aging vampires turned by their eternally young, bisexual sire. And making vampires cute teenage boys goes back to Martin and The Lost Boys. Hell, Martin riffed on the "Seductive, romantic vampire" trope and it was made in the early 70's. Twilight was just an inevitable commercial product after a while. Vampire the Masquerade has a whole clan of vampires built around this.

My favorite approach to vampire tropes is definitely Terry Pratchett's though.
 
Case in point: exactly like Italian horror (it should count as Italian horror considering Coppola's Italian). Take for example Suspiria. It's repeatedly praised as one of the greatest horror films ever made, one of the most beautiful looking, one of the best soundtracks, critics love Suspiria. But Suspiria has scenes like this:


In terms of its stylized 'stagey' tone, vivid blood, English country manor settings and heving bosoms on sexy vampires, the film, like Burton's Sleepy Hollow, feels more like a homage to the Hammer Horror films released in the 60's to me.
 
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I also really like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein that came out a couple years later.

It's not as good, but it's pretty enjoyable. I always think of it as like a companion piece to Bram Stoker's Dracula in a way.

I liked it too.

Sadly, my biggest issue with the movie was DeNiro as the monster. Having him in the role was just too distracting to me, no matter how much makeup they put on him.

But other than that though, the movie is pretty solid, and the way they handled Helena Bonham Carter's character was pretty horrifying.
 
Patreon Update

While working on organizing yesterday, we ended up shooting a completely impromptu video that will probably be the most pointless thing we ever release. So that will be coming soon. Also, as a follow up to the Spacehunter re:View, Jay and Rich are working on a re:View of 1984's Ice Pirates, starring Angelica Huston and the guy that played Sloth in The Goonies.
 
Mike has so many dopplegangers. First the Thomas and the Magic Railway juggler, then the guy getting his face smooshed by feet, now a (turkish?) chef. What will he show up as next?
 
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