Bram Stoker's Dracula (or simply Dracula) is a
1992 American romantic horror film directed and produced by Francis Ford
Coppola, based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. It stars Gary
Oldman as Count Dracula, Winona Ryder as Mina Harker, Anthony Hopkins as
Professor Abraham Van Helsing, and Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker.
Dracula grossed $215 million on a $40 million budget. Rotten Tomatoes'
consensus cited "some terrific performances", but Reeves' turn has been
widely criticized. Its score was composed by Wojciech Kilar and featured
"Love Song for a Vampire" by Annie Lennox, which became an
international hit, as the closing credits theme.
Plot
In 1462, Vlad Dracula, a
member of the Order of the Dragon, returns from a victory against the
Turks to find his wife, Elisabeta, has committed suicide after receiving
a false report of his death. Enraged that his wife is now damned for
committing suicide, Dracula desecrates his chapel and renounces God,
declaring that he will rise from the grave to avenge Elisabeta with all
the powers of darkness. In a fit of rage, he stabs the chapel's stone
cross with his sword and drinks the blood which pours out of it.
In 1897, newly qualified solicitor Jonathan Harker takes the
Transylvanian Count Dracula as a client from his colleague R. M.
Renfield, who has gone insane. Jonathan travels to Transylvania to
arrange Dracula's real estate acquisition in London, including Carfax
Abbey. Jonathan meets Dracula, who discovers a picture of Harker's
fiancée, Mina and believes that she is the reincarnation of Elisabeta.
Dracula leaves Jonathan to be attacked and fed upon by his brides and
sails to England with boxes of his native soil, taking up residence at
Carfax Abbey. His arrival is foretold by the ravings of Renfield, now an
inmate in Dr Jack Seward's neighboring insane asylum.
In London, Dracula emerges as a wolf-like creature amid a fierce
thunderstorm and hypnotically seduces, then rapes and bites Lucy
Westenra, with whom Mina is staying while Jonathan is in Transylvania.
Lucy's deteriorating health and behavioral changes prompts Lucy's former
suitors Quincey Morris and Dr Seward, along with her fiancé, Arthur
Holmwood, to summon Dr Abraham Van Helsing, who recognizes Lucy as the
victim of a vampire. Dracula, appearing young and handsome during
daylight, meets and charms Mina. When Mina receives word from Jonathan,
who has escaped the castle and recovered at a convent, she travels to
Romania to marry him. In his fury, Dracula transforms Lucy into a
vampire. Van Helsing, Holmwood, Seward and Morris kill Lucy out of mercy
the following night.
After Jonathan and Mina return to London, Jonathan and Van Helsing lead
the others to Carfax Abbey, where they destroy the Count's boxes of
soil. Dracula enters the asylum, where he kills Renfield for warning
Mina of his presence. He visits Mina, who is staying in Seward's
quarters while the others hunt Dracula, and confesses that he murdered
Lucy and has been terrorizing Mina's friends. A confused and angry Mina
admits that she still loves him and remembers her previous life as
Elisabeta. At her insistence, Dracula begins transforming her into a
vampire. The hunters burst into the bedroom, and Dracula claims Mina as
his bride before escaping. As Mina changes, Van Helsing hypnotizes her
and learns via her connection with Dracula that he is sailing home in
his last remaining box. The hunters depart for Varna to intercept him,
but Dracula reads Mina's mind and evades them. The hunters split up; Van
Helsing and Mina travel to the Borgo Pass and the castle, while the
others try to stop the gypsies transporting the Count.
At night, Van Helsing and Mina are approached by Dracula's brides. They
frighten Mina at first, but she gives in to their chanting and attempts
to seduce Van Helsing. Before Mina can feed on his blood, Van Helsing
places a communion wafer upon her forehead, leaving a mark. He surrounds
them with a ring of fire to protect them from the brides, then
infiltrates the castle and decapitates them the following morning. As
sunset approaches, Dracula's carriage arrives at the castle, pursued by
the hunters. A fight between the hunters and gypsies ensues. Morris is
stabbed in the back during the fight and at sunset Dracula bursts from
his coffin. Harker slits his throat while a wounded Morris stabs him in
the heart with a Bowie knife. As Dracula staggers, Mina rushes to his
defense. Holmwood tries to attack but Van Helsing and Harker allow her
to retreat with the Count. Morris dies, surrounded by his friends.
In the chapel where he renounced God, Dracula lies dying in an ancient
demonic form. They share a kiss as the candles adorning the chapel light
up and the cross repairs itself. Dracula turns back to his younger self
and asks Mina to give him peace. Mina shoves the knife through his
heart and as he finally dies, the mark on her forehead disappears as
Dracula's curse is lifted. Tearfully, she decapitates him and gazes up
at the fresco of Vlad and Elisabeta ascending to Heaven together,
reunited at long last.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker%27s_Dracula