The Twin Geeks 48: Bram Stoker's Dracula

Francis Ford Coppola's gothic masterwork saw a return to form for the director after the downfall of the studio system renaissance of the 1970s. This return to grand-scale, operatic filmmaking remains a seminal adaptation of Bram Stoker's famous novel, and perhaps the best yet realized. It's certainly the most faithful, opting to include as much detail of the various encounters with the legendary vampire as possible, all realized through incredible in-camera special effects. Beyond the incredible gothic imagery, intense and transformative central performance, and jaw-dropping set and costume design, it's the achievement of these brilliant effects that propels us to return to Coppola's Dracula. The convergence of the novel's original publishing and turn of the century birth of cinema itself compelled Coppola to create all the film's effects the way in which it would have been done at that period in time. The reliance on hanging miniatures, multiple exposures, and simple tricks like reversing footage and under-cranking the camera result in some phenomenal and astounding visual revelations that make Bram Stoker's Dracula an immortal realization of both Coppola and the author's initial vision.

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