Argento’s Dracula
Director: Dario Argento
Release year: 2012
There’s a moment when Rutger Hauer’s Van Helsing arrives two-thirds in and my spirits lifted because perhaps the film could be saved, but the moment he started to say his lines, I knew it was actually a stake through my heart.
There are shades of Phenomena in the wildlife and insects being sometimes sentient, but here they are in league with the villain. This Count Dracula has lots of powers not given to the 1959 Hammer Dracula, and seems closer to the original novel. He can project an image of himself into others’ minds, has telekinesis, can transform into animals, and mesmerise people to do his will.
I wonder what changed between the rather good Mother of Tears in 2007, the troubled (and terrible) Giallo in 2009, and this monstrosity. It was made in 3D, which might explain the bad CGI. Perhaps they were the bits that would have come out of the screen. The scene where Dracula is a seven-foot preying mantis and ripping a man to pieces in a hallway wouldn’t look good in any format. I don’t know what happened. Was there no money? Did something go wrong behind the scenes? What’s the story behind this film?