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Thoughts on Bram Stoker's Dracula & Interview With a Vampire

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I watched Stoker recently (from the director of Oldboy), and was wondering if it had any connections/similarites to the aforementioned movies in this thread?

Stoker also had some brilliant cinematography.
 
I read all the Vampire Chronicles books when I was young, I loved the hell out of them. My favorite was Queen of the Damned, and of course, Memnoch. After seeing Interview with a Vampire, I was sooo excited when the announced Queen of the Damned becoming a film.

Too bad they fucked that all up :(
This was the exact same for me. I also read the Mayfair Witches books which eventually tied in the later Vampire Chronicles, and some of the stand alone novels like Servant of the Bones and The Mummy.

I first got into them because my older sister was reading them. The character of Lestat was definitely my favorite thing about the books. I enjoyed that the other vampires refered to him as the brat prince.
 

Fritz

Member
interview is a cool vampire movie with lots of fan service pre twilight vampire movie era.

Dracula is a piece of art if for the costume design and analog fx alone. It's not for everyone but I love it because there is a vision behind it.
 

Kimaka

Member
Dracula wasn't bad but its not something I would watch again. The movie didn't make any impression on me besides Keanu's bad accent.

I love Interview with the Vampire. Tom Cruise as Lestat and Kirsten Dunst as Claudia were fantastic. I want more vampire movies like this where they aren't just mindless monsters and revel in being vampires.

Loved Memnoch, but it became hard to follow near the end of the book. lol Best thing about QofD, was the song.

I liked the art direction of Dracula, but yeah it really was a boring movie. Interview is something you could sit down and watch again.

Memnoch was good? I gave up on the series at that point because I got tired of Lestat whining. Maybe I'll try again. Its been years since I've read them.
 

Moff

Member
interview is probably my favourite vampire movie of all time, although I really dislike cruise, but he was great in that film

I still like coppolas dracula, though. it has many cool scenes, its supposed to be cheesy and cheap sometimes, it an hommage to the classic vampire flicks. I love how it looks actually.
 

danmaku

Member
Interview is even better than the book. It has a much better pacing, while the book is dragged down by tons of psudo-philosophical bullshit that the writer is totally incapable of delivering. I used to think they were both great, but not anymore. Queen of the Damned was totally ridiculous, no wonder everyone thinks the movie sucks too (I haven't seen it).
 

Not Spaceghost

Spaceghost
I liked Bram Stokers Dracula, but only because it gives me a "saturday night nothing else to do but watch a movie" kinda feeling. The movie isn't very good, but it's kind of cozy. You can leave it on in the back ground, you don't actually have to know what's going on, and you can watch it in bursts over a whole viewing. It's excellent background noise.
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
Interview is one of my favorite movies. I am sad that they never did a proper sequel and we only received that cheezy and Queen of the Damned flick.

We need more quality movies like that, I wonder if Byzantium, which is directed by Neil Jordan who directed Interview With a Vampire and The Crying Game, will be a good vampire flick. It's got Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton and it's written by the girl who did the Jane Eyre script, so the potential is there.
 

LakeEarth

Member
I think I'm with the consensus that Dracula is boring when Gary Oldman isn't on screen. Cool fact about this movie, all of the special effects are done "in camera", which is really neat. No computers, no green screen IIRC. Just every old Hollywood trick they could use. I wish I could find a video which explained how they did this one shot where there was a book open at the bottom, and a train running above it (the idea being he was reading a book on the train). In actuality, it was a giant fake book up close to the camera, with a miniature train going on at a distance.

Interview is a great movie.
 
"I know where the bastard sleeps!"

I like them both alright. Both have their flaws but are enjoyable. Dracula has the weird special effects that work, weird butt resembling hairdos, and Anthony Hopkins having fun. Interview with the Vampire has some a fun Tom Cruise performance and as my friend's mom said while watching it in the theater, "He bit that lady's bosom."
 

Bombadil

Banned
I'm pretty sure Tom Cruise didn't use any make-up for Interview with the Vampire. He probably used make-up remover.

And the film was probably semi-biographical of his life.
 

Kaladin

Member
As a fan of both books, the Dracula movie was somewhat disappointing, and the IWAV movie was ok, but the book was so much better. Isn't it time for Hollywood to drag Dracula back out of his coffin and do another film on the book?

Edit: What the hell....late bump? This thread is almost 4 years old.
 
Interview has one of the best Tom Cruise performances ever, it was a really entertaining film

Dracula has some great art design and ambience but holy shit Keanu reeves man....so awful
 
the overall lack of appreciation in this thread for Gary Oldman in Coppola's Dracula is disappointing. :(

The guy pulls off young, old, sympathetic, frightening, great accent, great look- all in one package.

Any scene he's in with Keanu is so contrasting, skill-wise, it's ridiculous. Completely outclasses him. I honestly think Cary Elwes should have played Jonathan Harker.
Hopkins and Tom Waits are awesome, too.
 
still bummed Neil Jordan never got an opportunity to make The Vampire Lestat or even Queen of the Damned with the cast he had for IwtV.

Absolutely phenomenal ensemble cast.

I guess it was ahead of its time.
These days the studio would probably require the actors to ink a multi-picture deal out of it.
 
I loved Bram Stoker's Dracula. Interview with a Vampire is also very good, but I also like Ann Rice vampire books.

I don't see how people get into the Twilight series.


/pukes
 

Ridley327

Member
still bummed Neil Jordan never got an opportunity to make The Vampire Lestat or even Queen of the Damned with the cast he had for IwtV.

Absolutely phenomenal ensemble cast.

I guess it was ahead of its time.
These days the studio would probably require the actors to ink a multi-picture deal out of it.

His new film, Byzantium, sounds like it could have been a lost Anne Rice story, and it seems to be getting pretty decent reviews.
 
I've never known anyone who enjoyed the novel Interview with a Vampire who also enjoyed the movie, myself included. Brad Pitt leaves a perpetual bad taste in my mouth. He just doesn't impress me as an actor.
 

vio

Member
I actually liked Queen of the Damned. It`s quite a good tv movie. Soundtrack is also very good.
 

ToxicAdam

Member
the overall lack of appreciation in this thread for Gary Oldman in Coppola's Dracula is disappointing. :(

The guy pulls off young, old, sympathetic, frightening, great accent, great look- all in one package.

No doubt. Oldman dominates the film so much it really does seem to have an adverse effect on the rest of the movie. Everything else just seems so bland and boring.

I actually recall falling asleep in the movie theater during one of the campfire scenes where it was just Keanu and someone else.
 
Interview has one of the best Tom Cruise performances ever, it was a really entertaining film

It's a shame Cruise doesn't do more serious villain roles.

He seems kind of unhinged as it is, but good lord he made a disturbingly entertaining Lestat.
I know people joke about it now after Ledger's phenomenal performance, but I'd still love to see a Cruise version of The Joker.

His new film, Byzantium, sounds like it could have been a lost Anne Rice story, and it seems to be getting pretty decent reviews.

Yeah, I watched the trailer. Looks really good with an awesome cast.
To be honest, I can't think of a Neil Jordan film that I've seen that I didn't like. Ondine, in particular, is a pleasant little film that I decided to watch on Netflix just because I saw that Jordan directed it.
 

mantidor

Member
Bram Stoker's Dracula is among my favorite films ever, of course only now I can see Keanu Reeves had a pretty bad british accent as I wasn't that proficient in English back then.

I'm not a big fan of Interview though, maybe is Cruise, who I just can't stand in any film, I like Dracula better, vampires should be more like Lucy, the book is even better in that part.
 

DarkFlow

Banned
Whatever you do, don't watch Queen of the Damned. They butchered that book so badly turning into a film.

Also holy shit at this 4 year old bump lol.
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
Keanu Reeves in Dracula is one of the most amazingly awful things I've ever seen in a movie. His performance his bad, his lines are bad, his direction is bad...

It's a fascinating film to look at, and it has a handful of incredible shots. But its overall pace is just so fucked...
 
Whatever you do, don't watch Queen of the Damned. They butchered that book so badly turning into a film.

Also holy shit at this 4 year old bump lol.

Yeah, I am usually the first person to hand wave changes during a book being made into a movie but it's like they saw the cover of the book, overheard some people talking about it in a noisy room, and decided to make that the script. I mean they changed everything. Even who Lestat's fucking sire was. The Queens motivations went from 'being crazy enough to try to cure the horror of the world in a terrible way' to 'lol stuff should die' Got rid of the twins and the incredibly cool plotline of Marius calling for help, and grr....The movie was only the same in the fact that some of the characters had the same names.
 
IMHO

These two versions are most faithful to the originals

Count Dracula A BBC Adaptation of the original novel. Better than BSD.

Louis Jourdan is my favourite Dracula ever, & Susan Penhaligon is hot

and

Dracula - Dir. John Badham, and a stellar cast. Adaptation of the original stageplay.


If you can find them they are well worth a watch.
 
I love Interview with the Vampire, although Antonio Banderas was kind of a weak choice to play Armand, who is supposed to be a 17 year old Russian boy. Other than that, I think it's fantastic. Now if only they hadn't made Queen of the Damned....

The casting for Ann Rice adaptions always bugged me. Now if only they'd make, The Vampire Armand.
 

zoku88

Member
I was literally about to respond to this thread with something that was almost like my response years ago ha.
 
This was the exact same for me. I also read the Mayfair Witches books which eventually tied in the later Vampire Chronicles, and some of the stand alone novels like Servant of the Bones and The Mummy.

I first got into them because my older sister was reading them. The character of Lestat was definitely my favorite thing about the books. I enjoyed that the other vampires refered to him as the brat prince.

When the two series started merging is when they both became awful. Blood Canticle is probably the worst book I've ever started and finished. And then Rice using Lestat as a mouthpiece at the end to basically defend how shitty she knew the book was. You could tell her head really wasn't in it anymore. It was embarrassing. I vaguely recall the last book centering around tall, pale proto-humans living on an island who loved milk. It was bizarre.

For my money the best books in the chronicles would have to be The Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned, Tale of the Body Thief, and Memnoch the Devil. The Vampire Armand and Blood and Gold were alright, but they started getting really...indulgent.
 

Apath

Member
If you liked Interview with a Vampire watch Queen of the Damned. A worthy sequel to a fantastic film. The young Lestat (played by Stuart Townsend) is able to match Tom Cruise's performance perfectly.

A true must see for anyone who enjoyed the first movie.
Whatever you do, don't watch Queen of the Damned. They butchered that book so badly turning into a film.

Also holy shit at this 4 year old bump lol.
This is wrong. Watch it as soon as possible and buy it if you can.
 

strafer

member
Better than both.

I'm not even joking.

zhDUWm7.jpg
 

Bombadil

Banned
If you liked Interview with a Vampire watch Queen of the Damned. A worthy sequel to a fantastic film. The young Lestat (played by Stuart Townsend) is able to match Tom Cruise's performance perfectly.

A true must see for anyone who enjoyed the first movie.

This is wrong. Watch it as soon as possible and buy it if you can.

Are you serious?

I know people are entitled to different tastes, but there has to be a limit.
 
You guys should watch Revamped, it's one of the best bad vampire movies out there.

And I remember really liking Interview, I should watch it again.
 

MikeMyers

Member
I liked Bram Stoker's, but it DOES drag on at times. I will usually nod off while watching it. Weird that I like a movie that I consistently fall asleep to, but there it is. And yes, Reeves was terrible.

I would suggest a re-edit, but then I'm remembered of Apocalypse Now Redux, and take that back.

And this is coming from someone whose a big Coppola fan.
 

oni_saru

Member
I liked Bram's Dracula back then. But honestly I need to rewatch it to see if I still like it.

Interview with the Vampire however is fantastic. I've seen it many times! Also fabulous movie adaptation to a book. The actors all did a great job.

I read Brad Pitt wasn't too happy working on that movie. Makes me sad since he pulled it off.

I remember liking the Queen of the Damned movie (I was young okay). Then I read the book and omg I despised the film with a passion. Man that movie ruined everything that was great about the books. It was basically someone's bad fanfiction made into film. The music is still good though. Only thing worthy from that crapfest.

Anne Rice's vampires are the only vampires I really love. A Vampire Armand film would be hot!
Marius/Armand forever!!

As for the book version of Dracula, I think that's the only book i gave up reading. I just couldn't enjoy it.
 
Bram Stoker's, I think, is great. It's got a beautiful set design, award-winning costume design, Gary Oldman as fucking Dracula, TOM FUCKING WAITS, Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing. One of the best intro's for a Dracula movie, delving into the history of Vlad Tepes. I definitely question the casting of Harker (Keanu Reeves), and sometimes Mina (though I like her better than Keanu.) However, the locales are great, performances for some fantastic, and visual aesthetic is top-notch.

I'd have to watch Interview again as I haven't seen it in a long time. I can't stand Tom Cruise. And Anne Rice? Eh...
 
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