Dracula (1931)

 

                                          Well, having watched two Boris Karloff films, one being not so scary and the other being iconic in its own way. I figured the only way to concluded this epic monster mash trilogy I figured well I have to watch the one true monster movie that started it all the one movie in which everyone would be so creep out after participating in a staring contest with one Hungarian actor and stomp on you and make you feel like your innocence's has been taking from you, and trust me I never felt so uncomfortable after seeing everyone's eyes in this movie. The movie I'm referring to is the Bela Lugosi classic Dracula, a film that sadly was his only great success because as we should all learn that Hollywood personally sucks for many reasons, they cursed actors in being type-cast but in the end, Bela did get the last laugh in wanting to be buried with one of his Dracula capes.

                                           The Dashing, mysterious Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi), after hypnotizing a British salesman, Renfield (Dwight Frye), into his mindless slave, travels to London and takes up residence in an old castle. Soon Dracula begins to wreak havoc, sucking the blood of young women and turning them into vampires. When he set sights on Mina (Helen Chandler), the daughter of a prominent doctor, vampire-hunter Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) is enlisted to put a stop to the counts never-ending bloodlust.

                                           The film itself is most certainly based on Bram Stoker's novel but it's also based on the 1924 stage play of Dracula for which Bela Lugosi starred in around 1927 just a couple of years before the development of Dracula began at Universal Studio's. Although Bela Lugosi did star in the Broadway production of Dracula, he wasn't the first choice in the eyes of Universal Studio's and it took countless actors to find the right choice, they even went so far to cast John Carradine for which I don't think I can take him seriously since watching Stagecoach and a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode of The Unearthly. Director Tod Browning decided to cast Bela Lugosi in the title role though Lugosi was paid a salary of only 3,500 dollars since, he had too eagerly accepted the role though at the time not a whole lot of money but still better to be paid than living through the Great Depression with nothing. The interesting aspect when you put both The Mummy, Frankenstein and Dracula in a row only one of the three are a true monster not Imhotep for many reasons he was just a tragic character because all he wants is to be with the love of his life and will stop at nothing to bring his lost love back even if it means doing terrible things, Frankenstein's monster is on the outside a monster but on the inside is a victim for which he was never asked to be brought to world we live in now he doesn't understand the nature of the laws of men. Dracula is the true monster because all he wants is to prey on women or men and enslave them to do their bidding and has no remorse and with that type of monster who has no remorse is a true monster and Bela Lugosi did an exception job at creating that monster though this was only success and was typecast for the rest of his life. Now again I doubt people today will not be scared of the monster movies in the golden age but the one thing that's so terrifying in the entire film is the eyes and the one actor in the movie who deserves a lot of that uneasiness is Dwight Frye who plays Renfield in the movie, and holy crap the way he plays crazy is just visually stunning but also terrifying especially in on scene where they discover the ship Dracula killed the crew and he's under the brig and shows his uneasy smile it's just so great but also creepy at the same time and even one scene in which Mina starts to attack her lover and her eyes are just terrifying that you’re not sure if she's going to attack him or rape him though let’s be honest if she was intending to rape her lover he wouldn't mind it would most certainly be "oh no, please no, okay honey have your way with me" so, there's no question that everyone's eyes are the uneasy part of the entire movie in fact if I was in a staring contest I wouldn't last and would curl up in the fettle position. Now granted kids today won't be scared by these monster films of the early 30's but the positive aspect of the movie is not just the actors doing a great job but it's 73 minutes so that's always a positive aspect because that's what all scary movies should be in terms of length as well as ninety minutes and two hours but anything above two and a half hours is just way too much. As a film buff, I would most certainly recommend it for anyone to watch old school scary movies, though now I plan to go off and find real scary movies to watch.