I'd never seen any Dracula adaptation at all ever--unless one counts Buffy as a Dracula adaptation, in which case I've seen Hush and the singing one--and may I just say, I would not recommend starting with any of the three adaptations I saw this month!
I've a longstanding interest in adaptations, though, so when some friends decided to go see Luc Besson's Dracula (2026), I joined them. Now, none of us knew that in other markets, this movie was subtitled "A Love Tale."
Me: Between... Mina and Jonathan?
Besson: Mais non! Dracule et Mina!
( Oh dear. )
I had a great time. What a series of swings. My takeaway was "Terrible movie. Everyone should see it." I laughed so much that I made friends with the folks on the other side of our group. I haven't even mentioned the gargoyles, which ended up being one of the funniest things I've seen in a movie in recent memory. Do not spend 20+ dollars to see it, but if you're hanging out with buddies, eating snacks, and ready to yell delighted disparaging comments at a Bad Movie with A Huge Budget, put it on the list.
I mentioned seeing Dracula (2026) to a Media Professional friend, and when she learned I hadn't seen Bram Stoker's Dracula, she was like oh, we should get high and do that. And I was like can we please, actually. So last weekend, we did. Minus the getting high, plus another Media Professional friend, whose apartment we invaded. (He has a TV and a couch.)
Ok. So, after we finished BSD, we tipsily decided it was early (10pm) and we could watch!! the first episode!!! of BBC's Dracula! They did not tell me it was an hour and a half and a Gatiss/Moffat production!!!
I'm not going to write this up in as much detail. I had fun with it, actually. There are parts in it that Gatiss and Moffat Simply Cannot Stop Themselves, of course, but overall I liked the Jonathan, Mina, Van Helsing (a Religiously Troubled but Very Self-Confident nun), and Dracula. Claes Bang, who plays Dracula, has more fun as he gets younger and sexier, and absolutely homosexually tortures Jonathan to pieces. Loved that. (Oldman and Landry Jones both become wooden as hell as they get younger and sexier, which was homosexually torturous for me---) I also adoooored Dolly Wells as Sister Agatha Van Helsing.
My understanding is that the third episode absolutely blows shit. From Gatiss and Moffat? Shocking. But the first episode, at least, felt more interested in the book's specific death-dread than the two movies, even as it turned much of the plot on its head. I've been told the second episode is even better. It's unlikely I'll watch it on my own, but I'm happily passing that information on to you.



