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Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
In Francis Ford Coppola's faithful adaptation of the
Transylvanian Dracula vampire tale:
- the opening blood-drenched scene of Prince Vlad
(The Impaler) Dracula (Gary Oldman), a member of the Sacred Order
of the Dragon, who was introduced by a Narrator, about how he had
returned in the year 1462 from a victorious battle against the
Turks and found his dead suicidal wife Elisabeta (Winona Ryder)
on the church altar - she had falsely believed he had died, killed
herself, and was damned for taking her own soul - Dracula angrily
denounced God and vowed to seek revenge, as he thrust his sword
into a stone cross that bled blood: ("Sacrilege! ls this my
reward for defending God's church?...l renounce Him! I renounce
God and all you hypocrites who feed off Him! If my beloved burns
in Hell, so shall I. I, Dracula, Commander of Transylvania, shall
arise from my own death to avenge hers with all the powers of Darkness!
(He drank blood that had spilled from the cross into the church's
holy chalice) 'The blood is the life! And the blood, it shall be
mine!'")
- in Transylvania centuries later in the late 1800s,
Count Dracula was portrayed as a pasty-faced, bouffant-coiffed, satin-robed
nobleman; he delivered a welcome-greeting ("I am Drac-ula and
I bid you welcome, Mr. Harker, to my house") to young London
law clerk and real estate agent Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves), there
to arrange a real estate acquisition in London; he spoke a memorable
line of dialogue at the dinner table: "Come in. You will, l
trust, excuse me that l do not join you. But l have already dined.
And l never drink wine"
- Dracula's orgasmic expression when he saw Harker
cut himself and draw blood while shaving - his rapture at the sound
of wolves ("Listen to them. The children of the night. What
sweet music they make!"), and afterwards the Count secretly
licked Harker's blood off the sharp razor
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Greeting to Harker: "I am Drac-ula"
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Dracula To Harker When He Cut Himself Shaving: "Take
care how you cut yourself. lt is more dangerous than you think." (He
licked the bloody razor)
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- the sequence of Harker being enticed, seduced, raped
and fed upon by Dracula's three blood-thirsty seductive brides
(Monica Bellucci, Michaela Bercu, and Florina Kendrick); in Harker's
bedroom as he was retiring for the night, one of the undead Brides
emerged from under his bed (Bellucci) and proceeded to rise up
(half-naked, bare-breasted) and stroke his inner thighs; afterwards,
all the brides surfaced up through the mattress; he was surrounded
by the ravenous creatures as they tore at his clothes, and fed
upon him (by licking him, and then biting down on his crotch with
fanged teeth); the "devils of the pit" drained him of
his blood to keep him weak
The Three Blood-Thirsty Brides of Dracula
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(Monica Bellucci)
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(Florina Kendrick)
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(Michaela Bercu)
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- the Brides were interrupted by the sudden appearance
of Dracula himself, who jealously and strongly cautioned: "How
dare you touch him! He belongs to me....Yes, I too can love. And
I shall love again"; one of the Brides asked: "Are we
to have nothing tonight?"; Harker saw Dracula give his brides
a young baby to feast upon, and as he screamed in horror, Dracula
let out a hideous laugh
- in London, blood-red-eyed Prince Vlad's (also Gary
Oldman) overwhelming temptation to suck the blood of Harker's bride-to-be
Mina Murray (also Winona Ryder) - believing her to be the living
image of his own long-lost reincarnated beloved bride Elisabeta:
("I know you. I have crossed oceans of time to find you"),
during a London exhibition in a cinematheque of the new art of movies;
he then saved her from an escaped wolf
- the scene in which obsessed vampire hunter Dr. Abraham
Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) and others discovered Mina's friend
Lucy Westenra (Sadie Frost) was a vampyr - and coaxed her back into
her coffin, and in a mercy killing stabbed her through the heart
and beheaded her: ("I cast you out, the Prince of Darkness,
into Hell! A moment's courage, and it is done. Take the stake in
your left hand, place the point over the heart. Then in God's name,
strike. Do it now!")
Mercy Killing of Mina's Friend Lucy - A Vampyr
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- the scene of Mina's feverish and passionate dream-longing
for Dracula, and her subsequent love scene with a seductive Dracula
in bed in which she drank the blood of Dracula's chest wound, and
they spoke of being united forever: (Mina: "Oh yes, my love.
You've found me...l have wanted this to happen. l know that now.
l want to be with you always....l love you. Oh, God, forgive me,
l do. l want to be what you are, see what you see, love what you
love" Dracula:
"To walk with me, you must die to your breathing life and be
reborn to mine" Mina: "You are my love and my life always" Dracula: "Then,
l give you life eternal, everlasting love, the power of the storm,
and the beasts of the earth. Walk with me to be my loving wife forever"
Mina: "l will. Yes. Yes" Dracula: "Oh, Mina, drink
and join me in eternal life. No, l cannot let this be" Mina: "Please,
l don't care. Make me yours" Dracula: "You will be cursed
as l am to walk in the shadow of death for all eternity. l love you
too much to condemn you" Mina: "Then take me away from
all this death")
- after Van Helsing and others burst into the bedroom
and saved Mina, Dracula transformed (with spectacular special-effects)
into a monstrous werewolf creature on his hind-legs who threatened
them, claiming: "She is now my bride" - but then after
being shot in the chest, Dracula morphed again into a pack of rats
that scurried away across the floor
- the climactic ending scene in which Mina was hypnotized
and made a decoy to follow Dracula and finish him off; dying, Dracula
knew that his end was near: ("Where is my God? He has forsaken
me. lt is finished"); Mina pledged her love and kissed him:
("Oh, my love, my love"); in voice-over, Mina spoke: "There,
in the presence of God, I understood at last how my love could release
us all from the powers of darkness. Our love is stronger than death";
after his request: "Give me peace" (the film's final line
of dialogue), she impaled Dracula in the heart with a sword, kissed
him again, and then beheaded him to end his curse
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Suicidal Wife
Elisabeta
Prince Vlad/Dracula Denouncing God For His Wife's Suicide
Dracula Offering His Three Brides an Infant
Prince Vlad Tempted to Suck Blood of Mina, Harker's Fiancee
Dracula/Prince Vlad Saving Mina from a White Werewolf
in Cinematheque
Mina Making Love to Dracula
Dracula Transformed into Grotesque Werewolf Creature
and Pack of Rats!
Mina's Sword-Impalement and Beheading of Dracula
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