DRACULA - would make a wonderful movie

[Harvey Chartrand]

Another bad vampire flick — Mamma Dracula (1980) with Louise Fletcher. Plot synopsis: A female vampire must bathe in the blood of virgins in order to stay alive. The trouble is that virgins are in short supply nowadays, and she is running into major problems in finding one.
How the heck did Ms. Fletcher — winner of the Best Actress Oscar in 76 — end up in this hokum? Mamma Dracula features Maria Schneider (Last Tango in Paris, The Passenger), also on her way down, and Jess Hahn, who played one of the hapless cops in Welles ' The Trial.
Hahn is another one of those unsung actors, an American expatriate who spent most of his life in France and did excellent work in The Night of the Following Day, La Meilleure Part and many other films. Hahn had a cameo in Jacques Tati's masterpiece Play Time (1967) and the lead role in Eric Rohmer's first film The Sign of Leo (Le Signe du lion/1960). I just saw the Rohmer flick last week and it's a great movie about a man who thinks he's inherited millions, but somehow ends up as a bum on the streets of Paris in August — the quietest month in the City of Light, when millions of Parisians are away on holiday.

[Chris]

Being a huge Drac fan I just couldn't stay away from these posts!!!

Horror of Drac is a fine film, truly one of the best vampire films of all time. What is even more tantalising is the fact that the film had even MORE gore in it's first cut, before Hammer (or the censors) got to it first. There is a great publicity shot of the film floating around which all too gruesomely shows Dracs face peeling away, just like his hand does when exposed to the morning sun. If only this piece of film still existed today (sigh)!!!

The Louis Jordan version of Drac is very good, as long as you don't expect any big budget extravaganza.

As far as my favorite would-be Drac and Van Helsing casting goes, it's a tough call. If Hopkins didn't ham it up so much and exercised some of that Merchant-Ivory restraint, we may have had a classic portrayal, but of course this wouldn't have been in keeping with the tone of the film as a whole...Perhaps Ian McKellan would be a good Van Helsing, not sure about Drac though....

[Welles Fan]

Through the years, I have learned to watch Anthony Hopkins to see if he gives a thought ful performance or an out-of control hammy one. He is capable of good bravura epic acting on occasion (Richard I in The Lion in Winter, Hitler in The Bunker on TV) but he seems to "lose it" much of the and is simply out of control. His van Helsing was definitely one of those misfires of his. I remember looking forward to his Othello back when the BBC did all the Shakespeare plays, but he was in full hammy mode right from the start, and the performance degenerated into incoherant growling if not barking. His Titus Andronicus in the film was cut from the same cloth as his Othello.
I saw a bio of him on Bravo, and he came off as a somewhat lazy actor who gets bored easily (which is why he has never liked stage acting). I think that when he is unprepared for a role, or not very interested in it, he goes of on one of his incoherant rants.

BTW-speaking of Horror of Dracula, has anyone got the new DVD? Is it really too letterboxed? Does the tall Lee walk around with the top of his head cut off?

[Michael]

OK... I just suffered (and actually laughed a bit too) through what I will go ahead and name as (IMO) the worst vampire thing I have Ever seen. I watched three episodes of "Kindred: The Embraced"--and had I known it was produced by Aaron Spelling, I would have never picked it up. As it was, we had it, watched the first episode, and like a car wreck, were horribly drawn to watch a little more. It is the same style Dynasty (sex sells the show), but SLOW, Terribly and Stupidly written, Awful awful awful acting (it's MST3K material), and generally in some parts so bad its good. I know it has lots o' fans out there cause I did a little surfing and found lots of sites. I guess the idea of the show is interesting, but good heavens!!! What dreck!

Thanks!