Dracula (2002)

Dracula (2002) was an Italian TV movie made in 2002. Tagline: An Ancient terror lives on in a new world.

Cast

• Patrick Bergin (Count Dracula)
• Giancarlo Giannini (Dr. Enrico Valenzi)
• Hardy Krüger Jr. (Jonathan Harker)
• Stefania Rocca (Mina)
• Muriel Baumeister (Lucy)
• Kai Wiesinger (Dr. John Seward)
• Alessio Boni (Quincy)
• Conrad Hornby (Arthur Holmwood)
• Brett Forest (Renfield)

Plot Summary

At a ballroom of a hospital charity party in Budapest, the successful American lawyer Jonathan Harker (Hardy Krüger Jr.) suddenly proposes to his girlfriend Mina (Stefania Rocca). He wants to marry her within the week. Their friends Lucy (Muriel Baumaster), Quincy (Alessio Boni) and Arthur (Conrad Hornby) have been invited by Jonathan and have just arrived for the wedding, all without Mina's awareness. Meanwhile, they meet the promoter of the party, the psychiatrist Dr. Seward (Kai Wiesinger). Later in the same night, Jonathan is called by a rich client, Tepes (Patrick Bergin), who hires him to prepare the inventory of the wealth of his uncle, the count Vladislav Tepes (Patrick Bergin), in Romania. Jonathan travels to the Carpathian Mountains in his Porsche, has an accident and finally arrives in the count's old castle. Vlad Tsepes, here caling himself Count Vladislav Tsepes, decides to leave his castle and move to the west. He says he feels tired from Rumania's decline and the seclusion of his life. In Budapest he discusses some illegal business with Harker. He also wants Jonathan's help in turning his collection of paintings, jewels and his gold deposits to cash. Jonathan's friends businessman Quincey Morris, specialising in money swindles, and Arthur Holmwood, a British diplomat who is in a debt, offer to help. Though Jonathan and Arthur have their doubts about the deal Quincey convinces them that money is all that matters and its one true power that makes the world go around.

Patrick Bergin as the title character

Dracula gets very interested in those young peopole--the men, hungry for money and power; Lucy, who wants to sleep in many beds, in many cities , have new experiences and live for ever; and Mina' who wants to change the world and end human suffering. Throughout the film Dracula tries to seduce all five of them into his own world, make them wish to become vampires. Focusing again and again on how hyprotical morality is and promising them the loss of their consciences, he says survival of the fittest is the proper way and even the strong cannot save the weak. He also references God's slaughters in the Bible to prove that humanity was created in his image, the image of a killer. There to stop him is the researcher of the occult and Seward's teacher Dr. Enrico Valenzi the one who believes that Dracula can be defeated when he faces a strong will enpowered by faith. But throughout this film he raises more and more self-doubts and his will is almost broken by the end. Its Mina, half-way through her transformation to a vampire, that manages to make Dracula trust her and kills him as he holds her in an embrace.The films end with Mina still having the vampire's mark and how that affects is remain a question.

Deviations from the novel

This list is not exhaustive, but intended to convey a sense of the differences between the film and the novel:

• The setting is shifted to the early twenty-first century and Hungary.
• Mina kills Dracula.
• Dracula actively tries to recruit the men as well as the women as vampires, evidently with some kind of Armageddon in mind.
• The character of Van Helsing is omitted, replaced by Dr. Enrico Valenzi.

Goofs

Continuity: It's raining outside when Jonathan finds Dracula's resting place. He disturbs the room full of bats and they fly out a window. The next shot is an exterior of the castle, and the bats fly out into a sunny day with blue skies Crew or equipment visible: After it is discovered that Lucy is missing, the group is discussing what has happened and Jonathan is standing behind a window in which two crewmembers are reflected.

External links

• Dracula at the Internet Movie Database