Horror Movie Reviews
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Title: In Search of Dracula (2003) |
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Review of In Search of Dracula
- Nestled in the Carpathian Mountains of the Transylvanian region of Romania is the castle that once was the stronghold of Vlad Dracula. Indeed Dracula did exist but unlike the blood-sucking monster of popular myth the real Dracula was a fifteenth century prince who tortured and killed thousands - savagely impaling his victims on sharpened spikes.Christopher Lee (the actor who has portrayed the vampire more times than any other) traces the roots of the Dracula legend back to their horrifying historical origins. Based on the best-selling book by Raymond McNally and Radu Florescu In Search of Dracula exposes the fictional monster and his real-life counterpart "Vlad the Impaler" while also showing for the first time on film the infamous Borgo Pass vampire bats feasting on blood and exorcism rites for the undead. System Requirements: Running Time 82 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: PG UPC: 720917538822 Manufacturer No: FLV5388
Product Description
- Christopher Lee is looking very 1970s cool in this documentary portrait of the world's favorite vampire. Himself a great interpreter of the role, Lee performs multiple duties here: he narrates, appears in clips from Hammer films and Jess Franco's Count Dracula, and plays evil tyrant Vlad the Impaler in new footage. The rest of the film is a cobbled-together look at origins of Dracula, both historical (the life of bloody Vlad is recounted) and literary. The latter includes a brief account of Bram Stoker's source novel, plus a sidebar for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In fact, along with some good Transylvania footage and folklore, there are many peculiar sidebars, including a dramatization of a modern blood-drinker. It's all pretty slapdash, but undeniably a useful introduction for people unaware of the Dracula family tree. Plus, you get to see how truly hideous-looking a vampire bat really is. No wonder they've been demonized. --Robert Horton
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Comments for In Search of Dracula
- Posted on 2005-05-26
Both more and less; too much, but not enough
Among the many, and often duplicative, Dracula documentaries, this was probably the first and among the best. Although it is a bit dated now, it offers higher production values and more drama than most of the others, not to mention narration by Christopher Lee, who gets to play both Dracula and his historic inspriation, Vlad the Impaler. The DVD adds a number of scenes that were deleted when this film was aired by PBS some decades ago. Most of these, however, seem peripheral to the central theme and are somewhat repulsive, dealing mostly with disturbed individuals who imagine themselves to be vampires and who drink either their own blood or that of others. On the other hand, for some mind-boggling reason, other bits that were shown on national television have been cut from this print, including a brief bit of nudity. The DVD production team seems to have been far more sensitive about that than the antics of the blood-drinking individuals who are included. Still, a good overview of the Vlad/Dracula history
Score: 3
- Posted on 2000-06-17
Entertaining but Dated Documentary
The fascination for vampires and the mythical character of Dracula has resulted in many cinematic outings over the last century. Ever since the creation of Bram Stoker's original novel, DRACULA, published in 1897, audiences have loved the experience of being frightened by this diabolical figure. Not many know however that Bram Stoker based his vampire lord on a historical figure: Vlad "Tepes" (pronounced Tseppesh) Drakula who lived in 15th Century Romania. Born in Sighisoara in 1431, he grew up in a very hostile environment. His father Vlad II had become a member of the Order of the Dragon, an equivalent to Knighthood, which was to serve the population and protect them from their enemies, the Turks. The title of Dragon, Drakul in Romanian, was hereditary; hence Drakula, meaning Son of the Dragon. When Vlad II was Prince of the Province of Wallachia, the Turkish Sultan invited him to his court for the purpose of peace talks. However, once there Vlad and his son found themselves trapped and ambushed. Vlad II saw his son being taken hostage while he himself would become a virtual pon to the Sultan's whims. After a number of years of torturous imprisonment, Vlad Drakula managed to escape. Subsequent to his father, he crowned himself Prince of Wallachia and began crusading cruelly against the Turks. His favorite method of torturing and killing them was to impale them on large wooden poles and watch them writhe in agony until they died. Hence the nickname "Tepes" which means Impaler. Drakula headed many campaigns against the Turks and in 1476 he fell in battle during one of these campaigns. His head was taken to the Sultan in Constantinopel as a trophy while his body was buried by monks on the isle of Snagov. Strangely enough, when the monastery on Snagov was excavated in 1931, the body of Vlad Tepes was never found, which of course lent more credibility to the vampire legend. The documentary In Search Of Dracula is based on the book of the same name by Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu. They researched the subject carefully and published their findings in the early 1970s, at a time where the interest in the mythical figure was fairly high. (Several Hammer films with Christopher Lee were still fresh in the audience's memories and more were soon to come, including a Broadway revival starring Frank Langella.) Soon after the book hit the stands, this documentary was produced. Being a product of it's time, it now seems, of course, hopelessly dated. Yet it has retained a certain seventies'charm of being one of those documentaries you will no doubt remember having seen before in a dark and nearly forgotten past. Subjectwise the film does not quite succeed as it takes too long in getting to the point. It also takes too much time in explaining the vampire mythology and even strays in areas wholly inappropriate for this subject matter. (The Frankenstein Phenomenon being an interesting yet totally non sequitur sidebar.) The way it deals with the historical figure one would have expected a more in depth study. As the matter stands, Vlad Tepes gets a superficial working over at best. The film quality is average but some mediocre source material is used and although the sound quality is also average, the sound itself it undistinguished mono. It may have been quite a coup for an independent production as this to have landed Christopher Lee as it's narrator, host and main performer (he plays both the historical Dracula as well as the film character in a mockumentary approach), but his monotonous narration does not lend this production more than curiosa value. IN SEARCH OF DRACULA may be a pleasant surprise for vampire buffs and Dracula fans (since this film is definitely a must in a good Dracula collection) the average viewer should be aware that this production has nothing more than curiosa value due to the heavily dated approach to documentary filmmaking.
Score: 3 - Posted on 2000-06-12
Hammer horror
Is this other wonder of hammer's house horror films, with Lee the second best vampire (the first bela lugosi), with great colors, direccion, the films don't have any defects.
Score: 4