Dracula

Universal Pictures | Release Date: July 20, 1979

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

67	METASCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

Gary Arnold

The new Dracula is a dazzler, a classic retelling of a classic text. From opening wolf howls through ominous, ambiguous concluding images, it sustains an exciting, witty, erotically compelling illusion of supernatural mystery and terror. [13 Jul 1979, p.E1]

Roger Ebert

What an elegantly seen Dracula this is, all shadows and blood and vapors and Frank Langella stalking through with the grace of a cat. The film is a triumph of performance, art direction and mood over materials that can lend themselves so easily to self-satire Read full review

Bob Thomas

A splendidly mounted and impressively acted version of the Bram Stoker classic. [09 Jul 1979]

Jay Scott

Dracula may not be as big a success as it should be - we don't like our myths dissected, after all, and there is an uneasy (but workable) truce in the film between subtle stylization and the demands of the contemporary horror audience for gore. [14 Jul 1979]

Staff (Not Credited)

Director John Badham and Frank Langella pull off a handsome, moody rendition, more romantic than menacing. Read full review

Richard Schickel

There is no point in retelling this tale if you are going to be stuffy about it. Read full review

EmpireKim Newman

Some interesting creative choices make this more a curio than a great film. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Langella offers the best interpretation of Stoker's villain since Christopher Lee, and Badham's film, shot in England, gives him a classy environment to devastate. But the decision to create such a sympathetic vampire (especially alongside Olivier's hammy Van Helsing) leaves the film short of suspense, and so romance has to take most of the weight. As a result, it begins to drift badly at the climax. Read full review

David Ansen

Violence belongs in Dracula - the problem is simply that Badham is not good at it. Virtually every big action scene is confusingly staged and clumsily edited. It is particularly sad to report that Olivier is terribly misused. [23 Jul 1979, p.70]

Janet Maslin

By no means lacking in stylishness; if anything, it's got style to spare. But so many of its sequences are at fever pitch, and the mood varies so drastically from episode to episode, that the pace becomes pointless, even taxing, after a while. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

The sight of Dracula climbing down a wall headfirst is the highlight of the entire movie; the rest of the film is just another plodding remake. The familiar story is given no new twists, save for an updated Edwardian setting and a few automobiles. Read full review