As Good As It Gets

Admirable film.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Considered quite brutal and excessively graphic in its day (1958) - "Horror of Dracula" (a Hammer Production) was really surprisingly tame by today's gore-infested standards of over-the-top, blood-saturated vampire movies.But - All the same - This particular horror film of glorified blood-lust is notable for being one of the very first vampire films to initiate the whole ultra-violent, blood-thirst trend that has continued (at full-throttle) to this very day.I think that it's interesting to note that this particular film-version of Bram Stoker's famed vampire story has Count Dracula's castle situated just outside the paranoid, little village of Klausenberg (not the expected, Transylvania).Anyway - Though this film did have its horrific moments - (Stake through the heart, anyone?) - It really wasn't anywhere near to being as sinister and savage as I was expecting it to be.

Yes to this movie if you are a fan. It captures the theme quite nicely and as a bonus we get to good movie stars to play important parts making this entertaining. The movie travels along nicely and keeps the viewers interest no problem. I am currently reading the book by Bram Stoker and highly recommend this to all fans of the subject matter. I don't mind telling you that when I was a kid, I thought those two little holes in the neck were made by those fangs and then the fangs functioned as straws slurping it all up. Just recently I was surprised to find out that those fangs are puncture type tools and that a process similar to giving one a hickey pulls the blood out. It changed my whole perspective watching these movies with this new knowledge. So the fangs are not straws but sort of like a can-opener LOL. I like eating while watching movies but go lightly here as well as on the drink too. Good snack movie however. I enjoyed the sound track when the Count shows up. It sets the mood quite nicely. The Horror of Dracula delivers...enjoy

Some years ago it was written that "Lee and Cushing are the only Dracula and Helsing on the cinematic map, in the hall of fame, and I can't see them ever being bettered." That is the general and overwhelming consensus on this site, although there are still a few laughable retards in their habitual denial.Dracula and van Helsing, in this version, are unbelievably real. They are totally convincing. Van Helsing is the archetypal Victorian ethical gentleman, courteous, considerate, dauntlessly resolute, athletic and well-informed. Dracula is the pagan defeated demon from immemorial ages past, a fiendish but superbly imposing nobleman from a forgotten age.The acting support is adequate if not great, though memorably good are Woodbridge, the surly landlord; Malleson, the jolly undertaker; the corruptible customs official; Mina (or Lucy) and the little girl. The geography is distinctly vague. An excellent anachronistic touch is the bottle of Gordon's gin in the inn's uncertain locality, just the kind of familiar everyday British product you'd expect to find in Transylvania --- if that's where this is.I've seen some of the other versions, and they are all totally forgettable. This one is indelible. You could say it has permanent bite; and the plot holes are legion but quite irrelevant.

Someone here recorded it, so I thought, 'what the heck'. This was a big surprise, as it was good! Ordinarily I would have passed on it, having seen other films like it which were junk movies, pure and simple. But the main role went to Peter Cushing playing Helsing, the vampire slayer (I borrowed that from a current popular entity), and I can report that neither he nor Christopher Lee overacted or hammed it up as they did in other over-the-top horror films. The story moved along, the color was natural and the plot was (almost) plausible, never descending into vaudeville. Good supporting acting and a thoroughly refreshing dip into the horror genre make this one worth recommending.