Motion picture directors have long been drawn to a count who deals a fate worse than death to those who cross his path. F.W. Murnau silently set Max Schreck  loose to hunt for a new house—among other things—in the 1922 German Expressionist film Nosferatu. Tod Browning and Karl Freund filmed a tuxedo-clad Bela Lugosi as Dracula in their 1931 movie. Francis Ford Coppola orchestrated the visually striking transformation of Gary Oldman from man to bat in his 1992 tale of blood lust. This month, Cole Haddon is giving Bram Stoker’s gothic horror novel the TV treatment with Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the title role. And, finally, Italian horror king Dario Argento has stepped into the fray with Dario Argento’s Dracula, an erotic 3D gorefest staring Thomas Kretschmenn as the famed seducer. The film is playing at Los Angeles’ Downtown Independent, and also on VOD.

Argento’s movie, also staring his daughter Asia as Lucy (the restless friend who helps the count lure Mina) and Rutger Hauer as Van Helsing (the vampire hunter), has enough wit and campiness to become a Halloween screening staple. The filmmaker’s use of tiny insects as the eyes and ears of the count is particularly enchanting, until Dracula appears as a giant praying mantis. What director can resist such a transformation in this age of superhero blockbusters? Regardless, the film’s sinister elements create enough suspense to overcome the unintentional X-Men origins reference. Marta Gastini plays her role as Mina, the object of the count’s desire, with such earnest innocence that the wicked gleam in Lucy’s eyes becomes even more pronounced. And there’s plenty of skin—including Lucy’s—on display to balance out the often-weak dialog. The Italian filmmaker managed to create an erotic thriller in which his daughter, though bitten and hypnotized, seems to be having the most fun. Until she’s pulverized into dust.

By Elizabeth Varnell

 

Pictured: Asia Argento as Lucy in a film still from Dario Argento’s Dracula.
Photo courtesy of IFC Films

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