This is it, the quintessential vampire movie. Based on Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic masterpiece "Dracula." There are many arguments as to who was Stoker's influence for The Count, and the most rabid purists insist that it is NOT Vlad the Impaler. However, this movie forms it's basis around the Vlad story, and I'm obliged to agree that this is the most familar of all the various versions of the tale of Count Dracula, and whether or not this is where Stoker got his influence is a moot point and does not make this film any less of a masterpiece.

We begin with the young Count, a ruthless warrior on his way to defend against the enemies of Christ by battling the Muslim Turks . Acting on rage and a barbarian instinct the count impaled countless Turks across the countryside gernering him the title of "Vlad the Impaler." Although victorious, one day an arrow is shot into the castle of the Count with an attached note stating that the Count has fallen in battle. Distraught, Count Dracula's young bride pens a suicide note before plummeting hundreds of feet to the sea below.

Count Dracula returns to find the corpse of his bride at an altar, and laments how a God he fought so valiantly for could allow this to happen. Insult is added to injury by a priest who states that The Count's beloved wife will never find heaven because she took her own life thus damning her soul for eternity. Count Dracula then renounces Christ, and thrusts his sword into the crucifix causing a flow of the blood of life, which he then drinks turning him into the immortal bloodsucker we all know and love.

This movie is so well made I could go on for pages. However, I have never liked reading lengthy reviews of anything so I'll try to keep it to a minimum.

Casting for the movie is fantastic. I don't care much for Winona Ryder or Keanu Reeves, but the performances of Gary Oldman, Tom Waits, and Anthony Hopkins' masterful portrayal of Van Helsing more than make up for this oversight. The sets were epic, the use of shadowing was amazing. Basically this movie does a lot of what other vampire movies fail to do and that is to explain Dracula's aversion to mirrors (vanity disgusts him), crucifixes (he renounced Christ remember?), why he has to sleep in his native soil, etc. Dracula also keeps a pretty impressive stable of half-naked vampi concubines (one played by the beautiful Monica Bellucci.) The three of which alone satisfy this movies nudity quota.

Gary Oldman is by far the best Dracula ever. Showing the Count in all of his guises, wolves, bats, rats, old, young. He turns womens tears into diamonds (I hate when guys do that, how can we lesser mortals even compete with that?) More simply put, he's charming as hell, or slicker than whale shit in an ice flow if you will.... Waits' insect chomping Renfield is also one of the more notable performances of the film.

On a negative note, Winona Ryder, and Mr. Reeves should never ever attempt an english accent again. It was almost painful to watch these two act amongst so many other talents of biblical proportions.

I'm a vampire nut, so I hold this movie in as high a regard as most horrorphiles hold The Exorcist. It does for the vampire genre what Dawn did for zombies, what American Werewolf did for werewolves, you get the picture. If you haven't seen it, leave now, and go get it. Great story, plenty of nudity and plasma, and the purest translation of Stoker's novel yet.

10 out of 10 penis biting vampire nymphos

I love this film! love it, love it, love it. Yes, it is the best vampire film ever made. It is very dark, very scary, and not funny at all (which I LOVE, too much comedy in today’s horror).

Gary Oldman instantly made my top 10 list of best actors and the performance as Dracula makes my top 10 list of all time roles. I was mesmerized at his portrayal of Dracula. Than toss an a impressive performance by Dracula’s rival Van Helsing, played by none other than Sir Anthony and you have a well acted dream.

Of course most movies have their flaws and that is no exception with this one. Keanu Reeves, my lord what have you done!? Seriously, who ever cast this movie was clearly brilliant but without question they were on LSD the day Keanu auditioned. Vile performance. The English accent was so bad he would have been better off doing his surfer accent from Point Break. I’m not kidding.

Anyways, back to the movie, the make up effects for Dracula in all his forms were top notch. I loved the twist to make Dracula look like a werewolf at times, he was downright frightening. I didn’t mind the love story either, it really attached you to the characters and made you feel for Dracula as a man. Even though he turned his life over to Satan, see what happens when you reject Jesus?

My favorite scene would have to be when Dracula was a old man with the murderous shadow, that was outstandingly scary. Overall this is a must see not only for horror fans but all film fans period. And if you are a fan of the vampire genre and you haven’t seen this one you are missing the best of its kind.

9.5 out of 10 Keanu Reeves choking shadows (hey can you blame it)