The production design in this thing is so goddamn vicious. Also Coppola’s use of old-school opticals and silent-movie techniques pleases me to no end. It’s an aesthetic extravaganza and one of those movies you put on just to exist inside of for two or so hours. It’s pretty charged throughout and Coppola boldly tries to separate his adaptation from the countless others that came before with crazy design choices. The surface is delicious. Everything beneath is rather undercooked. Oldman makes a meal of his lead role and Winona Ryder is pleasing if stilted. Reeves is bad (still love you Keanu). Hopkins goes to town on Van Helsing though leading to the best sight gag in any Coppola’s career (“Yeah, she was in great pain! Then we cut off her head, and drove a stake through her heart, and burned it, and then she found peace”). A pretty startling movie to watch in 2017. I can’t remember that last time I saw a contemporary horror movie look so physically phantasmagoric.

Watched on blu-ray