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Watch Dracula — Season 1 with a subscription on Netflix, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video. A delicious blend of horror and humor that more-or-less balances modern sensibilities and the...
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Rated: 4.5/5 Jan 3, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews...
- 2. Blood Vessel
Watch Dracula — Season 1, Episode 2 with a subscription on...
- 3. The Dark Compass
Dracula surfaces in a strange land pulsing with fresh blood...
- Season 1
The definitive site for Reviews, Trailers, Showtimes, and...
- Bram Stoker's Dracula
Bram Stoker's Dracula. Adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic...
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Reviews and Reactions reprints five early reviews of the novel. "Dramatic and Film Variations" focuses on theater and film adaptations of Dracula, two indications of the novel's unwavering appeal. David J. Skal, Gregory A. Waller, and Nina Auerbach offer their varied perspectives.
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Bram Stoker's Dracula. Adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic vampire novel. Gary Oldman plays Dracula whose lonely soul is determined to reunite with his lost love, Mina (Winona Ryder). In...
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- Francis Ford Coppola
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- Gary Oldman
Jan 4, 2020 · Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Dracula’ On Netflix, Where Steven Moffat And Mark Gatiss Take On Bram Stoker’s Classic Vampire. By Joel Keller @ joelkeller. Published Jan. 4, 2020, 9:00 a.m. ET ...
- BBC's new remake is a bloody good bite.
- Dracula Season 1 Gallery
- Verdict
By Matt Fowler
Updated: Apr 28, 2020 10:15 pm
Posted: Jan 6, 2020 7:30 pm
This is a mostly spoiler-free review for all three episodes of Dracula, which is now available to stream on Netflix.
Sherlock creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have taken another stab (stake?) at adapting a classic, this time re-vamping and reshuffling Bram Stoker's Dracula for the modern screen. Tonally, Dracula takes a bit of time to click -- as it tries to blend goofy with ghoulish, sassy with sinister -- but the end result is quite rewarding.
At one point, in the series' most on-the-nose scene, Moffat and Gatiss show their dueling main characters, Count Dracula and whip-smart nun Agatha Van Helsing, playing chess. Truth be told though, the strength of the show lies in their to-and-fro feud and the clever lengths to which they both go to one-up each other. After lawyer Jonathan Harker (John Heffernan) appears, clearly not the man he once was, at a Hungarian convent in 1897, it's off to the races. Van Helsing and Dracula go to war - and it's the mind games that resonate the most.
Van Helsing's attempts to crack Dracula's psyche and the Count's own malicious machinations regarding his intentions for Agatha stand as the North Star of these three chapters. Classic adversaries, these two and their interactions form a powerful enough spine for the series that it's then able to indulge in silliness and occasional satire. Also, the three episodes feel very different from one another, so the Dracula/Van Helsing dynamic is crucial for tethering us back to the core story.
Occasionally, one can feel the strain of the series trying to out-match and out-wit itself with 2020 incarnations of the book's famous characters (Van Helsing, Harker, Mina, Renfield, Lucy, etc) -- even borrowing a character from another old vampire tale -- but overall, the transformations and subversions work. This first series, which is much like a season of Sherlock (three feature-length episodes), is paced well, and the first two episodes use an "Interview with a Vampire-style" structure to unspool the story, which is usually the recounting of events that have already taken place leading us up to a killer final half-hour. Because of this, Dracula is able to address its absurdities upfront, so that they quickly normalize and blend into the narrative.
Danish actor Claes Bang plays Count Dracula like a game show host from Hell. It's a mirthful mix of madcap and mayhem. It's also overly casual in a way that reminds me of the way Brian Cox played Hannibal Lecter in 1986's Manhunter. Those expecting a more diabolical performance, a more Anthony Hopkins-as-Lecter type of portrayal for Dracula will be initially thrown.
Admittedly, the fang-in-cheek aspects of Bang's stylings can be a little jarring, but this is why Dolly Wells' Van Helsing is such a crucial ingredient. Bang's Dracula feels right when paired with, and pitted against, Wells' avenging, acerbic nun. This is when he makes the most sense, when the two of them are able to go at each other with playful venom.
Dracula may take a bit of getting used to, tonally, but once the Count starts to war with the equally plucky and persistent Van Helsing, the show finds itself - along with its ability, and excuse, to indulge in ferocious foolishness.
Dracula: Created by Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat. With Claes Bang, Dolly Wells, Morfydd Clark, Jonathan Aris. In 1897 Transylvania, the blood-drinking Count draws his plans against Victorian London.
Jan 4, 2020 · “Dracula,” the latest in a long, long line of genetic mutations fathered by the 1897 Bram Stoker novel, is quick with a quip. And no small amount of irreverence. ... While there is humor in this “Dracula,” there is also real dread. ...
