Of all the films of Coppola, even the ones that are widely praised, I believe that his best creation and the moment that he found himself completely is this film over here. Some might say that this is outrageous and there are movies of his like Apocalypse Now that are far better and more substantial, but I believe that the essence of substance, aesthetic and creativity can be found in Dracula. It's not only the way that he envisioned the movie, meaning that the big hero of the film is Dracula, meaning the villain. But also the visuals of the films is by far nothing less than spectacular. That astonishing, eerie and mysterious, atmosphere that the movie features takes your brain and it squeezes it, till juice comes out of it.
I'm not even going to argue that Gary Oldman is the best Dracula that we have seen because he is undoubtedly that. His performance is deep, scary, filled with irony and acid, charming and altogether glorious. Dracula is one of those movies that come out very rarely, it takes years for a film like that to appear, and when they come out they get far less than they deserve. Not saying that the movie didn't do well, but it should have been considered a masterpiece, hands down. I still remember vividly the images of Dracula as a young handsome dandy with the round spectacles, the moments of Tom Waits' brilliance as Renfield, the love between Dracula and Mina, Dracula's ominous and dark castle and so many other incredible moments of this unique movie. I have to say that if horror movies got more from that film, if horror directors were influenced more from that movie, horror movies would be far better than they are now. Francis took a giant step with this movie, both creatively and aesthetically, and oh boy, what miracles did he deliver to us.
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