Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Manthast Absolutely amazing

jacobjohntaylor1 This is ballet based on Dracula. Dracula is one of the my favourite horror stories. So I really enjoy this movie. It is very scary. It has great story line. I has great dancing. It has great music. If you what to see a great vampire movie. This is the one to see. Wei-Qiang Zhang is great has Dracula. He is a great actor. He is very scary. David Moroni is a great actor. 7 is under rating it. It is a 9. This movie very different. This movie is must see. It is based on one of the best horror books ever. And it is one of the best horror movies ever. Johnny A Wright is a great actor. This is one the best remakes of all time. 9 out of 10. This is a great film.

MisterWhiplash What does it mean exactly to say that Guy Maddin's Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary is stylish? Movies that, conversely, have a seeming "lack" of style like a minimalist movie ala Jarmusch em to get the short end of the discussion, while Maddin tries his hardest to make his images and movements of cinematic dexterity *pop* like cracking of knuckles on a movieola. It is a crazily inspired vision, stylized with urgency and a force to be reckoned with as far as taking silent film and pushing it into a new kind of expression: the ballet. Whether or not this will please people looking for a solid Dracula movie is another matter, since it isn't much, at all, a coherent telling of the Stoker story.And maybe rightfully so; people need to know right up front that Pages from a Virgin's Diary is one of the most unconventional vampire movies ever, and not because it changes around anything with the myth or even with many of Stoker's characters (although there is a Cowboy or other in the film that I don't remember in Stoker's story or Coppola's film). It's the expression of the story, told through the characters dancing and going through pantomime and detailed choreography that is both dazzling and frustrating. Unless you're really heavy into ballet and dance, after about half an hour some of this becomes just too much, and too much in the repetitive sense. Characters also keep popping up with title cards extended for them, but with the exception of Renfield (who's given a face by the actor that is remarkable), I couldn't entirely follow who was who, except that a Chinese guy drifted in and out and turned to be a vampire, yada-yada, etc.I shouldn't be this dismissive of the story, or the manner in which it was told. And, besides, I didn't go into the film thinking I would get an instant classic of the most noted (maybe too noted) source of vampire lore in history. What I did get was a fever dream, nd kaleidoscope, and experiment tossed into a blender of 1920s expressionism given more freedom than ever with 21st century technology, and hints of what was to come a few years later with Sin City's attempts at giving black and white film-making some "color" from time to time. The symbols come flying out almost as much as the dizzying camera-work, sometimes going as fast as the dancers, and for someone looking for just inspired direction on a familiar theme this is definitely where to look; in fact as far as the kind of Nosferatu story goes, this is as daring as Herzog's film.It just isn't entirely involving on an emotional level, and Maddin sets it all up and knocks it down like a very small-range technical exercise. Few exercises are this exhilarating or with such inventiveness with the process and history of film-making, but it's an exercise nonetheless. B+

Coventry Quite unique and very stylish interpretation of the legendary Bram Stoker-tale, shot by one of the most gifted (yet regretfully underrated) fantasy-directors of all time; Guy Maddin. There isn't much to say about storyline, as the film loyally tells the myth of Dracula as we all know it. The originality here is Mark Godden's ballet adaptation of Stoker's novel and the fact Maddin films it as a very stylish, neo-silent play with a very limited amount of sets and a Chinese actor in the role of Dracula. Of course, several sequences have been removed in this film (like Harker's journey through Transylvania) and others have been modified (it is in fact Lucy who's the main character, not Mina) but what Maddin adds truly makes up for this. This is a very beautiful film to look at, with a staggering use of color-shades and musical guidance. I never ever thought I would say this but the ballet performances are mesmerizing and – if ballet always looks like this – I urgently have to attend more recitals! With his third best film to date (after "Tales from the Gimli Hospital" and "The Saddest Music in the World"), Guy Maddin brings wonderful homage to classic and silent cinema. It's really encouraging to see that films like this are still being made in this day and age. Highly recommended!

scarletminded May be spoilers. Watch out where you tread.This came to my local theater and I didn't see it. I could kick myself in the head for not seeing it on the big screen now.I have never seen the Dracula ballet, but this makes me want to run out and get tickets for it, if it is as great as it is made out to be in this movie.The film captures all the plot points of the novel and serves it up in only 75 minutes. I have read the book and seen countless movie versions, but I have never seen the reference to Dracula's coat being cut and money falling out of it. Amazing. I was so happy that was put in. Money had to be a silent way of conveying the menace of Dracula, who in a genius move by Maddin, is Chinese. Wow. A modern update on a classic, but it is, unlike other lesser movie updates, with a purpose. No longer are the "reds" the threat, it is the Asians who might take over the money systems of Europe and America. This metaphor also calls to mind the outsider baseness of Dracula, the evil animal who must be stopped before he consumes the land and white women! The subtitles were a riot. The one will Van Helsing that ends with Etc, was inspired. For those who didn't know the story from the novel of Stoker's novel (which was given good yet shoddy historical treatment by Coppola some years back, so more people should know most of its scenes, minus the Vlad Tepes bits not in the book) these words explained the characters, their intentions, places in the book, etc, so even the layman can't get lost, giving humor in the process.The techniques in the ballet and the film are brilliant. For example, when Dracula is staked at the end (did I give it away for some of you?) he ends up lying on top of it, much like in woodcuts of Vlad Tepes when he would put people on stakes to torture them. I can't see wires, so how this was done brings out the kid in me. The adding of color here and there (such in the green of money and the red of blood) added much to the movie and it looked hand done, even if it was done by computer. I am unsure if it was or not. The ballet itself was a good forum for Maddin, a man who loves dealing with imagery from the Victorian age to the Depression Era, using grainy film and making the films look bygone, but adding modern ideas and translations. He is one of my favorite directors. He is like a Victorian Lynch...in fact many of his films have an Eraserhead like feel. Empty, tense, with a lot of feeling. Tara Birtwhistle is wonderful as Lucy. There is a scene where her suitors and Van Helsing come to her grave and she rises up and towards the camera. It is lovely and disenheartening at the same time and is, again in my kid self, quite unnerving! It is beauty in horror, which Birtwhistle claims with honor and grace.Wei-Qiang Zhang is also full of poise as Dracula. I love watching him dance. His Dracula is seductive, taking along much of Stoker's characterizations, such as hairy palms. He even dances with a knife. Gorgeous! I rented this film and will watch it as many times as possible. I love that the DVD has many extras, including commentary. If you liked this film, I highly recommend Careful, Twilight of the Ice Nymphs and Archangel. I also recommend you go see The Saddest Music in the World when it is in theatres! Maddin's world is definitely unique, bringing the past into the present with a much inspired bloodtap!