Hello, Bloggers, for today, I will do two Retro Reviews today, so I will be able to do one review or top ten list tomorrow, and hopefully be able to do one post each day afterward. So, for the first review, I will discuss what is the granddaddy of all vampire movies, and that is the 1931 version of Dracula.
Story:
Dracula is about the titular main character (Bela Lugosi) who travels over to London and preys upon a young and beautiful woman named Mina Seward (Helen Chandler). Once Mina's fiancée John Harker (David Manners) and her father Dr. Seward (Dwight Frye) find out about her slowly transforming into a vampire, they must try to figure out a way to end her curse.
What I Liked About It:
In my opinion, while the film as a whole is great, the one actor that really carries this film and steals the show is Mr. Bela Lugosi. He just commands the screen as Dracula, thanks to not just his performance but his piercing stare that just looks right through your soul. If you ever watch this film, don't be surprised if you get nightmares from the way he stares at the screen. So just take that as a warning. While there have been countless portrayals of Dracula, and I'm sure there will be more in the future, many of them probably won't top the original, and of course that is Bela Lugosi. Another thing that I thought was pretty neat was how the film is almost void of music. I felt a lot of the horror of the film comes from its silence mixed in with Bela Lugosi's performance. But I like how it has almost no music because it definitely adds to the film's creepy factor.
What I Didn't Like About It:
Nothing.
Consensus:
Overall, Dracula is a classic and atmospheric horror film that has served as the template for many vampire movies that would follow and I certainly admire it for that. If you really like vampires, then I would definitely recommend giving this film a watch if you haven't, as it came before the many vampire movies that we know and love today.
Rating: 4.5/5
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