chastel
Crab On The Rampage
Where wolf? There castle!
Posts: 42
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Post by chastel on Feb 17, 2009 20:00:38 GMT
(Sorry if this is already posted, but I did not find thread to this...)  Fred Saberhagen´s novelization of James V Hart´s screenplay Bram Stoker´s Dracula (1992) is fun little book. The movie has, of course, great Hammeresque look - even token tavern scene! - and it is whole lot of fun.  The copy I have - translated as Finnish under the title Draculan tarina which means Dracula´s story - features also preface by Hart and afterword by director Francis Ford Coppola. |
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Post by dem bones on Feb 17, 2009 20:23:54 GMT
Words cannot express how much I loathed that film when it was first released! Much of my dislike had to do with the monumental hype campaign and 'At Last! The True Story!' nonsense which damn near put me off vampires for good (that would come a few years later when Interview With The Vampire hit the fan in similar circumstances. Who can forget Ophra leading a bunch of seriously over-sensitive audience members in a prayer circle at the premier because Tom Cruise's Lestat was so 'realistic' he'd half terrified them to death?). That said, I enjoyed the novelisation - just not as much as I did Saberhagen's earlier The Dracula Tape and The Holmes-Dracula File. Thank you very much for posting the cover of the Finnish edition!
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chastel
Crab On The Rampage
Where wolf? There castle!
Posts: 42
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Post by chastel on Feb 17, 2009 20:43:15 GMT
Words cannot express how much I loathed that film when it was first released! Much of my dislike had to do with the monumental hype campaign and 'At Last! The True Story!' nonsense which damn near put me off vampires for good (that would come a few years later when Interview With The Vampire hit the fan in similar circumstances. Who can forget Ophra leading a bunch of seriously over-sensitive audience members in a prayer circle at the premier because Tom Cruise's Lestat was so 'realistic' he'd half terrified them to death?). That said, I enjoyed the novelisation - just not as much as I did Saberhagen's earlier The Dracula Tape and The Holmes-Dracula File. Thank you very much for posting the cover of the Finnish edition! No problem! I must say I also enjoyed Saberhagen´s The Dracula Tape and The Holmes-Dracula File, and he has also excellent Dracula story in the collection Dracula in London. |
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Post by andydecker on Feb 18, 2009 18:52:09 GMT
And I thought I as the only one ;D I could forgive Coppola making van Helsing a wannabe hippie, Lucy a victorian slut and Mina a stuck up bitch. But had no one the courage to tell the director that the idea to make Dracula an emo-vampire sucks? That stealing the plot of The Mummy and forcing it on Stoker´s tale was idiotic idea? Mina as Dracula´s reincarnated love? That is fan-fiction.  I have no problem with the melodram and I loved the look of the movie, but if Stoker had indeed written the novel as such a mess it would be long forgotten. |
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Post by David A. Riley on Feb 18, 2009 19:16:10 GMT
I made the unforgiveable mistake, having already seen this awful film at the cinema, to buy it on DVD. I could not stand more than fifteen minutes of it. Every tooth was aching by that stage.
I can understand how the novelisation was much better. No difficult feat.
I just can't understand how the careers of those who starred in this travesty weren't blighted forever afterwards.
David
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Post by Johnlprobert on Feb 18, 2009 20:06:54 GMT
Once again the Vault doesn't let me down! I saw FFC's BS's Dracula at the cinema and for the second time last week & I still think it's awful. There are so many things wrong with it - the casting is dreadful (it's not really the fault of Ryder, Reeves et al - they were never capable of rising to the material - it's the fault of the backstage people who thought it was a good idea to hire them in the first place). Coppola's insistence on using soundstages throughout means occasionally the film is impressive but on the whole it looks cheap. And making Dracula the hero is always going to leave you in a bit of a pickle as to what to do with the actual heroes.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 18, 2009 23:16:36 GMT
Ah, what a decent bunch of fellows you really are. I'm welling up! Francis Ford Coppola & James V. Hart - Bram Stokers Dracula (Pan, 1992) Don't know if you've ever had that thing where you pick up a book and hope you intensely dislike it? Well anyway, such is the case with me and this here Coppola & Hart collaboration. It's been hanging around unread for years and the only reason i can think of as to why that should be the case is because i'm scared it won't be the pile of pretentious tripe I want it to be, in which case i'll have wasted my 70p.  Tell you something else I couldn't stand about the film. That bloody Annie Lennox song! I mean, i'm not a fan at the best of times but dear God, was that dire. |
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chastel
Crab On The Rampage
Where wolf? There castle!
Posts: 42
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Post by chastel on Feb 19, 2009 19:06:34 GMT
I have this book too! Gorgeous pics and very enjoyable. I definitely disagree with you all about the quality of the film!  |
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Post by franklinmarsh on Feb 19, 2009 21:13:04 GMT
Huzzah! Go Chastel! I'll let you down Lord P! I recently took part in Project Dracula where a desperate brigade watched and reviewed 12 different takes on Bram's turgid melodrama. I loved this version. It was so gloriously over the top I revelled in every overblown minute. Funnily enough, one of the reasons I couldn't wait to see it when it came out was Sir Garfield Oldman. He was God having played Sid Vicious, Joe Orton, Lee Harvey Oswald and football hooligan 'Bex' Bissell - and would go on to play Beethoven. Seeing it again, apart from a couple of bits of business, his Dracula is one of the weaker aspects of the film. And the lost love shenanigans are lovingly ripped off from the Curtis /Palance version.
Turned up what I thought was a novelisation of Kenneth Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein which turned out to be (Crikey!) Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Outrageous! Where was Fred Saberhagan's Kenneth Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein when I needed it?
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Post by Johnlprobert on Feb 19, 2009 23:12:11 GMT
I have this book too! Gorgeous pics and very enjoyable. I definitely disagree with you all about the quality of the film! This definitely seems to be a film 'for the ladies'. Oh how chucklesome Mr Marsh!  |
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Post by franklinmarsh on Feb 20, 2009 8:14:31 GMT
I have this book too! Gorgeous pics and very enjoyable. I definitely disagree with you all about the quality of the film! This definitely seems to be a film 'for the ladies'. Good job I'm in touch with my feminine side. |
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chastel
Crab On The Rampage
Where wolf? There castle!
Posts: 42
|
Post by chastel on Feb 20, 2009 10:04:10 GMT
Huzzah! Go Chastel! I'll let you down Lord P! I recently took part in Project Dracula where a desperate brigade watched and reviewed 12 different takes on Bram's turgid melodrama. I loved this version. It was so gloriously over the top I revelled in every overblown minute. Funnily enough, one of the reasons I couldn't wait to see it when it came out was Sir Garfield Oldman. He was God having played Sid Vicious, Joe Orton, Lee Harvey Oswald and football hooligan 'Bex' Bissell - and would go on to play Beethoven. Seeing it again, apart from a couple of bits of business, his Dracula is one of the weaker aspects of the film. And the lost love shenanigans are lovingly ripped off from the Curtis /Palance version. Turned up what I thought was a novelisation of Kenneth Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein which turned out to be (Crikey!) Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Outrageous! Where was Fred Saberhagan's Kenneth Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein when I needed it? Yai! |
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Post by benedictjjones on Feb 20, 2009 11:20:53 GMT
can't comment on the novelisation but i actually enjoyed the film when it came out. me and a mate from school convinced the man in the video shop to let us rent it ('it's for my dad...honest...')
BUT for me the defining version of Dracula (apart from the actual novel) is Robert Powell reading it over two casettes - wonderfull stuff! (till i snapped one of the casettes!! i'll have to see if i can get it on CD)
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Post by dem bones on Feb 23, 2009 14:17:33 GMT
Yet more BSD merchandise.  Dick Hansom (ed.) - Bram Stoker's Dracula (Dark Horse, 1993)  Mike Mignola'Dick Hansom'? Anyway, I don't know how long these ran for, but here's issue #1 (note free gift still taped to the debut). As mentioned, the film didn't do it for me, but there's no arguing with Mr. Migola's gorgeous artwork. The only other issue I can lay a clammy hand upon is #7, doubtless acquired for Archie Goodwin and Tom Sutton EC-esque Vampirella strip, Carnival Of The Damned. This time the lead strip is devoted to part two of an Esterban Maroto & Roy Thomas Vlad The Impaler adventure. Seven also runs a Dave Hughes interview with Anne Billson, author of the - prophetic - yuppie vampire novel Suckers ("Bleeding London dry") which i was very excited at the time but still haven't read!  Tom SuttonDark Horse had comics devoted to Jurassic Park, Aliens and Star Wars running at the same time, but our paths never crossed. The movie is awful, of course, and anyone who likes it is a gurly, but somebody must have spiked my drink in Forbidden Planet or something because embarrassingly, I seem to have accidentally bought two packet of trading cards as well (ten to a packet, no gum)!  |
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Post by franklinmarsh on Feb 23, 2009 14:54:01 GMT
Seven also runs a Dave Hughes interview with Anne Billson, author of the - prophetic - yuppie vampire novel Suckers ("Bleeding London dry") which i was very excited at the time but still haven't read! . The movie is awful, of course, and anyone who likes it is a gurly, but somebody must have spiked my drink in Forbidden Planet or something because embarrassingly, I seem to have accidentally bought two packet of trading cards as well (ten to a packet, no gum)! Suckers was actually quite good as I recall, but then Anne Billson and Kim Newman were film reviewers for City Limits (?) who actually liked horror films - quite unusual at the time. 'Gurly'? Are you implying something? I don't remember a bar in Forbidden Planet. Or did you just happen to have your usual crate of Guinness about your person at the time? |
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