I remember as a kid being terrified of Christopher Lee’s Dracula, but in turn that was an introduction to the world of horror and of course the book by Bram Stoker amongst others, there has been so many version of the story including comedies and classic horrors.
On New Year’s day, the wait was finally over for the latest incarnation of Count Dracula as Mark Gattis and Stephen Moffat brought us a three-parter taking us back to the haunting castle that we first saw in the classic movie Nosferatu in 1922, but this version of Dracula has some twists and turns that takes us on a journey from the castle across the ocean and to the United Kingdom.
Dracula the beginning of the horror!
So the first episode, Rules of the Beast, that was shown on New Year’s Day was one that certainly harkened back to the book and had a touch of the movie starring Gary Oldman and Keanu Reeves, but it also had a feeling of the classic Hammer movies that I’d grown up with.
Jonathan Harker (John Heffernan) arrives at the castle of Dracula (Claes Bang) and is greeted by the count in his older, unfed, state and is shown his room and given food, the rest of the story we know, but the difference in this first episode is that we are learning about Harker and Dracula’s meeting via an interview with Harker by a nun, Sister Agatha Van Helsing (Dolly Wells).
While the interview is happening, Dracula is on his way to the nunnery, once he gets there we are treated to a moment of the count emerging from a wolf in full glorious gore, then with a brilliant stand-off of Dracula, nuns and of course Van Helsing, before a complete massacre, all very well done and a nice twist to the story of Dracula and bringing some touches of Hammer and Horror to the first episode which ends with a standoff.
Dracula a journey across the water
Episode two, Blood Vessel, takes us on that journey across the ocean, the ship and its passengers are in for something of a journey as the count makes his way to England, again this episode has a twist in the tail with Van Helsing and Dracula that works nice in the episode, although this midsection of the mini-series id slower than it’s predecessor, it still had me gripped from start to finish.
The moments of the crew disappearing on the journey was certainly something that was nicely done, as was the Van Helsing sting that I wasn’t expecting, this is certainly an episode that has a great cast and Gattis and Moffat certainly brought in the suspense for episode 2 and the productions values were certainly well done.
123 years later!!
It was 123 years ago that Bram Stoker’s Dracula was released, a book that I still love to read as much as I can and incidentally this is where episode 3, The Dark Compass, starts as Dracula finally arrives on the shores of the United Kingdom with a descendant of Van Helsing waiting for him, now with a twist in the story that I’ve come to love we are in present day.
At first, I thought this was a great way to twist the story of the count and his journey to the UK with, but sadly after a while, I found that the third part of the mini-series just started to drag, it didn’t seem to have the gravitas that the first episode kicked off with and followed with episode 2.
But although it was a nice touch to bring it to modern-day and being 123 years was a great nod to Bram Stoker’s novel, but sadly for me, it fell flat and took out the mystery and excitement of the first episode and the drama of episode 2.
It’s almost as if they ran out of steam for episode 3 and just wanted to bring Dracula to modern-day and spin a rather different yarn.
Dracula (2020) Official Trailer
Overall for me I really enjoyed the first two episodes the third just seemed to lose its way and I found myself losing my interest in the storyline although it was a nice twist to bring it forward to present day.
If you missed Dracula then you can see it on the BBC iPlayer, Netflix and it is also available to pre-order on Amazon.
Dracula comes back to life!
Name: Dracula (2020)
Description: 1897. English lawyer Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to meet a new client - and a legend is about to get fresh blood... From the snow-capped Carpathians to a death-haunted ship to the beating heart of London, the makers of ‘Sherlock’ bring you a brand new take on the most famous vampire of them all: the magnificent, brooding, deliciously deadly Count Dracula.
Author: Bram Stoker
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Episode 1: The Rules of the Beast
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Episode 2: Blood Vessel
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Episode 3: The Dark Compass
Summary
A series that started out with a promise, but sadly was spoilt by episode 3!
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
