It's high time this move / video had a review!
I stumbled across this ditty of Amazon Prime on a day I was working from home. First of all, let me say that as long as you take this film for what it is (or seems to be)- a piece of Am Dram on video, not really a movie with any real preventions towards professionalism, it makes it very enjoyable, and worth two and a half hours of your time (particularly if you're also doing some sort of mundane manual task at the same time).
First the bad bits: The film has some dubious performances and accents. Is this meant to be Britain? It has no sense of pacing or place and the soundtrack, while sometimes effective is often misjudged. The solo violinist need taking out and - well, given a few more lessons, to be honest.
BUT the script is the most faithful to Stoker's original I can think of, despite the rather clunky references to cellphones and laptops. Once I got used to the chunks of Stoker's rather ripe prose being spoken by the cast in a modern setting - quite Shakespearean, really - I found the whole thing rather charming.
OK, so some scene's are lifted from Bram Stoker's Dracula, and the final fight scene (hey, we know a girl who's a gymnast, let's chuck her in there and let her do some back flips for no apparent reason) is hilarious. The editing is well done, the make up and effects (fake blood gushes around like water) quite convincing considering the zero budget and the cast give everything. The two female leads are particularly engaging, and there one bizarre moment of frontal male nudity that will turn some heads.
The final problem is merely technical - filmed on standard video just prior (presumably)to the HD revolution, it feels like a period piece even though it's less than 10 years old. But that's part of the fun.
If you don't have Amazon Prime, catch this on youtube. I enjoyed it!
