To be perfectly honest, horror master Dario Argento’s greatest contributions have been within the thriller genre. Looking back at his career as a director, we find that most of his movies actually contain no supernatural elements, but for the most part a killer who, admittedly, murders his victims in particularly gruesome ways, but nothing that cannot be explained rationally. His more recent works have, of course not delivered the same level of mastery as the classics that launched his career. Taste is subjective, of course, but it nevertheless seems that the majority of those who have followed Dario Argento’s career over the years have started to feel that his movies are getting worse and worse. I’m almost beginning to join the ranks of those who think he should retire soon. It simply isn’t the same magic it once was.
Still, it was exciting to see what he might come up with after the fiasco that was Mother of Tears and Giallo most recently. After all, this is a classic story with ingredients that should be easy to express on film. He is certainly far from the first to tell a story about the Transylvanian count. I’ve seen a few versions myself and, as usual, I was looking to draw parallels. But the fact is that this reminded me instead of a game I played many years ago – Dracula Unleashed. It was one of those games where you had to visit different locations at the right time and retrieve the right objects to progress. What was fun about the game was that a film sequence was shown at every stage. The story told here reminds me more of that game than any of the other Dracula movies I’ve seen.
The acting is rather poorly directed, and the story itself, as I said, feels more like a game than a movie. There are scenes that don’t seem to be put together properly, but rather appear to have been filmed like a puzzle that doesn’t quite fit together afterward. There is a distinct lack of continuity. They throw in an actor just because, and then you’re left wondering whether the person in question is going to survive or not. There is little or no motivation for why anything that happens actually happens. Obviously, there is an overarching story, and I’m fairly certain that it is quite faithful to Bram Stoker’s novel. I haven’t read it, so I can’t be completely sure. I do, however, seem to remember reading a children’s version of it when I was younger, translated by Beppe Wolgers, of all people. Perhaps it was intended to give it a slightly younger feel. Anyway, I remember a couple of fragments, and they are also present in this movie.
I’m not entirely sure whether I like the casting or not. Thomas Kretschmann, for example, isn’t the typical Dracula. Why is Asia Argento even in the movie, and what is Rutger Hauer doing as Abraham Van Helsing? Neither of them is a main character in the movie, if there even is a main character. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; it simply means that the story is about something bigger than just one person, but it doesn’t really work. We need someone to experience the events through. At first, we had Jonathan Harker, but that doesn’t last forever. The starting point changes and the focus shifts from one character to another. It feels as though Dario Argento would need another hour to tie up all the loose ends. It becomes somewhat fragmented, and that’s not good for this particular movie. There is simply too much missing between the scenes.
Now, the movie is quite long as it is, almost two hours, and perhaps it isn’t epic enough to survive another hour anyway. So what remains? Cut it down to a normal running time and thereby pick up the pace a little? That would hardly do the story justice, but perhaps it would make the movie more enjoyable to watch? I really don’t know.
The fact that there are supernatural elements – vampirism, in this case – means that it qualifies as a horror movie in some sense, or Horror as I’ve chosen to call those movies here. If there is also an intention to frighten the audience, then the case is clear. It’s a horror movie with the ambition to scare.
But it isn’t quite that simple. It’s also a movie that wants to restore Dario Argento’s status as a beautiful filmmaker. And that aspect actually isn’t too bad. Somewhere along the way, it reminds me of an old Hammer horror movie. There is a particular sense of mystery shimmering over it. There are also a few absolutely outstanding deaths in the movie. Deaths that I would say could only have been done by an Italian master.
So it certainly isn’t a waste of time to watch the movie.
I don’t love it, but I wouldn’t want to have missed it. I might even want to watch it again someday. It doesn’t really feel that way right now, but it nevertheless feels like a more worthy movie than Dario Argento’s most recent efforts. And if, like me, you were already close to turning the damn thing off early on, don’t – it actually gets better! Besides, you risk missing an unforgettable scene with a gigantic praying mantis!
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