Dracula (1979)

The 1979 version of “Dracula” is considered by many to be the first sexy version of the classic tale. This might be true but this version is also one of the most incorrect, off base versions I have ever seen. The script is inspired by a play about “Dracula” and gives the novel a mere secondary nod as a source material. This movie is a flagrant example of Hollywood being lazy, not bothering to read the book, and making up what they think the story is; it’s as if the writer saw the movie as a child and then tried to recall it thirty years later without any notes. The names of the characters are there, at least the first names, but the relationships are all wrong. On the plus side the film is very stylish and full of action. There are scenes that are full of candles, streams of flowing smoke, Frank Langella wearing a cape, and actors fully committed to the script; if only the script writers were had been committed after writing this!

The film begins with action as the ship that is carrying Count Dracula and his numerous boxes of dirt is losing control during a violent storm. The crew is trying to throw the crate that Dracula is in overboard, but a monster breaks out and kills the crew and the captain. The ship then crashes into the banks near Dr. Seward’s asylum, where Dr. Seward and his daughter Lucy (??) are trying to calm the inmates. Lucy’s friend Mina Van Helsing (??) escapes the house and runs out into the storm, going all of the way down to the beach and into a cave where she finds and rescues the Count. The next day, Jonathan Harker drives up to the wreck and tries to see if Dracula survived. He is told that the Count is alive and is at his new home in Carfax Abby. Harker then orders Renfield to move the unbroken boxes to the Abby. While doing so, Renfield is attacked by the Count after he turns into a bat.

Does your head hurt yet?

That night, the Count goes to Dr. Seward’s home to dine with the Dr. and his daughter, Jonathan, and Mina, who is now looking awfully pale. During dinner, Mina has a panic attack and the Count hypnotizes her to calm down. And then he dances with Lucy who is now obviously swooned by the guest. Later, Harker asks Lucy about her feelings for the Count and she assures him that he is the only man for her. Meanwhile, the Count climbs down the side of the manor and enters Mina’s room, where she happily exposes her neck. In the morning, with Lucy and her father there, Mina begins to choke and dies. The Dr. thinks nothing of the bite marks on Mina’s neck since it’s been a long time since he practiced real medicine. Meanwhile, Renfield wakes up from his attack and agrees to work for Dracula after he develops a taste for insects. Harker visits the Count at the Abby later that night to finish the sale of the Abby. As Harker is driving home he is attacked by Renfield, who is begging for help to be saved. Renfield is admitted to Seward’s asylum.

41 minutes into the film…

Lucy is overcome with grief after attending Mina’s funeral as Harker leaves for a work trip. Dr. Seward then tells his daughter that Proffesor Van Helsing is coming to town and that he is going to meet him at the train station. Meanwhile, Lucy goes to the Abby under the pretense that Jonathan and her father would be there. Back at the asylum, Mina attacks and kills a baby and jumps out a window. Van Helsing and Seward are left trying to figure out what’s going on. Meanwhile Dracula is busy seducing Lucy, who seems more into him than he is into her.

I’ll let you watch the rest of the movie to find out what happens. This isn’t the story that you thought you knew….

Best WTF moment - Dr. Seward seems to always be eating, even at the most inappropriate times. 

Second WTF moment - Why Laurence Olivier and Donald Pleasence ever agreed to be in this film?!?!