Dracula | |
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DVD cover
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Written by | Roger Young Eric Lerner |
Directed by | Roger Young |
Starring | |
Music by | |
Country of origin | Italy Germany |
Original language(s) | English |
Production | |
Producer(s) | Paolo De Crescenzo |
Cinematography | Elemér Ragályi |
Editor(s) | Alessandro Lucidi |
Running time | 173 minutes |
Production company(s) |
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Distributor | Sirio Vide |
Release | |
Original release | 29 May 2002 |
Dracula, also known as Dracula's Curse, is a 2002 Italian 2 part TV-miniseries written and directed by Roger Young and starring Patrick Bergin, Giancarlo Giannini and Stefania Rocca. It is based on the 1897 novel of the same name by Bram Stoker, though it updates the events of the novel to the present day.
At a ballroom of a hospital charity party in Budapest, the successful American lawyer Jonathan Harker (Hardy Krüger Jr.) suddenly proposes to his girlfriend Mina (Stefania Rocca). He wants to marry her within the week. Their friends Lucy (Muriel Baumeister), Quincy (Alessio Boni) and Arthur (Conrad Hornby) have been invited by Jonathan and have just arrived for the wedding, all without Mina's awareness. Meanwhile, they meet the promoter of the party, the psychiatrist Dr. Seward (Kai Wiesinger). Later in the same night, Jonathan is called by a rich client, Tepes (Patrick Bergin), who hires him to prepare the inventory of the wealth of his uncle, the count Vladislav Tepes (Patrick Bergin), in Romania. Jonathan travels to the Carpathian Mountains in his Porsche, has an accident and finally arrives in the count's old castle.
Vlad Tepes, here calling himself Count Vladislav Tepes, decides to leave his castle and move to the west. He says he feels tired from Romania's decline and the seclusion of his life.
In Budapest he discusses some illegal business with Harker. He also wants Jonathan's help in turning his collection of paintings, jewels and his gold deposits to cash. Jonathan's friends businessman Quincey Morris, specialising in money swindles, and Arthur Holmwood, a British diplomat who is in a debt, offer to help. Though Jonathan and Arthur have their doubts about the deal Quincey convinces them that money is all that matters and its one true power that makes the world go around.
Dracula gets very interested in those young people—the men, hungry for money and power; Lucy, who wants to sleep in many beds, in many cities, have new experiences and live for ever; and Mina, who wants to change the world and end human suffering. Throughout the film Dracula tries to seduce all five of them into his own world, make them wish to become vampires. Focusing again and again on how hypocritical morality is and promising them the loss of their consciences, he says survival of the fittest is the proper way and even the strong cannot save the weak. He also references God's slaughters in the Bible to prove that humanity was created in his image, the image of a killer.