Shenker vi propone per Halloween una rassegna cinematografica dedicata a Dracula il Vampiro e al mostro Frankenstein …

Bram Stoker's Dracula

F.F. Coppola -1992 – Text taken from filmcritic.com

The full title that Francis Ford Coppola gave his Dracula is Bram Stoker's Dracula, implying that his was a truly faithfulfedele transfiguring of Stoker's novel to the screen. But anyone familiar with the novel knows that Coppola's adaptation takes significant creative liberties. Not that re-imagining and re-shaping is ever a bad idea, but sometimes it ends up subtractingsottrarre from rather than enhancingrafforzare our experience of the material. Coppola's take doesn't play as fast and loose with Stoker's novel as other adaptations, but it's misguidedfuorviante and ludicrousridicolo, assurdo just the same.

The worst bit of tamperingmanomissione with the Dracula narrative was Coppola and screenwriter James V. Hart's graftingtrapianto of historical-romantic overtonesconnotazioni onto the novel's narrative backbonestruttura portante (letter. spina dorsale). In Coppola's film, the Count (Gary Oldman) in question is a 15th-century Christian warrior-prince who, upon returning from battle against invading Muslims, finds his bride has killed herself. The prince ragessi infuria against God and pledgespromette to return after his own death to terrorize the living, till his griefdolore, lutto is redeemed. This narrative license turns Dracula into a tragic figure, and critically dilutes the mystery and dreadpaura, terrore out of the character.

Fast-forward 400 years, and we're dropped intosiamo calati nella Stoker's story proper, as Jonathan Harker (an out-of-his-depth Keanu Reeves), a property lawyeravvocato, goes to meet Dracula at his macabre castle in the Transylvanian wilds, to finalize a London real estate dealaffare immobiliare. Decked outbardato in a bouffant hairdopettinatura sbuffante and crimson robesvesti di porpora, this is not Stoker's demureschivo vampire-aristocrat but some fabulous (and unintentionally hilarious) Baroque diva. The Count holds Harker captive, a slave to the appetite of a trio of oversexed vampires (one of whom is Monica Bellucci) who look like they're angling for the cover of Maxim, while he goes to seek out Mina (Wynona Ryder), Harker's fiancée, in London.

Dracula's arrival on English shorescoste, rive more or less follows Stoker's storyline. Mina's friend Lucy (Sadie Frost), falls victim to Dracula, and her doctor-friend Jack Seward (Richard E. Grant) enlistsrecluta the help of the eccentric vampire hunter Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins).

No matter what one thinks of the film as a whole, its technical brilliance is unassailableinattaccabile. Cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and composer Wojciech Kilar, along with sumptuous craftsmanship by the art direction, costume design, and makeup effects teams, all bolstersostiene, rinforza the production to a level that merits even multiple viewings. To underscore the story's late-Victorian, early-cinema setting, Ballhaus and Coppola ingeniously evoke old-school effects (shadow puppetryombre cinesi, stop-motion, even simulated silent-film projection, etc.) to complement the opulent production design. And Kilar's formidable score precisely sets the story's Gothic feel. But it all sinks under the lethargy of the telling.

 

Dracula: Dead And Loving It

M. Brooks, 1995 – Text taken from filmcritic.com

Brooks basically takes Bram Stoker's Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola's film) and gives it the once-over, recreating the plot and characters almost directly from that movie, and giving them supposedly funny lines. The problem is that Bram Stoker's Dracula was pretty sillysciocco to begin with, and Brooks' version comes offfinisce as poking funper prendersi gioco at a film that was already doing a good job of it all by itself.

There are thankfully a few good lines in the film (Van Helsing: "She's Nosferatu!" Renfield: "She's Italian?"), but overall, the movie sinksaffonda. Casting Leslie Nielsen as Dracula was a good move, as his antics are always good for a chucklerisata or two, but the continual overexposure of people like Amy Yasbeck (as Mina) in films like this leaves nothing new for the viewer to expect. And while Lysette Anthony's sultrysensuale Lucy is fun to watch... they kill her after 45 minutes.

Most of the movie's gags involve trippinginciampi, falling down, running into a wall or a window, or some other slapstick device. But the most tedious of the jokes is the nearly constant mocking of accents and overdramatic speech the various characters use. This gets old after the second scene, where the stereotypical trill in a gypsy's voice is made by the manual quiveringtremolio of the skin around her throat. Ha ha.

 

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

K. Branagh, 1994 - Text taken from empireonline.com

A young doctor fatigued by the hopelessnessdisperazione of fatal cases decides to defysfidare death by creating life, but not in the kinkybizarro, fun way. The monster he creates, though, is as destructive as it is lonely.

Kenneth Branagh's sumptuous version for Francis Coppola's Zoetrope, the umpteenthennesima cinematic stabpugnalata at Mary Shelley's story, is a vigorous, entertaining re-telling. Branagh's Victor Frankenstein is first seen frosted and furredimpellicciato in the Arctic, gasping out his cautionary tale to obsessed explorer Aidan Quinn, taking us back to his carefree youth, when the Swiss Family Frankenstein were fond of romping roundscatenarsi their lovely chateau. Then a personal loss twisted the student doctor's soul. Bentdeciso on the reanimation of the dead, he sacrifices everything to that end, creating new life that never should have been wroughtmodellata, lavorata and condemning himself and his loved ones to retribution on a grand scale.

Sumptuous to look at, with some decent performances but Branagh's attempt at this gothic horror just doesn’t hold together convincingly and fails to engage.

 

Young Frankenstein

M. Brooks, 1974 - Text taken from empireonline.com and filmcritic.com

Young Frankenstein is a marvelously crafted, beautifully shot comedic homage to James Whale’s 1931 classic, with the sheer craftpuro artigianato of the production and performances contrasting brilliantly with the low-down and dirty obviousness of many of the gags (screenwriter Wilder even exhumes the “walk this way” joke).

When the grandson of the infamous monster maker discovers he's inherited his relative's estate, Victor Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) heads out to Transylvania to claim his destiny. Much to his fiancé Elizabeth's (Terri Garr) chagrinmortificazione, he teams up with sidekickbraccio destro Igor (Marty Feldman) and lab assistant Inga to make his own creature. Warned against such folly by housekeepergovernante Frau Blucher (Hiii!! - as in the film) and suspected of foul play by local
lawman Inspector Kemp, Victor carries on. Soon, he has created life in the form of a bumbling behemothcolosso imbranato with the brain of an "Abby Someone". Of course, the fienddemone ends up terrorizing the countryside, and it's up to Victor to stop him, no matter the cost.

Young Frankenstein in the gold standard of cinematic spoofsparodie. It represent the zenith of Mel Brooks' manic mockerysatira maniacale, and offers career-defining work from Feldman, Kahn, Garr, and the sensational Wilder. Originally conceived of as a plain horror homage to the days of Universal fright filmsfilm del terrore, this hodgepodgemiscuglio of slapstickfarsa and satire proves that lampooning doesn't have to be a brain-dead collection of passable pop culture references. Instead, when character and story are made the most important elements within the comedy, the laughs come naturally -- and abundantly.