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Since we have been discussing famed Italian Director Dario Argento in the group I decided to post this review about Dario Argento's newest incarnation from IFC which has many mixed reviews, it has some throwing their hands up in submission that he's truly lost in celluloid hell. Others think this film is typical "newer Argento" which is what most have come to terms with since his release of "Mother of Tears". I know I'm gonna get a lot of heat, but I enjoyed Dracula 3D. I thought the sets were a reminiscence of the Hammer era, esp the "Curse of the werewolf" & Dracula films. The sets and costumes were so beautiful to look at, so Gothic and elegant. I also loved listening to Claudio Simonetti's score. For those who own the blu-ray there is a special feature of the video "Kiss Me Dracula" - Performed by Simonetti Project, where you can watch Claudio play a mean theremin. As we all know, he has a strange fascination with filming his daughter in the nude which is another reason to watch this as get to enjoy Asia's body on celluloid once again. Thomas Kretschmann and Rutger Hauer both pull off great performances with what they have to work with. I'd also like to say that newcomer Marta Gastini, who has a few titles under her belt (ie. Borgia & The Rite) did an amazing job as well more so in fact that she should have been top billed next to the two main actors instead of Asia herself.
Now, on to my complaints: Asia's performance seemed quite wooden at times. The Nintendo 64 CGI Graphics are quite painful to look at especially the god awful Praying Mantis scene which I've heard about since the release, he would've pulled it off in a much scarier way if he would've kept that "creature" in the shadows instead of showing the beast off. I can honestly say that I enjoyed this film more than "Giallo" and "Do you like Hitchcock" combined. This is a fun movie, as I mentioned this is far from Argento's best work but you can see that Dario pulled from the Bram Stoker & Hammer lore of Dracula and made something that ONLY Argento could do.
This IS Dario Argento's Dracula...a TRUE 3D bella morte experience.
score 8/10
LegendsofHorror 24 February 2015
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3191082/ |
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19-4-2021 22:51:08