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Jul 03, 2014 Issue #50 - June/July 2014 - Future Islands By Drew Fortune

During Jonathan Harker’s ill-advised trip to Count Dracula’s castle, cold, ominous weather and people surround him. It’s as if the plague follows him wherever he goes, and it’s to director Werner Herzog’s credit that he transformed what would normally be a beatific German landscape into a dread-inducing wasteland. Harker, played gamely but a little too stolidly by Bruno Ganz, is soon transformed into Dracula’s personal blood bank, and despite the sweeping curtains, sweeping score, and over-the-top performances (Roland Topor as Renfield really hams up the insanity, clutching flies and giggling like a madman on mushrooms), the 1979-released film holds up as one of Herzog’s better narratives.

Once Klaus Kinski’s Dracula is revealed in the second act the film suddenly comes—forgive the wordplay—alive. His two rat-like teeth, black cloak, and gregarious nature make him one of the better vampires in film history. He has all the same hang-ups (unrequited love, death that eludes him) yet there is still humanity there, despite his plague-spreading and bloodlust. He has no hope, except for a last-ditch effort for love. When that fails, it’s hard not to feel for his plight. (www.shoutfactory.com/screamfactory)

Author rating: 7/10