“I have crossed oceans of time to find you.”
Featuring blood ejaculating from the walls, tears turning to diamonds, and the most operatically exaggerated performances committed to film, it’s fair to say Francis Ford Cord Coppola’s Dracula is a bit much. Yet, this is why the film endures. Back in cinemas this month to mark its 30th anniversary, Coppola’s adaptation of Bram Stoker’s immortal novel still remains a feast for the senses. Nabbing $215 million at the box office and earning three Academy Awards, it still stands as the filmmaker’s most visually stunning picture and his last truly great movie. Gary Oldman’s fresh portrayal of the titular Count still captivates, with costume designer Eiko Ishioka’s eye-popping work helping amplify his presence. Adding to the film’s otherworldly elements is its use of in-camera special effects, a feature that has only grown more refreshing in the age of CGI addiction. While contemporary critics were divided over this absolute fever dream of a flick, the past three decades have seen its popularity endure with genre cinema fans.
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Coppola throws everything at the screen over the film’s 128-minute runtime. X-ray vision, absinthe trips, upside-down rats, and a ranting Tom Waits. Mix that with a brilliantly hammy performance from Sir Anthony Hopkins and a notoriously wooden one from Keanu Reeves, and it’s fair to say that the film’s tone can be uneven. Luckily Bram Stoker’s Dracula has an ace up its sleeve. A masterful score by Polish composer Wojciech Kilar that holds the whole thing together like glue. Realising he’d need a soundtrack strong enough to match the bold visuals that would be presented on screen, Coppola sought something with an Eastern European flavour to match the Count’s heritage. Enter Kilar.
After studying under the prestigious Nadia Boulanger in Paris, Kilar worked on his first domestic film score in 1959, eventually composing music for over 100 Polish titles. Despite this incredible output, Kilar had never created a score for an English language production. That all changed when he received a 3 am phone call from the director of his favourite movie, The Godfather. Delighted to be working with such a cinematic titan, Kilar’s role was made sweeter by Coppola handing over complete artistic freedom when it came to the music. “Listen, I’m a director, I made the film. You’re a composer, you’ve seen the film, do what you want.” It proved a fruitful relationship.
Opening piece ‘Dracula – The Beginning’ sets the tone perfectly. As the prelude reveals Vlad’s warrior past and his eternal love for his Elisabeta, Kilar’s foreboding score rises and descends, like the crashing of waves, or more fittingly, a heartbeat. Over six and half minutes, the orchestra builds in menace, drums pounding away before the entire ensemble erupts into a hellish climax just as our antagonist renounces God and damns himself to immortality. Subtle, it ain’t. On ‘The Brides,’ Kilar opts to soundtrack Jonathan Harker’s encounter with Dracula’s demonic companions with a slowed, demented waltz, mocking any sense of formal courtship as they erotically play with their pray.
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To flesh out Dracula’s character and make it somewhat sympathetic, screenwriter James V. Hart introduced the idea of Mina Harker (Winona Ryder) being the reincarnation of his long-lost fiance. Soundtracking their growing attraction is ‘Love Remembered,’ Kilar casting aside the gothic doom, letting harp and oboe stir the emotions. It’s a moving and sweet highlight, delivering some needed calm to the regular onslaught onscreen. The following pieces, ‘Mina/Dracula’ and ‘Love Eternal,’ return to their melodic motif, but each time growing darker and increasingly melancholic until finally Dracula is bested and Mina sets him free.
Kilar’s end credits only reinforce the duality of the film, a gothic horror with a deeply romantic core. Dracula’s thundering march blasts onto the screen before melting into a twinkling and eerie midsection, then reintroducing Mina and Vlad’s motif once more. It captures everything Coppola wanted to present with this interpretation of a well-worn character. Oldman’s Dracula is a warrior, a monster, and an eternal romantic. A ‘tragic hero’ in the words of writer Hart.
For some, Coppola’s stab at this classic tale will always be too overblown, too dramatic, and too uneven ever to be considered a classic. Others, however, appreciate a master of his craft going full force, letting his imagination fly no matter what sticks. Luckily for us viewers, Wojciech Kilar’s timeless score helps bind everything together. The film’s makeup, costumes, and sound design may have won the Academy awards, but it’s Kilar’s score that stops the whole picture from falling apart. Thirty years on, it’s still proving that ‘love never dies.’
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Words: Sam Walker-Smart
Bram Stoker’s Dracula – 4k Restoration is back in select cinemas until Halloween
