Interestingly, two of the film’s more innovative narrative conceits—the conflation of Dracula with his historical analogue, Vlad the Impaler, and the idea that Mina is somehow the reincarnation of Dracula’s beloved wife—can be traced back to the Dan Curtis adaptation of Dracula that was made for television in 1974 (though in that version it was Lucy who had been Dracula’s bride). However, I will say this 4K image certainly doesn’t betray these elements, if anything I had a greater appreciation of them and how fluidly they worked - Harker’s letter on the left side of the screen with Dracula’s castle to the right that fades into Harker’s room as he’s shaving while the letter then slowly fades revealing the full room as the narration finishes is beautiful in-camera effects work. Toys” would have been a wild choice here given the bad reviews and box office for the Barry Levinson fantasy film, but any of the other three period films nominated — “Enchanted April,” “Howards End” and “Malcolm X” — would have been shoo-ins to take the gold trophy. As we enter the spooky season, big fans of all that go bump in the night take time to reflect on scares of the past and how they have aged over the years.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula offers a study in sexual contrasts between the (at least verbally) wanton and aristocratic Lucy Westenra (Sadie Frost) and the buttoned-down working-class Mina Murray (Winona Ryder). One of my favorite sound schemes revolves around Dracula’s brides and their lustful whispers and how those voices move about the soundscape. The second commentary track stitches together comments from Coppola, visual effects director Roman Coppola, and makeup supervisor Greg Cannom to give a comprehensive account of the film’s more technical aspects. Awards season in early 1993 didn’t start well for “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” the film being passed over by critics groups outside of a lone Best Cinematography win from the Chicago Film Critics. The use of shadow play to show Vlad’s victories in battle is in keeping with the film’s overall reliance on deliberately old-fashioned camera trickery and the aesthetics of early cinema.using a Wide Colour Gamut (WCG), High Dynamic Range (HDR10 and Dolby Vision), and is encoded using the HEVC (H. With an all-star cast, the film may not be the definitive adaptation, but it’s one hell of a piece of 90s horror cinema.

Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly wrote, “Oldman is so vivid and funny as the cackling, centuries-old Dracula we look forward to seeing what he’ll do in the London scenes. In 1992, a Dracula movie was released that has been the source of both positive and negative reviews.

But you know… he’s in love with Winona Ryder’s Mina so he’s actually kind of good and he’s worthy of redemption somehow? However, the movie keeps us entranced with its visually stunning depiction where every corner of the screen is a triumph. Sadly, the solo Coppola and Family Audio Commentaries, once again, remain only on the included Blu-ray disc and are not included with the new pressing of the 4K disc. I was ten years old when this film came out and I’ve had a love of classic monster movies for as long as I could remember, and this was something I desperately wanted to see.

I was actually intrigued that Copolla and company decided to give him an origin story that seemed fitting for the monster. But even those with setups that support only HDR10 will still enjoy a tremendous image with incredible details, beautiful bold colors, and as I said earlier proper subtitle font. Hopkins and Oldman regularly compete to see who can devour the most scenery in a given scene, and they both bring oddball flourishes to their roles, like the moment where Hopkins suddenly sniffs Ryder’s face like a bloodhound. Bram Stoker’s Dracula rises from the grave once again to feed upon the wallets of physical media collectors for a new two-disc 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 30th Anniversary SteelBook.Sony once again goes the extra mile for a catalog title, this time giving Bram Stoker’s Dracula - which already had an excellent 4K HDR transfer - a beautiful Dolby Vision upgrade. Indeed, Oldman would be so damn good in the role that he would cast a long shadow over just about everybody else, leaving the likes of a woefully miscast Keanu Reeves (who literally cited Oldman's presence as one of the reasons for why he 'didn't give his best performance') and even Ryder - who, judged on this, may not have exactly saved The Godfather Part III on acting alone - floundering, and even the great Anthony Hopkins having to ham it up to the max as Van "Cameo" Helsing. The cinematographer, Michael Ballhaus, gets into the spirit so completely he always seems to light with shadows. This new Region A Blu-ray release captures the director's intention with a great picture and a Dolby Atmos soundtrack.