Bram Stoker's Dracula

In 1897, real estate agent Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to arrange Count Dracula’s purchase of a London home. The ancient lord of the castle is soon revealed to be a vampire and Harker becomes a willing victim to the ministrations of three sinfully lovely, blood-sucking ladies. Upon seeing a photo of Harker’s fiancée Mina, Dracula notes a resemblance to his wife, who committed suicide centuries before. The count travels to London, where he appears looking uncannily rejuvenated. Mina’s innocence, and her life, are in grave danger … Shot almost entirely on soundstages, the film is an homage to early cinema, with echoes of F. W. Murnau’s horror classic Nosferatu (1921). Not only did Michael Ballhaus once even deploy an old, hand-cranked camera, almost all of the special effects were created using traditional in-camera techniques – stop motion, double exposure, running the film, and having the actors move, backwards. To create a certain mood, entire sets and sequences were designed monochromatically, producing the effect of old, tinted film. The colour red, signalling both blood and passion, was often dominant.