Bram Stoker's Dracula

Francis Ford Coppola is not as faithful as he would have you believe in his take on Bram Stoker's "Dracula" -- he spins the real-life historical figure Vlad the Impaler into Dracula's origins and motivations -- but he certainly creates a vivid, visually spellbinding version of the story. Coppola's son, future filmmaker Roman Coppola ("CQ"), created the magnificently expressionistic visual effects, all crafted with old-world techniques. Gary Oldman is an elegantly ferocious Count Dracula, Winona Ryder better than you might remember as Mina, Keanu Reeves is surprisingly well cast as her stiff and naive fiancée Jonathan Harker, and Sir Anthony Hopkins plays to the rafters as a rather glib Van Helsing. Richard E. Grant, Bill Campbell, Cary Elwes, Sadie Frost and Tom Waits (as a memorable Renfield) co-star. The new two-disc collector's edition, packaged in a slim folder and slip-sleeve, features a new introduction by Coppola and a commentary track originally recorded for its laser disc release more than a dozen years ago, as well as a dozen deleted or extended scenes (from low-resolution video work prints) and four new featurettes. The 28-minute "The Blood Is the Life -- The Making of Bram Stoker's Dracula" features unseen rehearsal and on-set footage and "In-Camera -- The Naïve Visual Effects of Bram Stoker's Dracula" is a look of the crafted approach of the visual effects. Also includes "The Costumes Are the Sets -- The Design of Eiko Ishioka" and "Method and Madness -- Visualizing Dracula" and a trailer for Coppola's upcoming theatrical film "Youth Without Youth." Also available in Blu-ray format.