John Sunter

What a pity. I had been eagerly awaiting this film and became completely disinterested within 20 minutes. All the right ingredients in the story to make a gothic masterpiece but it just didn’t deliver. There was zero atmosphere to the setting- a ship with no creaking, rolling or visible wind! How could you do a film aboard a ship and not add those key elements that establish the sense of place?? Geographically I could not work out where we were within the ship scenes. A crew that did not sweat and appeared dry for the most part on board a ship labouring over the North Sea. Nor was there any depth of character and Dracula seemed like an afterthought only appearing as a cg bat ripped off from Coppola. The lighting was often so dark that you couldn’t see what was going on so there was no suspense and release. No iconic reveal moment. And no black dog running up the beach at Whitby at the end- would have been a perfect conclusion to the story. No fear, no romance and very little of the supernatural, surreal quality that Dracula is known for. I would have made this film more like a western. Stunning visual composition in camera - with minimal dialogue, strong silent characters battling the elements of nature and their faith, and creating a sense of paranoia amongst the crew as they begin to suspect each other of the killings. With the story told by the narration of the captain’s log? But instead it just felt flat and inert. Troll hunter was awesome, so I wonder what happened here.