Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

And another take on the famed story of Dracula, "Bram Stoker's Dracula" is the vampire film that follows the novel the most. I have yet to see any filmed version of Dracula where the old Dracula is walking around with a long white mustache like he does in the book. Besides this oversight, and a few additions made by Coppola, this version most resembles the novel about the vampire and his adventures in London. The casting choices are all over the place for this film with some poor choices (Keanu Reeves?) to proper (Carly Elwes and Tom Waits) to outstanding (Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins). The musical score is one to remember as well and it's not like don't have much choice as it's still used in other movies' previews still to this day.


There's no need for a synopsis, you know what the story is about by now! But I will go over some of the small details that were added for the film

1. The opening where Dracula goes off to fight the Turks and his wife kills herself when she hears that he has been killed in battle. Upon his return and finding her dead body, he curses God and stabs the stone statue, drinking it's blood. Not in the book but it's a super cool scene.

2. It's revealed that Renfield was originally working as the solicitor for Dracula before going crazy. In the book when never hear of any past dealings with the Count.

3. The entire section where Dracula meets Mina in London and takes her to the cinema, where they encounter the white wolf. This is added to make the this version more of a love story.

There are other minor bits missing from the novel but this version is the truest that I've seen and is still fun to watch twenty two years later!

The Riverman (2004)

"The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt the For the Green River Killer" is a made for TV film about the interviews between Robert Keppel and Ted Bundy as they discussed the Green River Killer. Bundy contacted Keppel after he learned about the Green River Killer, claiming that he may have some insight behind what kind of person the Green River Killer could be. Bruce Greenwood and Cary Elwes provide great performances as Kepple and Bundy. The interviews that take place right before Bundy's execution are truly powerful as the movie dives into Bundy's conscious. The film is clearly more of a crime drama than a horror film but it goes to show that what people are really capable of is just as frightening as what we can make up.

Saw 3D (2010)

It’s 2010 and everything is being made into a 3-D movie, including the final installment of “Saw”. This is easily the weakest entry in the series. During production, it was decided that this would be the final film and that there wouldn’t be an eighth entry. It’s obvious that there are some different stories ideas that were tossed around because the movie doesn’t feel like it has a real solid story arc like the other films. The theme of redemption and rebirth is completely gone at this point. Detective Hoffman is a madman and a killer.

The strength of the film, compared to the previous few films, is that it focuses on only two storylines instead of several. The new storyline is about Bobby Dagen, a man who claims to have been a survivor of a Jigsaw game and is profiting from his lies. While at a survivors meeting, Dr. Gordon makes an appearance and mocks Bobby on film. Bobby is eventually kidnaped and forced to play a series of “games” that involve his wife and entourage. The first test he survives. The second “game” is for his publicist, where he has to pull a key and hook out by a string that’s in her stomach. She dies. The third “game” is for his lawyer, where Bobby has to lift and hold a heavy weight with his shoulders while his legs are impaled with short spikes; he fails to hold up the weight for 30 seconds and she dies. The fourth “game” involves Bobby’s best friend who it blind folded and has to walk across some thin planks before the timer runs out and hangs him; he dies. The next “game” forces Bobby to pull two of his teeth in order to find the combination of the lock to the door. The final “game” forces Bobby reenact the “game” that he has been lying that he survived; he needs insert hooks into his pictorials and climbing chain in order to connect two extension cords. He falls to the ground when his muscles tear. When the timer runs out, his wife is encased and cooked to death while he watches.

The second storyline is about Detective Hoffman and his attempts to frame Jill as the killer and to get revenge on her and the special affairs agent that turned him in a few years earlier. There is a “game” that involves four racist gang members that draw the attention of the special affairs agent but it’s just a ruse to distract them while Hoffman goes to the precinct and kills everyone. He finally gets to Jill and places the reversible bear trap on her, which goes off, tearing a huge hole in her face and killing her instantly. As Hoffman is leaving one of his lairs, Dr. Gordon and two others in pig suits knock Hoffman out. The big and final twist is that John Kramer nursed Dr. Gordon back to health after he sawed his foot off. It was with Dr. Gordon’s help that the more intricate “games” were set up, and it was his suggestion to use Lynn and Jeff in “Saw 3”. Dr. Gordon was also to protect Jill and if anything happened to her, he was to act with all of John’s revenge. So Dr. Gordon takes Hoffman to the original industrial bathroom, chains him up but tosses the saw out the door, locking him alone in the dark to die. And thus the series ends…

Saw (2004)

The original “Saw” is a thrilling and suspenseful mystery that focuses on two men trapped in an old dirty industrial bathroom who find themselves the current “victims” of the Zigsaw Killer. The movie stars Cary Elwes as Dr. Lawrence Gordon and Leigh Whannell (who wrote the script) as Adam and has support from Danny Glover, Shawnee Smith, and Dina Myer. This film was written as a standalone movie and because of this the story takes its time and really focuses on the complex trap that Dr. Gordon and Adam find themselves in.

The Jigsaw Killer places very people in a situation where they are forced to play one of his “games”. They are chosen because he believes that they are taking their lives for granted or are outright wasting their lives. He feels so strongly about this because he has found a new love for life after being diagnosed with an operable brain tumor.

There are a total of five “games” that are presented in this film.

• 1.       Paul, who tried to slit his wrist earlier, finds himself naked inside a razor wire maze. He has two hours to find his way through the maze before the only door leading out slams shuts and locks him inside.
• 2       Mark is scamming his employer and his insurance company by claiming to be sick and or disabled, but the Zigsaw Killer knows better. Because of this, Mark has been covered in a highly flammable substance and is given a candle to try to read and find the proper combination code that will unlock a safe and give him the key to leave the room his trapped in. The ground is covered in broken glass so his chances of dropping the candle are incredibly high.
• 3.       Amanda, a heroin user the only known survivor of a Zigsaw “game” wakes up to find a reversible bear trap-like device locked on her head. In order to escape, she has to take a scalpel and find the key that is located inside another man in the room with her, who happens to still be alive but is currently drugged. She guts the man and finds the key just in time. This nameless victim is the first person who isn’t explained at any point.
• 4.       Dr. Gordon and Adam – Dr. Gordon is tasked with killing Adam in two hours, by 6:00pm, otherwise his wife and daughter will be killed and he will be locked away in the bathroom forever. Dr. Gordon has been chosen to play a “game” because he was the uncaring doctor who belittled his patient, the Jigsaw Killer, and because he is cheating on his wife. Adam is chosen because he makes his living by taking pictures of people committing acts that they shouldn’t, people like Mark and Dr. Gordon. All Dr. Gordon needs to do is saw off his foot that is chained down and shoot Adam with the gun that the corpse in the middle of the room has. He does so after the deadline.
• 5.       The fifth and final victim is Zep, an orderly who works at the same hospital as Dr. Gordon. He has been poisoned and the only way to survive is to kill Dr. Gordon’s wife and daughter. He is playing a “game” because he is deemed to a murderer who is willing to kill and innocent woman and her child just to save his own life. The would-be killer fails and goes to where Dr. Gordon is. Adam, who was only wounded, kills Zep by using the ceramic top of a toilet to bludgeon him. Dr. Gordon crawls away to get help and leaves Adam alone in the room.

The big twist at the end of this film is the fact that Jigsaw was the corpse in the middle of the room, so when he stands up and looks down at Adam, the shock is genuine. 

Dr. Lawrence Gordon

Adam

Amanda