Long considered an outlier in Francis Ford Coppola’s filmography, the auteur-cum-vintner’s 1992 adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula has ripened, some 30 years since its release, from splashy studio release into a masterpiece of gothic horror. The follow up to The Godfather III (1990) harkens back to the director’s salad days at the knee of Roger Corman, stepping in to helm a seemingly random assortment of horror cheapies. For all its elaborate bluster, Dracula hews closer to the esprit de corps of American International Pictures’ efforts The Tower of London (1962) and The Terror (1963), marking a return to form of sorts for Coppola after years spent dabbling in prestige studio filmmaking.
