Bram Stoker's Dracula

Horror

Gary Oldman	Count Vlad Dracul/Dracula
Winona Ryder	Elisabeta
Anthony Hopkins	Professor Abraham Van Helsing
Keanu Reeves	Jonathan Harker
Richard E. Grant	Dr. Jack Seward
Cary Elwes	Lord Arthur Holmwood
Bill Campbell	Quincey P. Morris
Sadie Frost	Lucy Westenra
Tom Waits	R.M. Renfield
Octavian Cadia	Deacon

Director	Francis Ford Coppola
Producer	Francis Ford Coppola; Fred Fuchs; Charles Mulvehill
Writer	James V. Hart; Bram Stoker

Adhering more faithfully to Bram Stoker's 1897 novel than any previous version (even unto repeating Stoker's shortcomings, such as lumpy continuity and long-winded exposition), Francis Ford Coppola and screenwriter James Victor Hart offered a full-blooded (no pun intended) portrait of the immortal Transylvanian vampire. The major departure from Stoker is one of motivation: Count Dracula (beautifully played by Gary Oldman) is motivated more by romance than by bloodlust: he punctures the necks as a means of avenging the death of his wife in the 15th century, and when he comes to London, it is specifically to meet heroine Mina Harker (Winona Ryder), the living image of his late wife (Ms. Ryder plays a dual role, as do several of her costars). Anthony Hopkins is obsession personified as vampire hunter Van Helsing; Keanu Reeves brings more to the role of Jonathan Harker than any previous actor; and Tom Waits out-Dwight Fryes Dwight Frye as bug-eating Renfield. The winner of three Academy Awards, Bram Stoker's Dracula lacked only the huge audience that would have made it the hit it deserved to be. — Hal Erickson