Dracula 3D (2013)

Famed Italian horror maestro Dario Argento of "Suspiria" finally sinks his own fangs in Bram Stoker's classic novel "Dracula" with his own version of the immortal tale of terror. Dario has taken liberties like all filmmakers has done before in the past. Although obvious, third-rate CGI recurs throughout "Dracula 3-D," the Argento slant on the infamous fangster is still eminently worth watching for Stoker aficionados. The casting of Rutger Hauer as the Dutch hero Van Helsing is a triumph not only because Hauer hails from the Netherlands, but also because his interpretation of Van Helsing is probably the best thing about this Dracula. Thomas Kretschmann isn't the best Count. Indeed, neither the spirits of Christopher Lee nor Bela Lugosi need worry about Kretschmann's Dracula. Gary Oldman's Dracula also surpasses him, but Kretschmann is far from the worst. He amounts to a fair to middling Dracula. Basically, he lacks presence, and he also lacks an accent.Several differences mark this vampire take on Stoker's text. First, "Dracula 3-D" confines itself to Transylvania. Second, the residents of the town of Passborg not only know about the notorious Count, but they also are grateful to him for his economic assistance. Nevertheless, the residents know better than to linger after dusk, and this gets Tanja (Miriam Giovanelli) in trouble when she has an assignation with a married man, Milos (Christian Burruano), in a stable after her mother, Jarmila (Maria Cristina Heller) has warned her about staying out past dark. Milos refuses to escort Tanja back into town for fear that he will expose himself to charges of adultery. Tanja argues that nobody will see him because everybody is locked up safely in their homes. Nevertheless, Milos lets Tanja fend for herself, and she is attacked by a huge owl as she walks home through the woods. This scene never happened in Stoker, and Dracula never assumes the shape of an owl. In fact, Dracula takes the form of several animals and insects in "Dracula 3-D" that he never took in the novel. Of course, he appears as a wolf at one point, but he also appears as a cockroach and a mantis. The mantis scene is particularly effective despite the obvious CGI. Fourth, Jonathan Harker (Unax Ugalde) goes to work for Dracula as a librarian. Incidentally, Jonathan Harker masqueraded as a librarian in the "Horror of Dracula" so he could kill Dracula, but his plans backfired on him. Five, instead of Dracula attacking Harker after he cuts himself on a shard of glass from the picture casing of his wife, Tanja feeds on him until Dracula bursts into the room and sends her packing. Harker never recovers his Dracula's blood-sucking and later Van Helsing puts him to the stake. Repeatedly, Tanja takes advantage of Harker. Sixth, Dracula materializes out of nowhere every time that he shows up. He materializes into the room where the Passborg officials have gathered to deal with him. He kills them all except one who has abetted him. Dracula mesmerizes Lucy and bites her on the back of her knee on the left leg. She dies not long afterward. Interestingly enough, Van Helsing catches Lucy with an infant child that she has feasted on at night. Seventh, Van Helsing relies on garlic-encrusted revolver bullets to destroy Dracula and Mina shoots him to death with this exotic bullet. Eighth, Argento treats Renfield in a different manner. Renfield worships the ground that Tanja treads and he shows up with the townspeople prepare to drive a wooden stake through her heart. She escapes, but Renfield roughs up this crew before he is incarcerated. Aside from his interesting departures from Stoker, Argento includes Castle Dracula in this yarn. Generally speaking, "Dracula 3-D" sticks to the basics, with the villainous Count generating paranoia in the hearts of simple country folks. We only get a glimpse of Van Helsing's Carfax sanitarium with its horde of insane patients. Tanja bites off more than she can chew or suck when she takes on Van Helsing and he surprises her with a cross that kills her, reducing her body to powder that it blown away to leave nothing of her presence. Argento aficionados will enjoy "Dracula 3-D."

If want to see a really scary movie then see this movie. It has a great story line. It also has great acting. It also has great special effects. It is not a 3.6. It has a lot of suspense. It very underrated. This is a great remake. It is so scary. It is one of the scariest movies of all time. Dracula (1992) is a little bit better. So is Dracula (1931) is also a little bit better. Nosferatu (1922) is also better. Thomas Kretschmann is a great actor. Bram Stoker was a great writer. See this movie. It a great movie. Rugter Hauer is a great actor. This is one great movie. It is a 9 not a 3.6. See this great film if you get a chance. It really is one of the scariest movies of all time.

In the opening segment, a young woman, Tanja, has a tryst with her married lover. They have a spat. She walks back home alone; an owl targets her. She calls for help; a taxidermist comes out of his house, but does not help her after she falls. The owl transforms into a humanoid vampire and bites Tanja.In the next segment, Jonathan Harker arrives at a small train stop after the only coach of the day has left. He commissions a horse, and rides to Passburg. He quarters his horse, and stops at the Gasthaus for a hot evening meal and a night's lodging. He observes a number of shady characters lurking about. Later the shady group dig up Tanja's grave. The taxidermist who did not help Tanja fight off the vampire attacks them. By the time they have subdued him, Tanja is gone.The next morning Jonathan visits Lucy, the daughter of the mayor. Lucy wonders where Mina is; Jonathan says she was delayed. Jonathan eventually makes his way to Count Dracula's castle, where he is to be the librarian. The Count shows him his collection, and Jonathan looks forward to the cataloging and the reading. Unfortunately for Jonathan, Tanja is still a young out-of-control vampire, and she sets about to get his blood. When she's drawing from his neck, Dracula throws her off and takes her place. Escape fails the next day.Mina arrives at the train station and is met by her old friend Lucy instead of Jonathan. Dracula visits Lucy that night, and Lucy looks terrible the next day. Lucy talks her into going to the castle. Mina, alone on horse, is attacked by wolves, but saved (hm) by Dracula and taken to his castle. Mina thinks Dracula looks familiar; Dracula feels the same. Jonathan is not at the castle, so Mina heads back. Lucy has passed.What will become of Jonathan? Is Mina one of Dracula's wives re-incarnated? Will Lucy rise as a vampire? Will Van Helsing ever show up? -----Scores-----Cinematography: 7/10 Other than some gratuitous camera shake, the film was well shot. The sets and costumes were beautiful on the whole, conveying the impression of the Europe of around 100 years ago. The CGI interludes (few and short) were seriously bad, such as the praying mantis segment, the blood effects, and a couple of the wolf transformations.Sound: 7/10 The lip synch needed improvement. Some of the instrumental music sounded like throwbacks to the 1950s or 1960s; this was not a plus. The choral background music was far better.Acting: 8/10 I was put off by Kretschmann's performance at first, but got to like it as the film progressed. When Van Helsing accomplishes hard-to-believe feats against the vampires, I only kept watching because Rutger Hauer was the actor. Marta Gastini was good in the pivotal role of Mina. My favourite was Miriam Giovanelli as Tanja.Screenplay: 7/10 I liked the meeting of Dracula with the town leaders. They mention their pact with Dracula: he helps them financially, while they allow him certain liberties. After a number of deaths in short order, the leaders consider breaking the pact. Dracula lets them know his power; only his true ally survives. That would have been a good place to start wrapping up the film: there is no defense against transcendent power. Let everyone know (or suspect) this, then end it. -- The film stays with the book's tradition, though, which is unfortunate. For instance, if Dracula can change from human form to a swarm of insects back to human form in a second or two, why would he allow himself to be destroyed? -- This movie answers that question better than any other I have seen.

A girl goes out in the woods to meet her boyfriend. He warns her not to go alone in the woods on her way back. She won't listen and throws away the crucifix he gave her. In the woods she's chased by an owl who turns into Dracula and bites her neck.Jonathan Harker arrives to work for Dracula. One of Dracula's vampire girls can't resist and attacks Harker but Dracula appears and pushes her away only to bite Harker himself.Back home Harker's girl Mina is worried. She decides to travel to find out about him and stays with her friend Lucy. Lucy, too is attacked, dies and is buried. The town people decide to kill the first girl attacked in the woods but Dracula appears and stops them. The town has a pact with Dracula. They meet to put an end to the pact but Dracula kills most of them except his minions.Abraham Van Helsing shows up. He doesn't get any support but is willing to look for Harker and warns Mina to stay away from Dracula. Van Helsing soon runs into Dracula's minions and kills them. Will he be able to destroy Dracula before he has his way with Mina, the girl he is madly in love with? Argento's Dracula is a very low budget Euro horror movie, a faithful retelling of Stoker's original story, complete with Hammer-inspired sights and sounds. It's filmed in English which was a problem for the secondary Italian actors. That accounts for the problems in dubbing and also the removed camera. American audiences will be more comfortable later in the movie once the principal English speaking actors take over and the director isn't concerned any more to film close-ups of faces.A more serious problem are the poor effects resulting from the low budget. The CGI effects are shockingly poor for a movie done in 2012. The original Hammer Dracula movies had better effects than this. If you're used to a fascinating villain that will steal the show, you won't get that here. They should have given Kretschmann's Dracula more to do than just complain about his heartache. In fact, there is no central character in this movie. That makes Rutger Hauer's presence in the final third of the movie very refreshing because he does command the screen and now you have someone to root for.This is the kind of movie you want to like. With all the vampire diversity we are getting in movies and TV it's nice to see the original story told once again. You want to like this movie also for the involvement of the Argentos, of Kretschmann and Hauer. But this movie doesn't make it easy unfortunately. A shame they couldn't/wouldn't get more funding and make Dracula an outstanding production. Fans of Argento and Dracula deserved better.