It’s the season of Halloween! October and this wonderfully creepy holiday brings us all the joy of the macabre and horror, of the terrifying and supernatural, and the sweet and the horrible. As a huge fan of this season, this critic finds himself in a very festive position-review horror films. But as school limitations take away many of the more….entertaining choices, such as the entire slasher genre, this leaves my plate quite empty on more modern horror films. Luckily, Netflix seems to be filled with classic horror films, the legends of the genre which many are now unfortunately disconnected from. So for the rest of October, I will be reviewing the classics, mostly the old Universal Monster films. It seems rather fit, seeing that Universal Studios is currently celebrating its 100th anniversary. And what better way to start than with a legend, and one of my all time favorite films: the 1931 horror classic, Dracula.
The film’s plot is so iconic that it’s known around the world, and by those who haven’t even seen the film. The realtor Reinfield comes to Transylvania to sell land in England to the frightening Count Dracula, played in this film by the great Bela Lugosi. Reinfield is enslaved by the vampire count, and Dracula begins to wreak havoc on London, and it’s up to Dr. Van Helsing and the naïve suitor to Mina Seward, Jonathan Harker, to stop the count from making Mina his new eternal bride. The premise is impeccable, and sets up for the fantastic story that this film….could have had. Though this critic will forever stand by his statement that Dracula his one of his favorite films, I will admit to this-many of this film’s aspects do not hold up, and most them are placed throughout the story.
This film suffers from the clichés of its age, namely, that none of the protagonists are interesting, and that the story is overflowing with plotholes and unexplained ideas. For example, the legendary Van Helsing character, the only one who knows that vampires exist…..first of all, he’s dull as rocks, totally uninteresting character, and really just feels like he’s there for the fact they need a superstitious person in the script. Second, why? Why does he believe in something as insane as that? His character is never analyzed, which is overall the entire problem of the film. Not one character is analyzed, therefore no one is interesting. Well, besides the villains. And finally, we can delve into the positives. Dracula and Reinfield, though rather unanalyzed like their protagonist counterparts, are at least used in ways that give them real characters. Dracula is a wonderfully conniving, hypnotizing, and intelligent villain, and really comes off as a true threat to not just the protagonists, but to the entire world that this monster has invaded.
His servant Reinfield is delightfully deranged. Every moment with this character is memorable, a grin of insanity spread across his face, imprinting its presence on your mind, and every single insane speech he gives is unbelievable, and just makes the character seem perfectly placed. As you can see, classic horror films were far more interested with their villains.
Speaking of having more interest in their villains, this shows greatly in the acting and scripting. The antagonists are the best casted and have the most screen time. And that is just fine. You know why? Because Bela Lugosi is the single greatest Dracula ever, and Dwight Frye is the most amazingly deranged man to ever be on screen. Lugosi stare pierces into the soul of the audience, a glance that hypnotizes and frightens with the force of a true demon. He’s able to contrast his performance into an evil monster of the night with a European gentleman with unbelievable ease, and proves why this character is so remembered even today.
The praises for Reinfield’s character must also translate over to his actor Dwight Frye’s performance, who supplies all the insanity that the character could possibly need. His work here nearly competes with Bela Lugosi for the show stealer. Even the protagonists are relatively well acted, the fact they have little to work with dragging them down. However, each of them having some magnificent scenes, Edward Van Sloan’s Van Helsing confronting the count before the climax of the film and Helen Chandler’s Mina Seward realization of transformation by Dracula’s hand being particular highlights. Each of the actors have great chemistry with the villains, and show this film’s highest strenths.
This film has some of the most brilliant cinematography of its time and any time. Few films are able to create such a fantastic sense of fear and foreboding like this one does, director Tod Browning being a master of the gothic arts. The lighting and use of shadows are awe inspiring for the time, truly creating the sense of terror that the film means to express. Not to say you’ll be frightened by the film, it’s far too dated to do that anymore, but the dark atmosphere is as strong now as it will ever be. Let it not be forgotten that the film has fantastic sets to support this wonderful camera work.
Overall, Dracula is a fine picture. Though I complain up and down about films that don’t develop characters well, I’m willing to forgive films like Dracula, being that they are from a far more primitive age of film, and that the effort behind every other element is so well done that the rest doesn’t seem to matter as much. Horror fans, pay your respects to this classic, and if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a watch, at the very least to form your own opinion on it. And despite what one may think of the film now, this movie’s legacy will live as eternally as the undead monster of which it is about.
Reviewer’s Note: The original rank for this film was going to be a C+, as on modern standards that would be the kind of grade this film would probably rank as. However, that was a fatal error. Dracula was made in a time where films were made quickly and somewhat cheaply, an age where horror films were seen as fodder for children by those supplying the money for the projects. Luckily, the actors and directors understood the level of art they were creating , and managed to create many fantastic films despite the limitations of the age, be they the lack of technical expertise or the censorship that was placed on the whole film industry. Though I stand by my criticisms, I find myself unable to stand by this film’s original ranking.
Final Rank: A-
+strong performance by Bela Lugosi and the rest of the cast, great dialogue, wonderfully creepy atmosphere, and a fantastic premise and basic story
-uninteresting and unanalyzed characters (mostly pertaining to the protagonists), plot hole ridden, and unfortunately age has shown many of its flaws
Dracula is available on DVD and for instant streaming on Netflix
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