The next day, a peeved Mina Murray says goodbye to Jonathan as he sets off for Romania. At the border, he is bullied and threatened with a gun by the guards. He speeds on the open roads and is observed by locals who carry shovels and pickaxes. Later, in the dark and the rain, his car veers off the road and hits a tree. He sees people through his window and gets out of the car. Reaching them, we see that they are the people at the roadside. But not friendly.
They hit Harker on the back of the head, knocking him to the ground. He is kicked and an axe misses his head by inches. Making a break, he gets back to his car. He feels the back of his head and his hand comes away bloody. A coach pulls up in the clearing and Jonathan boards it. As they move on, a small blue flame ignites by the roadside, then dies out.
In the courtyard to the Castle, a wolf is heard as the horses neigh. The coach leaves and Harker bangs on the large front door. It opens as a solitary wolf watches Harker enter.
Inside, Harker waits a few seconds before Count Vladislav Tepesh, carrying gold-topped cane, appears. Harker winces at the strength of the old man's handshake. The Count leads Jonathan to a living room with a pleasant fire burning. He notices the head wound and offers to clean it for him. We see a hand placed on Harker's shoulder in close-up. Harker is turned away from us. The hand massages ever so slowly as the camera moves nearer. The hand moves away as the Count announces that the blood is gone. Harker puts his hand to the back of his head, but his questions are ignored as the Count begins to talk about the legends surrounding St George's Day and the significance of the blue flame by the roadside.
He gives Jonathan some Golden Mediasch wine and shows him to an inviting bedroom. A wardrobe stocked with period clothes is left at Harker's disposal. Trying various costumes accompanied by a banjo playing skiffle on the soundtrack, Jonathan settles for a sober period suit as he enters to dine. Sitting down to eat, the Count cuts into a very rare joint of meat and begins to talk about the warlike days. We see Jonathan's consternation as he struggles with the raw meat.
The next scene shows the Count and his guest entering the cellars. Jonathan is shown valuable paintings, gold bars and golden cups and chalices. The Count asks him what they might be worth. Next day Jonathan finds every door locked. He sees rain pouring in through the windows in hallways. He becomes frantic and tries the front door finding it also locked.
The Count finds Jonathan reading the Bible. He goes on to talk of the End of the World prophecy. The 'do unto others' wisdom. His voice lowers to a whisper as he talks of the conscience of man and Jonathan's conscience on seeing all his treasures the previous night. With the Carfax deal, the Count has also thrown in the certificates for ownership of his gold signed over to Jonathan.
A mobile phone rings followed by a standard recording message. The camera picks out the phone screen that says: Calling JONATHAN. Mina stands on her terrace and tries the number again with the same result.
Harker is in bed, bare-chested, when a hand suddenly begins to stroke his face. Coming out of his stupor, Jonathan sees three women floating in the air before him with golden skin. They all begin stroking and kissing him in a very sensuous, lengthy seduction. One girl moves towards his neck as fangs begin to grow. She is suddenly whisked away by an unseen force, her hand trailing four bloody scratches down Jonathan's chest causing him to cry out. The woman hits the far wall. Count Vladislav hovers in the room, rage seething.
"How dare you touch him!" he bellows.
The girls huddle together in the corner of the room, berating the Count for never having loved. He assures them that he has loved. That Jonathan must love him. Through his love, Jonathan will be set free. All this is put forward as the Count hovers over Jonathan, lying in bed. The bedroom door opens of its own accord into the hallway where we see a solitary bag, washed with the rain that spills in through the windows. The Count is joined by the women as he hands them the bag and we hear crying as if from a small child. The girls take the bag and exit. The Count turns away from the bedroom and begins walking away down the hallway splaying his black cloak like a giant bat.
The next morning, Harker tries more locked doors. He hears muffled noises from behind a wall and raps the plaster. The old Count appears and Jonathan asks why he is being kept prisoner. The Count assures him that the door isn't locked and, as if on cue, it springs open. Outside the rain is pouring down. The doors close again and the Count tells Jonathan that he will leave the next day to be with his beloved Mina.
He talks of his mission beginning. Of Genesis. That the World is set to change. He tells Jonathan that he hasn't spilled his blood. That it must be his own choice when he comes to the Count in time.
The scene switches to Mina and Lucy in a cable car. Mina has Vladislav Tepesh's number from Harker's offices. Walking into the worst part of town showing derelicts and grime-stained alleys, they come upon the address mentioned and knock on the door. A middle-aged woman answers and asks them if they are from the hospital. When Mina asks about Mr Tepesh, the woman looks frightened and closes the door quickly. Lucy asks for the paper with the address and finds that the name of the occupant is listed as Roenfield or something. Mina walks off, angrily stating that it is the only number that she has.
The Castle again as the rain falls heavily. Harker is checking the wall where he heard the noises the previous night. There is a hollow sound. He forces the plaster and eventually it gives. We see from the inside that it is a doorway that has been barred. Jonathan rips into the hole and climbs through, finding himself in a large cellar with many bats and large crates.
In one of the boxes lies the Count. Harker takes a shovel and moves forward. The Count opens his eyes. Harker halts, shocked. He throws the shovel through the window and then jumps through it himself. Hands bleeding and body broken he makes it to his car and speeds off. Through rain-smeared windows, he sees the Count by the roadside. The car swerves on the road and crashes into a tree leaving Jonathan unconscious.
An anchored boat in the rain. Sailors begin checking one of the crates that the boat carries. They look conspicuously like the crates in the Count's castle. Three sailors, watched by the Captain at the wheel, begin forcing the crate open with jimmies. Inside the crate, they find earth. They poke the soil with the jimmies and discover something. A gold topped-cane is retrieved as the camera halts on the rain-sodden earth. A facial feature begins to form. A man with a moustache. Rain washes more earth off the face. Hands reach out and grab the sailors by the throat. The Captain hears his men cry out but can't see from his vantage point. Then he sees the young Vladislav Tepesh. He moves out onto the ship but there is no one there. A wolf attacks him from nowhere. Vladislav spreads his cloak triumphantly and howls at the moon.
Lucy Westenra begins sleepwalking again. This time, she is sure-footed and doesn't fall down the stairs. She ventures out the front door. A wolf howls, appearing on the ledge of a nearby building and morphs into Vladislav Tepesh. Lucy, soaking with rain, sees him. He spreads his cloak and begins to float down towards her. He wraps Lucy in his arms as she runs to meet him, his cloak enfolding her. He bites down, as she looks dreamily apprehensive. The camera picks out puncture marks. Lucy turns quickly and opens her eyes staring at the camera.
She is at home and walks to the bathroom. She sniffles back oncoming tears mingled with fear; uncertainty. Looking in the bathroom mirror, she checks her throat tentatively. Her hand moves down to her breast. It moves further down and, still holding back tears, she moans in painful ecstasy. Crying, she huddles on the floor in the corner of the bathroom as her telephone rings. Mina racing in her car has had news of Jonathan and is on her way to meet him. Lucy, now on the settee, hangs up the phone and resignedly covers herself up.
At a convent, Mina finds Jonathan and is informed that he has been unconscious for two days. He tells Mina that she must marry him now, because he doesn't want to lose her. She agrees. The next scene shows the wedding with Jonathan in a wheelchair. Cut to Lucy in bed, knees up to her chest. Night. Glass breaks. A
t the window stands a wolf that moves forward into the bedroom. Rising from behind the headboard, we see the wolf changing into Vladislav Tepesh. Lucy takes her straps from her shoulders and prepares herself, lengthy smooching with Tepesh before the eventual bite. Vladislav whispers her name.
The scene switches and we are with Lucy being waited on by Arthur Holmwood. She asks him to ask her to marry him. Disbelievingly, he does and she agrees to his astonishment. She explains that she is scared and is in love with Arthur in a tearful testimony. Outside her bedroom, a suffocating mist gathers. In bed, she loosens her shoulder straps. Vladislav appears out of the mist and fastens on her throat. Scratching at his back, Lucy's nails rip into the fabric of his cloak as her face registers complete, but pained, fulfilment.
At the hospital, Mina, Jonathan, Arthur, Quincy and Seward are joined by Valenti. The diagnosis gives an amazing blood loss. Holmwood is sceptical when Valenti mentions vampires. He warns Seward and Valenti to stay away from Lucy and insists that his own wishes for her treatment should be carried out. Harker breaks away from Mina to see Lucy alone. In her bed, she wakes with a start. Harker admits to being at fault and tells her to stay away from Tepesh. She nods weakly as Harker kisses her forehead.
Lucy leaves the hospital in a wheelchair. On the drive home, she insists that they all visit the Opera that is advertised on billposters. There is small talk as she gives up her news of her engagement to Arthur.
The camera pans across the young group in the stalls at the opera during an aria. Mina asks Jonathan if he is alright and he nods assent but looks troubled. At the interval, Vladislav Tepesh appears, and Jonathan tells Mina that it is the Count grown young. Vladislav greets them kissing Lucy on the hand. He informs them that his uncle is now here in Budapest. He tells Lucy that she must visit sometime and refers to himself and his uncle as "I" quickly correcting to "we", all the while, stood in front of a mirror that only reflects the five young people. As the interval bell goes, Vladislav takes his leave.
Lucy meets Vladislav as he informs her they are now one. The next scene shows Lucy being taken from home on a stretcher. At her hospital bed, Seward brings Professor Valenti amid consternation from Arthur. Lucy suddenly wakes and tempts Arthur. He moves forward, but Valenti pulls him to one side. Lucy, held by Seward and Valenti, goes into convulsions. She tells the old doctor to guard Arthur and give her peace.
He nods. She dies. Valenti points to the throat wounds that vanish. Electric shocks are administered as the camera moves upward and fades.
A child runs across a square and begins to stroke a dog. He looks up as Lucy stands there, floating in the air, shimmering in white and offering her hand. A young mother breaks from the crowds, searching for her son. Valenti is at the airport booking his flight. He reads a newspaper and asks a man to help him with the language. He telephones Seward and mentions the kidnap of a small child. He tells him that it is Lucy and asks where she is being kept. Seward informs him that her body is at the hospital morgue and Valenti tells him to meet there.
All are there as Valenti explains his fears of vampirism but Arthur tells him it is absurd. Jonathan tells of his cowardice and the secrets he has been carrying. Valenti mentions the name Dracula. Again, Arthur scoffs and puts everything down to 14th century folklore.
They all meet with torches at the kidnap site. Valenti hands out wooden stakes and orders one-line formation through the woods. Arthur hears Lucy call his name. He turns and sees her floating above the ground. He goes to her. In the woods, Valenti asks Arthur's whereabouts. Realising they have been tricked, he orders everyone back. As they come upon Arthur, he is spellbound by Lucy whose features change monstrously and she floats with speed toward Arthur. As she reaches him, she lands on the wooden stake. Lucy is now at peace as Jonathan decides that they must kill Dracula. Fade.
The five men enter Carfax House. Valenti hands each one a mallet and they begin to search for the boxes. They scare nestling pigeons that fly every which way. The boxes are found in the basement. Ruthlessly, they attack them. Valenti brings out bottles filled with holy water and tells them to sprinkle drops onto the earth in the boxes. They do. A noise. Rats, squeaking.
Millions of rats come swarming towards the camera. They bunch together and coalesce into the aged Count. Valenti holds up his cross. Arthur attacks and is savagely thrown aside. Quincy has his head rammed against the stone wall and is killed. Dracula folds into a bat and flies out of the cellar with Jonathan in hot pursuit.
Mina sits on her bed. Outside Dracula climbs the wall to her bedroom. The heroes still have a lot of ground to make up. A mist enters through Mina's window, becoming heavier, suffocating. The heroes still race forward and Dracula crawls towards Mina through the mist beginning his seduction. Mina loosens her shoulder straps and we see the Count has become young. He opens his chest and she drinks. The men enter the room as Dracula informs them that she comes to him now. He throws Harker to the wall but retreats as Seward douses him repeatedly with the holy water. In agony, he turns to mist and exits through the window.
Jonathan holds Mina, who seems to be guarding a secret behind her tears. Valenti arrives and admits his failure in protecting the women. Holmwood mentions his faith, that it has to stay strong. Harker ventures that Mina must lead them.
Night.
As the men sleep, Mina wakes and slips out of the room. Jonathan wakes and begins to follow. Outside, he is met by Seward, Arthur, Harker and Valenti. The plan has worked. We see Mina throw on a silken robe to cover her bodice as she steps out into the night. She stops once to rummage in Valenti's medical bag. The heroes follow. Dracula waits with his cloak spread wide as Mina rushes into his arms. Dracula announces to the men that she is his. He bends forward to deliver the final bite. Mina thrusts a hidden stake into his heart. He recoils and grabs her by the throat. She thrusts deeper. He lets her go powerless and falls on to stone steps. He dies as his body breaks down to nothing and blows away on the wind, disappearing. Mina confides that she could not let the men know of her plan. Only she would be allowed to get close enough with the stake.
In church, Jonathan gives Quincy's obituary. He also talks of the need of choices and that worldly possessions are meaningless. Quincy's coffin is loaded into the hearse and Arthur says his goodbyes. As Jonathan and Mina leave, the camera pans to the healing wounds on Mina's throat. The car pulls away.
Review
Giving this film a modern twist has caused mixed feeling amongst fans of the story and I can relate to that. However, on viewing it again, I could see how younger people could care about the characters more, if they were allowed to see them in the type of environment that they were growing up in, as opposed to the sketchy backgrounds of Stoker's vision. The whole myth of Dracula is in the suspension of disbelief and, in a few treatments of the tale, both straight and unofficial, I have found it hard going with some movies that haven't really understood the professional or personal status of its young leads. Seeing the Count winning easily over these children of the computer age and the corporate banks stresses even more the strength of the evil that the monster possesses. It also illustrates the ease with which this demon can entrap all of us through our own greed and avarice.
My own particular problem with the film was actually seeing Dracula moving around in the daytime. Changing into mist, rats and bats. Climbing walls. All in bright daylight and all seemingly with a view to finishing the film early. For me, the last fourteen minutes are very rushed in respect to the fair pacing for the rest of the film. Like Philip Saville's Count Dracula (1977), this film tends to concentrate more on characterisation than previous versions, adding weight to its "live for now!" motto that it imbues in its young leads. Even the vampire himself has a freshness that is lacking in many film treatments.
Roger Young's script gives Dracula the ability to frighten people again, soliciting the love of his victims, that they join him in the last battle for Armageddon. Cajoling them with golden idols and poo poo-ing the need for morality in a world wher
e "do unto others" has always been the way of life and would never change.
Back in more conventional attire as the Count, Patrick Bergin never misses a step. He physically resembles Stoker's character more closely than anyone else, before or since. He adds new resonance to the clichéd speeches of the novel and is believable as both a warrior and a father of dynasties.
He is shrewd in his choice of servants. He picks Jonathan Harker to seal the deal for Carfax House in this version.
But, should he lose his control, he has already fastened on the young Lucy Westenra to begin his recruitments. Not slow to come forward, he begins his seduction of Jonathan Harker almost immediately as he laps blood from the head wound inflicted on the young solicitor by greedy peasants. The homosexual eroticism of this scene becomes more abhorrent than any type of monster that Lucy Westenra is fated to become later in the movie.
The Romance of Dracula; a personal Journey of the Count on celluloid Page 20
