DARIO ARGENTO'S DRACULA (2012)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological, metaphysical, sociological*

This film debuted on movie screens under the title DRACULA 3D, though unlike numerous other efforts of the kind, the non-3D version just looks like any other film. The title DARIO ARGENTO'S DRACULA is at least more honest than that of the 1992 BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, since the latter adaptation did not follow the Stoker book, but rather structured its narrative to include whatever struck the fancy of director Francis Ford Coppola. Argento like Coppola just emulated whatever aspects of the Stoker book pleased him, and added in a number of extrinsic elements. So maybe the best of all possible titles for this effort would be ARGENTO'S COPPOLA'S DRACULA? That said, for all its demerits the 1992 film does engage with many elements of Bram Stoker's mythic figure, while Argento doesn't produce a compelling take on the vampire count. 

ARGENTO'S is not the first Dracula film to take place fully in Eastern Europe, thus eschewing the "English invasion" trope of the book. Argento does work in a little more social commentary regarding Dracula's monarchical control of the Hungarian town Passo Borgo. Several times the script emphasizes that the ruling powers know well what a parasite Dracula (Thomas Kretschmann)  is, but they won't do anything about it, not even warning Englishman Jonathan Harker when he comes to Castle Dracula to catalog the count's library. Even before Harker's arrival, the audience sees the evil vampire attack and enthrall local sexpot Tanya, making her into his bride. (Like HORROR OF DRACULA, this version eschews the canonical threesome of vampire wives.) When Harker does arrive, the castle is inhabited only by the count and his bride, and both of them are eager to prey upon the young mortal's blood. 

This version of Dracula doesn't need Harker for any real services, so he immediately turns Harker into an undead. There's a vague suggestion that somehow the vampire lord used Harker to lure his wife (not fiancee) Mina (Marta Gastini) to Passo Borgo. The book intimates that Mina resembles one of Dracula's brides, and over time this was elaborated into the idea that Harker's beloved was the reincarnation of a long-dead countess, a trope used to strong effect in Coppola's film. In any case, when Mina arrives she's greeted by old classmate Lucy Kisslinger. Like the Lucy of Stoker, this version makes brief reference to her having more than one paramour. And Argento sorta-kinda follows Stoker by having Dracula vamp Lucy before Mina, though there really isn't any particular reason for Argento's count to fixate on Mina's friend.

Mina seeks out the castle but the Count puts her off, claiming he sent Harker out of town on an errand. This gives Dracula the chance to put his moves on Mina, telling her of her resemblance to his dead wife. Mina seems to recollect the count, intimating that reincarnation may be a possibility, but in due time she begins to fight back against the Count's control. Some of the local bigwigs also contemplate a rebellion, but the vampire appears among them and slaughters them all.

Providentially, vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing (Rutger Hauer) arrives in Passo Borgo to save the day. He slays Lucy, Tanya the vampirized Harker, and Renfield (who's an asylum resident as in the book, but who has almost nothing to do in this film). To be sure, the vampire-slayer only manages to do so with the help of his anti-vamp paraphernalis, not because he's a good fighter per se. This is demonstrated by the climax, when Dracula beats Van Helsing to a pulp and is only slain when rebellious Mina gets hold of one of the hunter's weapons: a garlic-infused bullet. However, after all these alarums and excursions, the finale brings the vamp back to life for a "surprise ending."

While this flick is nowhere near as bad as Argento's previous outing with a classic monster, the misbegotten 1998 PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, it's still generally underwhelming, despite the fact that Argento has some sort of violent activity going on most of the time. The abortive love-affair of Dracula and Mina casts few sparks despite the actors' attempts to give it their all, and Argento seems to have decided that Dracula's traditional metamorphoses were not cool enough, since the director has the vamp changing into such things as a swarm of flies and a (very risible) giant grasshopper. Rutger Hauer makes a decent Van Helsing, and Argento does at least give the guys in the audience a couple of very sexy vampiresses in both Miriam Giovanelli and the director's own daughter Asia.