[TV Show Review] Dracula (2020)
Plot Summary: In 1897 Transylvania, the blood-drinking Count draws his plans against Victorian London.
Creators: Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat
Directors: Jonny Campbell, Paul McGuigan, Damon Thomas
Runtime: 3 episodes / 88-91 mins
Original Network: BBC One, Netflix
Main Cast:
- Claes Bang as Dracula
- Dolly Wells as Sister Agatha / Zoe Helsing
- Morfydd Clark as Mina
- John Heffernan as Jonathan Harker
- Lydia West as Lucy
Review by: Anthony
I enjoyed Sherlock and the seasons of Doctor Who that Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat wrote so when the news broke that they'd be doing a version of Dracula I was very interested in seeing their spin on the classic character.
In 1897 Count Dracula sets his sights on leaving Transylvania and going to the “new world” of London.
What I Liked:
The first episode of the three for this short series is the best, the second is ok, and the third is the worst.
I really liked the set up for the series and how the story is told over the first episode.
I liked the gore and creep factor here. From the flies buzzing around, wolves being dismembered, and all of the vampire feedings. It was bloody and gory and brutal like a good monster horror show should be.
The lead characters did the best they could with the story they were given. Claes Bang as Dracula was fantastic. He was funny, charismatic, and terrifying. Dolly Wells as Sister Agatha was incredibly smart, clever, brave, and unfazed while facing the full might and terror of Dracula when everyone around her was falling apart, sometimes literally, from the pressure of the situation.
What I Didn’t Like:
The second and third episodes.
After we meet Dracula and see him revived to youth in the first episode. The second episode is decent with the location being all on a ship headed to London set in a whodunit murder mystery where the passengers on the ship start turning up dead one by one. It’s the third episode when things just take a terrible turn. All of the questions that have been hinted at and built up landed like a lead balloon.
What is Dracula afraid of? Why does Dracula fear the cross? Why does Dracula fear the sunlight? What is all the talk about the answers being in the blood and lives in the blood? None of the answers make sense.
In most horror shows and movies, there’s a human or group of humans that are the lead or protagonist that we follow and the monster is the villain that needs to be defeated. In Dracula he’s the lead, he’s the protagonist, and we’re supposed to feel sad for him at the end. It didn’t work for me.
Mostly I’m disappointed in myself cause I feel for Gatiss and Moffat’s bag of lies again. They did this with Sherlock. I loved the show at its start. It was so cool new and hip with great actors. Then the whole “how did Sherlock survive the fall” thing happened. I didn’t watch their Jekyll show but reviews show that they did it again there. They grab you and catch your interest initially only to build up the plot to let you down later on. I pray I remember this when they announce their next flash shiny project and I’m not drawn in, or better yet I’ll drop it after the first episode and save myself the heartbreak.
Summary
Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat’s take on Dracula has some interesting plot setups that don’t pay off in the end. The great acting and over the top horror elements try their best to save it but it all falls short.
Images Courtesy of IMDB
