First Things First…
I’ve seen this a handful of times, along with a few other Classic Universal Dracula films. I’m a big fan, even though I recognize its many shortcomings. To me, these old-school horror movies aren’t scary, but they’re an incredible vibe.
4 Things I Like
4. Dracula Vs Van Helsing
“For one who has not lived even a single lifetime, you are a wise man, Van Helsing.”
Dracula
Dracula and Van Helsing share a couple of scenes in Dr. Seward’s house, which becomes the main setting when the movie shifts to London, and they’re the only ones who produce anything resembling fireworks.
This pairing works because Dracula immediately recognizes Van Helsing as an adversary to reckon with. When they’re introduced, Dracula says…
“Van Helsing. A most distinguished scientist whose name we know even in the wilds of Transylvania.”
Later in this scene, Van Helsing discovers that Dracula is the vampire he’s looking for. As far as I know, this is where the mirror trick that’s been ripped off in a thousand other movies originated. Van Helsing—quite accidentally, and discreetly—notices that Dracula doesn’t cast a reflection in a small mirror. We see the reflections of the two other characters he’s standing near, but where his should be, there’s just empty space.
I’m not sure it’s wise of Van Helsing to then force the mirror on Dracula, revealing to him that he knows what Dracula is. But I love the smug smile on Van Helsing’s face after Dracula reacts violently to the mirror, then says…
“Dr. Seward, my humble apology. I dislike mirrors. Van Helsing will explain.”
In a later scene together, when Dracula tries to come at Van Helsing, he thinks he’ll only have to make it through some wolfsbane. But Van Helsing is ahead of him again, ready with a crucifix in his pocket.
Ultimately, Van Helsing is the one who destroys Dracula in his coffin. But it’s the game of one upmanship I really enjoy.
3. Fly Eater
“God will not damn a lunatic’s soul. He knows that the powers of evil are too great for those of us with weak minds.”
Renfield
Dwight Frye as Renfield is the best member of the supporting cast. He goes through a remarkable physical and vocal alteration from the beginning of the movie, when he’s just a regular banker (or lawyer, or whatever his occupation is) helping Dracula lease a new home, to the lunatic he becomes as Dracula’s servant.
But even better than the creepy voice he adopts is the deranged laugh. It’s slow, and unnatural, and he unleashes it at the most inopportune times, as innocent people are being terrorized and killed by a vampire.
Of course, there’s also the fact that he eats flies and spiders. But we don’t really see that, we just hear others say it about him. His manner, though, and his affectation, we see throughout the movie. And he makes a convincing madman.
2. Eerie Atmosphere
This movie is at its best when the vibes are strong and the atmosphere is eerie. And that starts right away. We don’t have to wait long to get our first look at Dracula. We see him and his brides rise from their coffins within the opening minutes, and that’s our first look at his castle, which is covered in spiderwebs and filled with bugs and rats.
Then Renfield gets picked up by Dracula—though he doesn’t realize Dracula is the driver—at Borgo Pass at midnight in the fog for an unsettling carriage ride to the castle.
We see more of Castle Dracula once Renfield arrives, and it’s rundown, filthy, practically falling apart, and creepy AF. (And for some reason, there appear to be armadillos there.)
And the movie ends in the decrepit Carfax Abbey, which is similar to the castle. Dracula’s coffins are there, and the huge stone staircase looks very gothic.
1. THE Classic Dracula
“I never drink… wine.”
Dracula
All the classic vampire tropes I knew as a kid go back to Bela Lugosi. From the cape, to the slicked back hair, to “I vant… to suck… your blood,” which isn’t even a line in the movie, but it’s the classic style Lugosi brings to this role.
But what’s most striking about him—and startling—which I never fully picked up on until this rewatch, is that he never blinks! I mean, it’s obvious that he often has a wide-eyed look—in a scary way—but he literally doesn’t blink. It’s just constant staredowns.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. Dracula’s True Death
We don’t see any of the violence that occurs in the story. It’s only hinted at. And that’s fine. It’s a sign of the times.
The one instance when I wish they pushed the edges just a little bit further is when Dracula is killed for good. Merely showing Van Helsing approach his coffin with a stake and something to hit it with, and then having him come back on screen after he’s done the deed, isn’t satisfying.
I do like watching Mina’s reaction, because you can see a change come over her as Dracula is destroyed. But it would’ve been better if they had cut between her and the killing, even if it was done bloodlessly and tamely.
2 Things I Don’t Like
2. Shrinking Harker’s Role
Multiple characters are left out entirely, and the movie doesn’t suffer for it. Jonathan Harker isn’t one of them, but his role from the book is conflated with Renfield.
In the book, Harker is the one to go to Dracula’s castle and help him lease Carfax Abbey. He never becomes Dracula’s servant or becomes a lunatic like Renfield does, but he is traumatized by his experiences there and needs time to recover.
He’s probably my favorite character in the book (besides Dracula, of course) because his arc is so powerful. But we lose all that. Here, he’s still Mina’s fiancé, but that’s basically all there is to him. He’s just window dressing, there to push back against Van Helsing’s plans because he doesn’t believe what they’re dealing with.
1. A Barebones Script
“Gentlemen, we are dealing with the undead… yes, Nosferatu, the undead, the vampire.”
Van Helsing
Apparently this movie was adapted from a stage production of Dracula, not from the book itself. That probably explains why it’s only 75 minutes. Because there’s way too much in the book for so little time.
But when so much gets left out or minimized in the script, characters and scenes don’t work nearly as well. Here are the most egregious examples:
- Renfield is perfectly normal when he arrives at Castle Dracula. He eats, drinks wine, and helps Dracula with the lease, even though they get back super late. But after one attack after Renfield faints, the next thing we see is them on a ship and Renfield has lost his freakin’ mind. I already said I like Renfield’s transformation, but it comes about way too suddenly.
- Dracula’s motivation is nonexistent. I mean, other than to drink blood, of course. We don’t get any sense at all of why he’s leaving Transylvania for London. He certainly hasn’t studied up so he can fit in and not seem so obviously a foreigner once he gets there.
- Lucy’s death is hugely important in the book. Yet here, she gets attacked by Dracula in her bedroom, and next thing you know, she’s dead. The very next scene is her autopsy. It’s bizarre how fast it happens. They mention blood transfusions—which take up chapters of the book—but it’s just in passing. And her death doesn’t seem to bother anyone at all, including her best friend Mina. Nobody’s really upset over it. Then, they show one time that she’s risen from the grave and is now a vampire, but very little is made of it. They don’t find her in her grave and destroy her, and it’s certainly not a turning point that proves to everyone the reality of their predicament.
- Speaking of which, Van Helsing is just suddenly there, sitting at a table with Seward and a bunch of dudes and some chemistry equipment. There’s no indication of who he is, who they are, or why he’s brought in. And it’s quite ironic that literally his first line of dialogue is telling them his theory that they’re dealing with vampires, when in the book, it takes him forever to share his theories, leading to more death than is necessary.
Tim Matassa
