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Columbia TriStar
- Cat.no: CDR 94590
- Cert: 18
- Running time: 123 minutes
- Year: 1992
- Pressing: 1999
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 24 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
- Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
- Subtitles: 20 languages available
- Widescreen: 1.77:1 (16:9)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Filmographies, Theatrical trailer,Documentary: Dracula-The Man The Myth The Legend, Costume Designs, DVDpromotional trailer
Director:
- Francis Ford Coppola
(Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, Dementia 13, Finian’s Rainbow, The Godfather 1-3, Jack,John Grisham’s The Rainmaker, The Outsiders, Rumble Fish)
Producers:
- Francis Ford Coppola, Fred Fuchs and Charles Mulvehill
Screenplay:
- James Vhart
Music:
- Wojciech Kilar
Cast:
- Dracula: Gary Oldman (Air Force One, Basquiat, The Fifth Element, Immortal Beloved, JFK, Leon, Lost in Space, Meantime, Murder in the First, Prick up your Ears, The Scarlet Letter, Sid and Nancy, State of Grace, True Romance)
Mina Murray/Elisabeta: Winona Ryder (The Age of Innocence, Alien Resurrection, Beetlejuice, Boys, The Crucible, Edward Scissorhands, Heathers, House of the Spirits, How to Make an American Quilt, Little Women, Looking for Richard,Night on Earth, Reality Bites, Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael)
Professor Abraham Van Helsing/Chesare: Anthony Hopkins (Amistad, August, The Bounty, A Bridge Too Far, Desperate Hours, The Edge,The Elephant Man, The Good Father, Great Expectations (1997), Howards End, Legends of the Fall, Magic, The Mask of Zorro, Meet Joe Black, Nixon,The Remains of the Day, The Road to Wellville, Sense and Sensibility, Shadowlands, Silence of the Lambs, Surviving Picasso)
Jonathan Harker: Keanu Reeves (Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey, Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Chain Reaction, Devil’s Advocate, Johnny Mnemonic, The Matrix, Speed)
Doctor Jack Seward: Richard E. Grant (The Age of Innocence, Hard Times, Henry and June, Hudson Hawk, Jack and Sarah, Keep The Aspidistra Flying, Portrait of a Lady, Spiceworld, Twelfth Night, Withnail and I, TV: The Scarlet Pimpernel)
Lord Arthur Holmwood: Cary Elwes (The Crush, Glory, Hot Shots, Jungle Book, Liar Liar, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Twister)
Quincey P. Morris: Bill Campbell (Independence Day, Lost Highway, While You Were Sleeping, Zero Effect)
Lucy Westenra: Sadie Frost (Crimetime, Shopping)
R.M. Renfield: Tom Waits (At Play in the Fields of the Lord, The Outsiders, Short Cuts)
Bram Stoker’s Draculais Francis Ford Coppola‘s take on the classic tale of horror followingthe life of Count Dracula (Gary Oldman) from Eastern Europe to 19thCentury London. After going into battle and coming out the other end unscathed,he returns to find his love Elisabeta has taken her life after hearing falsenews that he did not make it. He continues his search because she has beenreincarnated as Mina and must win her back, despite her affection for anothersuitor, Jonather Harker (Keanu Reeves) and Doctor Van Helsing (AnthonyHopkins), who is less than pleased to see Dracula still walking the Earth.Whatever you say about it, this certainly is a love story with a difference.
The picture quality is mostly very good but there’s an element of artifactspresent in dark areas, which accounts for a great deal of the film. However,most of these are not that noticeable from the usual viewing distance so won’timpede the picture for most people which is good news because the entire filmis packed with lush visuals. The film is presented close to its originalwidescreen ratio of 1.85:1 by being shown in 1.77:1 (16:9) and is enhanced for16:9 widescreen televisions – thus allowing for 33% higher resolution – and theaverage bitrate is a good 6.73 Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 9Mb/s.
The sound is spot-on though. The entire film has an eerie score which sets thescene well and turned up loud makes a good job of making your flesh crawl.
Despite being a master of disguise,the red eyes and fangs would always be a bit of a giveaway.
Extras : Chapters :There are 24 chapters for 123 minutes of film which isn’t too bad, butit’s annoying to note that the American release has 52 so why don’t we?The US theatrical trailer is included as is a promotional trailer for DVD. Languages/Subtitles :The disc contains 5 dialogue languages, but just one, English, in DolbyDigital 5.1. French, German, Italian and Spanish all come in Dolby Digital 2.0(Dolby surround) flavour. As for subtitles, this release mirrors the recordset byNowhere To Runas there is TWENTY languages : English, French, German, Polish, Czech,Hungarian, Hindi, Turkish, Arabic, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Dutch,Norwegian, Portuguese, Greek, Hebrew, Spanish and Italian. Other extras :Documentary: “Dracula: The Man, The Myth, The Legend”: a 29-minutedocumentary giving insights into the film including interviews with castmembers.Costume Designs: Sketches and artwork for a number of the key costumesin the film as worn by Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder and Tom Waits.Filmographies: Available for Oldman, Hopkins, Reeves, Winona Ryderand director Coppola. Menu :The menu is static and silent but has a classy look to it with a collage ofstills taken from the film. On playing the disc, The Columbia TriStar logois followed by the main menu.
Upon selecting the “Start Movie” option, you’ll first see the “Sony Picture DVDCenter” logo, the Dolby Digital helecopter trailer, the copyright info andthen the film itself.
Overall, this is one of the few Region 2 DVDs that fare better than theirAmerican counterpart. On the downside, it doesn’t have the number of chaptersof the Region 1 release, but on the flipside it has a lot of extras not on theUS release, plus surround soundtracks for the other languages, whereas the R1release only manages mono in Spanish and French, with no trace of a German orItalian soundtrack. About the only extra missing that would be useful is adirector’s commentary track.
As for the film, the whole is less than the sum of its parts. It’s certainlyworth a watch by anyone (over 18), while looking and sounding a treat, but forthis reviewer, it certainly doesn’t quite hang together.
FILM : ***PICTURE QUALITY: ****SOUND QUALITY: *****EXTRAS: ****——————————-OVERALL: ****
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.