Dracula: Dead and Loving It

Plot

In 1893, solicitor Thomas Renfield travels from London to Castle Dracula in Transylvania to finalize Dracula's purchase of Carfax Abbey. Dracula, a vampire, hypnotizes Renfield into becoming his slave. They sail for England, and during the voyage Dracula kills the crew. Upon arrival, Renfield is found alone on the ship and confined to a lunatic asylum.

Dracula visits an opera house and introduces himself to his new neighbors: Doctor Seward, the asylum's administrator; Seward's daughter Mina; her fiancé Jonathan Harker; and family friend Lucy Westenra. Dracula flirts with Lucy, then enters her bedroom that night and drinks her blood. Mina finds Lucy pale in bed late the next morning. Doctor Seward, puzzled by puncture marks on her throat, calls in Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

Van Helsing tells the skeptical Seward that Lucy was attacked by a vampire. Despite placing garlic in Lucy's bedroom, Dracula uses mind control to lure her out and kills her. Van Helsing meets Dracula and suspects him after they argue in Moldavian. Lucy rises as a vampire, drains her guard, and tries to seduce Harker.

Van Helsing instructs Harker to stake Lucy's heart. Dracula preys on Mina, wanting her as his undead bride. He spirits her to Carfax Abbey, drinks her blood, and she later tries to seduce Harker. Van Helsing discovers puncture marks on Mina's neck and confirms she was attacked by placing a cross on her hand, which burns it.

Reception

The film debuted at number ten at the box office and grossed $10,772,144 by the end of its run. Critical reaction was overwhelmingly negative. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an average grade of C on an A+ to F scale. James Berardinelli of ReelViews wrote that the film does not approach the level of Young Frankenstein, calling it a toothless parody that misses more often than it hits.

He noted that Leslie Nielsen's sense of timing is impeccable but said his presence cannot resurrect the stillborn lampoon, adding that unless one is a die-hard Mel Brooks fan, there is no compelling reason to see it. Joe Leydon of Variety wrote that Nielsen toplines to agreeable effect as a dead-serious but flustered Count Dracula, but the film never cuts loose for belly laughs. He found the picture mild to the point of blandness, with the only real sparks coming from Peter MacNicol as Renfield.

Mel Brooks said that after critic Roger Ebert gave the film a negative review, Brooks lashed out at him, telling Ebert, 'Listen, you, I made 21 movies. I’m very talented. I’ll live in history. I have a body of work.

You only have a body.' Ebert wrote that he was saddened by the encounter but had to be honest that the movie just did not work.

Did You Know?

• Mel Brooks offered Kelsey Grammer $3 million to play the role of Dracula.
• Principal photography took place from May 8 to July 26, 1995, at Culver Studios in California.
• The film parodies The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).