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DRACULA – Danny Elfman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 novel Dracula, which introduced the world to the modern concept of the vampire, has been made into films dozens and dozens of times over the years, from the early German expressionist silent version by F.W Murnau, to Bela Lugosi’s classic Hollywood portrayal in 1931, to the Christopher Lee-Peter Cushing British Hammer horrors of the 1950s and 60s, and many more besides. Last year director Robert Eggers made one of the best ever versions of the story with his Nosferatu, which portrayed the undead count as more plague than man, twisted and evil. Now, the latest director to take on the story is French director Luc Besson, but his version of the story is different from Eggers’s, and is instead closer in tone to the luxurious romanticism of Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula from 1992, which remains my personal favorite of all Dracula films. Besson’s film – which was made entirely by a French crew – was nevertheless shot in English, and stars Caleb Landry Jones in the title role as the blood-sucking count who is both debonair and demonic, with Christoph Waltz, Zoë Bleu, and Matilda De Angelis in major supporting roles. Read more…
DRACULA – David Arnold and Michael Price
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
There have been literally dozens and dozens of adaptations of and variations on the Dracula story in the years since Bram Stoker wrote it in 1897. The most recent version is this BBC mini-series developed by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, the brains behind such successful shows as Doctor Who, Sherlock, and The League of Gentleman. Danish actor Claes Bang is the latest to star in the title role as the undead aristocrat from Eastern Europe who drinks human blood to survive; the show begins with a fairly conventional re-telling of the Dracula myth – castles and brides, voyages to Whitby, Lucy and Mina and Jonathan Harker – but ends with a very unconventional contemporary twist that places Dracula in modern society and completely upends vampire lore. The show has not been entirely successful, but it certainly has handsome and impressive production values, which extend to its score by composers David Arnold and Michael Price. Read more…
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