Dracula

[Dipsydoodle]

Anyone tuning in tonight? I'm quite excited!

Well, I liked it.

I did twig that Agatha was going to be Van Helsing from the Dutch accent and the comedic tone but I didn't see a lot of the other turns. I'm interested to see where the next episodes take us. We've still to meet Lucy Westenra, Renfield, Seward and co.

I do hope Van Helsing makes it but can't see how Dracula doesn't kill both of them there and then.

I found it appalling. I wanted to like it but it was dire, I genuinely don't understand why anyone found it amusing or interesting or in any way scary.

The nun was appalling - such dreadful pathetic attempts at political correctness-irony-gone-wrong, Dracula was cheesy and the actor who played Harker was the only bearable part.

stumbled I might not have watched it if I hadn't known Gatiss was involved.

I wish I had read it first though!

re Xmas TV, I've still got to catch up on the Gatiss ghost story, and the Susan Hill one that was on Channel 5.

Pinkbonbon yes

I think TV reviewers in major newspapers tend to come from the same sort of right-on Oxbridge set that BBC execs come from, and their opinions aren't neccessarily representative of the general viewing public. Plus, they might be reluctant to give a bad review when they know they'll be meeting up with Crispin and Jocasta at that new artisan Peruvian quinoa place in Knightsbridge next week

I don't fit into any of those clichés and stereotypes and don't even like Gattis' Sherlock or Moffat Dr. Who. I thought it was fab.

and the Susan Hill one that was on Channel 5

Thanks for the reminder.

I don't fit into any of those clichés and stereotypes and don't even like Gattis' Sherlock or Moffat Dr. Who. I thought it was fab.

I never said that everyone who liked it has to be a quinoa munching Guardian reading type (I liked it too), just that the type of people who write TV reviews for major newspapers don't neccessarily have the same tastes as the wider population.

LittleDog I just thought Dracula was meant to be cheesy?

Ariadne Can't remember if it's the Small Hand, I think it is. I read that but it was such a long time ago, I can't remember much about it.

Those who like the work of Gatiss, there was a great Ghost Stories trilogy at Christmas a few years back.

I think it was very good. Definitely kept my interest

Really enjoyed this and looking forward do tonight. I read somewhere that the weird CGI might be a nod to the old films with stop motion.

Disclaimer: I have no idea what this means really.

It also does make me want to reread the book. And I fancy Dracula, in particular, apparently when naked and covered in blood. I had a similar epiphany when I saw Kit Harrington shower in blood in Doctor Faustus. Maybe i am a vampire! I do have a Mina costume.

I thought the portrayal of Van Helsing was interesting in that it combined a few of Stoker's elements.

Van Helsing is an analytical man of science, who also puts his faith in religion and superstition even though he cannot explain them. Without this he could not have defeated Dracula. The emerging portrayal of modern women in Victorian Literature as bookish and capable was also thrown into the mix, bringing in some of the aspects of Mina's character. Dr Van Helsing is quite comedic, eccentric and odd, so it was right that Agatha should be too.

I think there are an awful lot of nods to the old style horror films - the high camp, the dodgy special effects (and wigs). Gary is is a huge horror fan, particularly Hammer Horror, he made a documentary series about horror films for the BBC a few years ago so it stands to reason he’d write something that harked back to that era.

As I saw someone say elsewhere online, Dracula as a novel isn’t that great, it’s just that it’s been adapted so many times that it has become part of the furniture and everyone feels they know it.

No idea why my phone corrected “Gatiss” to “Gary”, but there we go!

Here is the series I mentioned: m.imdb.com/title/tt1738321/

I absolutely loved it! Looking forward to tonight..

I thought it was more comical than scary!
Am a massive fan of the book, so the changes have annoyed a bit though.

Just to hijack the thread..... Disagree with PP who think the book is a bit naff. For me it was, and still is, the most riveting horror story I have ever read. Something to do with the contrast between the awful happenings and the matter-of-fact diary narration perhaps?

the film adaptations, however - all of them - utter rubbish.

I think the book is indicative of a time when melodrama was more popular than it is now, and I just find it overblown and unsubtle. It's not that I don't like it, just that I don't necessarily think it has to be approached with reverence. Respect, yes - but I think Mark Gatiss is such a horror nerd that he is treating the source material with great affection.

I'm probably quite unusual in that I love books and reading but I'm in no way a purist when it comes to adaptations. As long as alterations and changes make sense and work on a dramatic level, I'm all for it. Books and films are different media, and I'm not really interested in seeing yet another faithful adaptation of a novel that's been done so many times before. I thought the same about the recent version of A Christmas Carol.

I read somewhere that the weird CGI might be a nod to the old films with stop motion.

When the creatures (?) came out of the boxes, the way they moved reminded me of the old movies like Jason & the Argonauts. Is that stop motion?

AutumnRose1 what on earth made you think that?

The endless one-liners, the pseudo-feminist nuns ... I am a Guardian reader, I live in London though hate quinoa. It was crap! Very laboured and dull in parts, not true to the book, not a decent Hammer Horror spoof; just a crap BBC attempt at irony. Inside Number 9 was hit and miss, this is all miss.

Oh I bloody loved it! And when she was van helsing I shouted YESSSSSSS!!!! Sister Agatha is slaying it!

I like that the story is different slightly. It allows for surprises.

LittleDog sorry, I thought a Mark Gatiss version of Dracula would be cheesy

I’m not expecting cheese in the novel. So to speak.

covetingthespecialthings before digital tv and computers animation was made by multiple frames of a still image / object. Fantastic Mr Fox is a good example of more recent use of stop frame animation.

I agree eoin. I loved the Christmas carol adaptation and the fleshed out characterisation given to Mary Cratchett. It's poetic licence but it's fine.
It's also notable that these stories rarely had female characters who were more than stereotypes, or cyphers for male fantasies, or plot devices, or cautionary tales. It's so refreshing to see an adaptation where women are given real parts of the story - and it's necessary to use poetic licence to do that. I don't want to see more of the same male centred stories tbh.

Inside Number 9 was hit and miss, this is all miss.

I love Inside No 9, I'd have loved to see what Reece Shearsmith / Steve Pemberton would have come up with for this version of Dracula.

AutumnRose1 oh now you clarify - not Dracula but Mark Gatiss Dracula? He didn’t write it, you know. Dracula, the novel, is far from cheesy.