ARGENTO’S DRACULA, review by Mike Hunchback
The main thought running through my mind as I watched ARGENTO’S DRACULA was:
“You know, I bet people would like this if it weren’t a Dario Argento movie.”
Then I quickly realized:
“No … No, no one would like this movie. Maybe no matter what. Except for me.”
The only other film in his career it’s comparable to is of course PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, another misfire for those who for some reason think Argento needs to make another DEEP RED, SUSPIRIA, INFERNO, TENEBRE, or OPERA; or even another animal-themed Giallo. In my world he’s done more than enough, his half-dozen-to-ten masterpieces trump many other filmmakers’ entire flimographies and bashing the guy’s movies seems like the most fruitless of fan boy activities. So, though ARGENTO’S DRACULA is maybe not his greatest film, it’s wildly unique in its excessive style, and basically looks like nothing else. This, plus the almost-blind devotion to the intrinsic value of a good bloody Vampire film, without a doubt charmed this soft-hearted Gorehound.
There’s an inescapable preciousness to ARGENTO’S DRACULA, and in a way it’s the kind of preciousness that is normally woven into dramas or love stories. Here however, the unabashed mushiness is aimed in the direction of Gothic Horror and to the small sect of us moved by this kind of open adoration ARGENTO’S DRACULA satisfies greatly. This is a film that comes off as having no pretensions or concerns to please whatsoever. For better or worse, this is a testament to the fictional world that Dracula lives in, a tear-stained love letter to lunch-table-loners who spend their weekends with their noses buried in a Poe anthology. Of course this is the kind of thing that most find silly; but if you’re like me and you have a soft spot for Gothic Romance as well as no grand desire for Argento to re-establish himself as “The Suspiria Guy”, then you’ll likely marvel at the heart-on-sleeve-Horror-adoration that can be found in ARGENTO’S DRACULA.
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ARGENTO’S DRACULA (2012)
Directed by: Dario Argento
Written By: Dario Argento, Enrique Cerezo,
Stefano Piani, Antonio Tentori
From Bram Stoker’s DRACULA
Starring: Rutger Hauer, Asia Argento, Thomas Kretschmann,
Marta Gastini, Miriam Giovanelli, Unax Ugalde
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