Clevercell Very disappointing...

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Lawbolisted Powerful

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

project717-629-119383 1. ATMOSPHERE: Carl Dreyer's "Vampyr" had it. Herzog's "Nosferatu" had it. Even Roman Polanski's semi-comedic "The Fearless Vampire Killers"" had it. John Badham's film does not. Riddled with Gothic clichés, it's huge Hollywood set pieces scream "look at all the money we've spent!" rather than evoking any real sense of foreboding or dread. 2. FRANK LANGELLA: Too mannered, too externalized, too theatrical, too fey, too much. It's "dangerous charisma" with quotes around it, conveying none of the kind of truly threatening phallic energy that is determined to smash through the gates of Judeo-Christian chastity and take down all the hypocrisy of the Victorian world with it. What should be Marlon Brando with fangs is instead effete and aristocratic dandyism, with a bouffant hairdo and overworked smoke machines tipping everything into the absurd. 3. LAURENCE OLIVIER: At the height of his paycheck period, and hired to be nothing more than just another expensive prop, it's an ineffectual and sad affair, heightened by his fragility and his illness. Van Helsing is the ultimate moralist, as sociopathic and possessed in his protection of the maidenhead as Dracula is towards it's violation, and his complexity is in knowing that he may well be the larger demon in terms of his own impotence in the face of orgasmic female sexuality willingly reconciling itself to the grave, rather than upholding the brides of Christ who are physically pure but dead in spirit. 4. None of the actresses seem to boil over with twisted and latent eroticism, nudity or not. Kate Nelligan's unleashed desires appear too politely British and above-the-waist, when we should be seeing a proper young lady turn into a half-mad Eve thrusting an obsidian apple into the lower regions. There shouldn't be a sweet little smile at the end of the movie; there should be a painfully tormented and spasmodic moan with more than just wet tears flowing.

Kirpianuscus first, for the cast. to meet, together, Laurence Olivier, Donald Pleasence and Frank Langella is a real delight. then - for the nuances who reminds, after so many experiments, the original novel. and not the last, the fascinating Dracula by Frank Langella who is more a seducer than the monster. the atmosphere reminds old fashion Gothic literature. the acting preserves the delicacy of tension and gives force and beautiful sparkles to a story who seems be well - known. maybe it is not exactly the best adaptation. but it remains a must see. maybe for the emotions and for the special feeling to discover hide zones of a novel who remains great source of inspiration for the horrors. and this is the great good point of this film - it is the perfect mixture between thriller, mystery and crime, ignoring the rules of horror for a beautiful story who use in wise manner great cinematography.

Predrag This version of the lusty count isn't that bad. Frank Langella makes for a sympathetic count and its perhaps this element that stops it from being really frightening. As dashing as Frank is he exudes little in the way of menace. However, the British locations are sumptuous and the supporting cast of Laurence Olivier, Donald Pleasance,Trevor Eve and Tony Haygarth as an excellent Renfield are all good. One complaint is that the late Lord Olivier is perhaps a bit to old to play Van Helsing, as the role usually involves a tussle with the Count. The director has created a great, creepy atmosphere and Frank Langella does a very good Dracula. As much as I love Bela Lugosi, with his accent and intensity, Langella has an erotic quality that even Lugosi can't match.The highlight of the film for me is where Van Helsing and Seward, having found that Van Helsing's niece Mina has been turned into a vampire by Dracula, unearth her coffin and find it empty. They go through a hole in the coffin's side into an old abandoned mine-working in search of her (Mine-workings don't appear in the original novel, but part of the film's ingenuity lies in making things like this add to the film's resonance and power). Van Helsing, searching the dark and dripping tunnels by flickering candlelight, drops his crucifix and, stooping to pick it up, catches sight of his niece reflected in a puddle at his feet. He looks up and sees what she has become. The beautiful Mina (played by the radiant Jan Francis) has become a thing of real horror, what a vampire would really be like if they actually existed - a loathsome, visceral fiend, living in the drains and feeding off rats and slugs. This is the bit that kept me awake for nights on end, and which still gives me the willies even now. All in all, still love this film, still holds up after all these years and doesn't look that date, considering it was released in 1979.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

Claudio Carvalho In Whitby, England, the sick Mina Van Helsing (Jan Francis) is spending some days with her friend Lucy Seward (Kate Nelligan) and her father Dr. Jack Seward (Donald Pleasence) in their house that is also an asylum at the seaside. When a ship wrecks on the coast, all the crew is dead and Mina helps the only survivor Count Dracula (Frank Langella), who has just bought the Fairfax Abbey through Lucy's fiancé Jonathan Harker (Trevor Eve). Soon Dracula drinks Mina's blood killing her. Dr. Seward summons Mina's father Prof. Abraham Van Helsing (Laurence Olivier) for the funeral but he arrives late. On the next night, the son of the patient Annie (Janine Duvitski) is attacked by Mina. Prof. Van Helsing discovers that his daughter is undead and the Count Dracula is a vampire. Now Van Helsing, Dr. Seward and Jonathan have to protect Lucy from the powerful vampire."Dracula" (1979) is an adaptation of Bram Stocker's novel with beautiful cinematography, haunting music score and a wonderful cast. However this is not my favorite adaptation of the novel. I prefer Werner Herzog "Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht" of the same year and Francis Ford Coppola's version that was made thirteen years later (1992). My vote is six.Title (Brazil): Not Available on DVD or Blu-Ray