Three time the Moustache!

Well hello again kiddies,

So soon we return to what has become one of my favorite segments on this little site I call the Filmsquish. For those of you who aren't 'in the know', let me break it down quickly for you. Every Friday in the land of Squish, I attend what I have named Hecklefest (a weekly social adventure into a schlock-out with my cock out). We drink, eat, and watch bad movies, all while yelling insults at the screen and somehow tend to avoid missing the subtle nuances of subtext... but usually there isn't any, so no harm no foul.

Hecklefest isn't about the high art, my friends. But it is about interactive film night - cheesy Kung-Fu movies, low-budget Italian Horror or 80s action flicks, all up for grabs. Yes, this event is often painful, though sometimes one may just  find awesomeness beyond compare. So it is time I tell you again what three films need to be noticed while gazing at the goo stuck to the side of the bottom of the barrel.

Budget - Death Wish is a franchise, and hence it got some real dough, especially if you consider all the guns they used. Don't be mistaken however, the research department didn't get one red cent. Those punks' outfits... ouch. Just, ouch...

It's awesome!

Three mummies are certainly better than Mummy 3, or so I hear...

Budget - Really decent. How they go from scenes with puppets for spiders and bats to real-life crocodiles getting carved open to have zombie women put into their carcasses, I don't know, but the gore is great. Then there's the occasional surprise of having gorgeous sets like grandiose Buddhist temples. Real quality.

Bruce Lee Fights Back From The Grave (1979) Kung-Fu Action Exploitation: And then there's this. First of all, it's the sort of exploitation cinema that gives it a bad name, namely exploiting the death of someone like Bruce Lee, then using their name to sell your shit without even coming close to hinting that credit has been given where it was due. How do I know this? Because the film stars Bruce Lea, and the film opens with a Styrofoam grave with Bruce Lee's name on it. Right away lightning hits the grave, and an Asian dude in blue jeans leaps out of said grave, ready in his fighting stance. Before you can ask, "what the jumpin Jesus just happened?", the bass groove starts and the picture to your left pops up, usurping the question and adding,  "What IS that thing?" Not to ruin the story for you, but that thing is absolutely nothing. Don't get your hopes up because there is actually no bald-headed, eyepatch-wearing hairy man-bat with one testicle sitting on the Eiffel tower in this film, however there is some pretty sweet British overdubbing and some random animalistic kung-fu noises escaping Bruce's lips as he prepares to punch and kick dudes. I'm pretty sure I even heard yipping a couple times! Add overexaggerated acting and blocking and you're dancing.

Best scene ever?  Hmm. Well it's hard to top a blue-jeaned Bruce leap out of a grave and have it old absolutely no context to the rest of the film, but it really stays good/bad after that. Aside from scene after scene of Bruce carrying his friend's ashes around his neck with the dead dude's framed picture on it, I guess I'd have to go with the story the girl tells about the horrible scene she witnessed that kickstarts  the plot. As we delve into her flashback, we see the men she describes: "Five men came in. A Chinese, a black man, a white man, a Mexican, and a Cowboy." I hurt myself laughing as I imagined the race of Swedish-looking Cowboys from the country of Cowboynia.

Budget -  No my friend, no no no. At least they could afford extras. Here's a better way to put it. The love interest/girl being protected is house sitting this mansion of a place. In once scene she and Bruce are sleeping on the floor with blankets and pillows. I asked, "Why aren't they in bed?", my guest's retort was, "they couldn't afford a set with a bedroom already in it".

Then it clicked. Ouch, that my friend is G-Grade cinema.

So there you have it. The big lesson of film is this: 1976 clothing is tragically awesome.

Lookin for more Stardust? Right here kiddies.

How's about you pick a Bunch o' Peckinpah?

Genre: Western

Starring: William Holden (Sunset Blvd. • The Bridge on the River Kwai), Ernest Borgnine (From Here to Eternity • "McHale's Navy")

Directed By: Sam Peckinpah (Straw Dogs • Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia)

Overview: A band of robbers planning retirement head down south to do an arms trade with a Mexican general. Of course, robbing the arms is also part of the plan.

Peckinpah - a name I've come to associate with bullet-chewing gritty guy flicks. Even Straw Dogs, a tale about a pacifist protecting his homestead, can't undo the awesome macho that is Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia - and you know with a title like that, it better be that good.

But I digress. Peckinpah started directed Westerns on television in 1955, and since that time the mainstay of his career has been without a doubt the Western, with The Wild Bunch as one of his most acclaimed.

The story opens with a band of soldiers drifting cautiously into town.  The tension builds as we watch children piling fierce red ants on top of nigh-helpless scorpions.  A temperance parade begins marching through the centre of town as we see rifled men on roofs watching the soldiers approach a bank.

The question of 'who the real aggressors are' is a theme which Peckinpah hold dear in The Wild Bunch, and given how much of a fan of ambiguous morality plays I am, it was nice to see another Western carrying the torch of muddled perspectives. The Wild Bunch is a complex tale with backstory carefully meted out to the viewer to keep an air of mystery while still giving us everything early enough to keep us well invested when the proverbial manure hits the proverbial fan.

There's a nice surprise in The Wild Bunch however, and that's the camaraderie that we find among the rag-tag band of thieves that we follow. Having a story that includes good times and laughter without the scene itself being comic, well that adds an element of closeness that is seldom seen in Westerns. It's setting is original as well. Instead of the ever-common 1890s, our story takes place in 1913, right in the middle of the Mexican revolution and on the cusp of the Great War. Add an innovative cinematography that shows frequent rapid edits from multiple angles as well as slow-motion shots of men hit by bullets falling off roofs or being riddled bloody... well that tips the scale just enough into the awesome without even having to get into the final climactic scene that's full of surprises.

"Gee Ted! Do you think a wild b..."
"Shut up Frank."

Performance: 9 Cinematography: 8 Script: 8 Plot: 8 Mood: 8

Overall Rating: 82% (Saddle Up)

Aftertaste:

 Peckinpah. One of those directors who makes quality film for the masses. Every time I watch one of his, I get all excited about seeing another.

Is there anything in this world better than film?

Genre: Film Noir Mystery Crime Thriller

Starring: Edward G. Robinson (Little Caesar • Double Indemnity), Loretta Young (The Bishop's Wife • The Farmer's Daughter)

Directed By: Orson Welles (Touch of Evil • Citizen Kane) 

Overview: A War Crimes Commission agent released a war prisoner in hopes that the German will lead him to bigger fish, namely a Nazi commander by the name of Franz Kindler.

The Stranger is yet another film I've hadn't heard of before venturing down the viewing halls of 1001 Movies.  In fact I didn't even remember it was on the list until I opened my valu-pak of Noir. Imagine my surprise when I find a bargain bin collection's film bordering on perfection in every single scene.

The obvious elements are there: Film Noir Expressionist lighting, murder mystery gritty suspense, and that look we all appreciate: men wearing trench coats and dames looking 'just right'. However on top of all this there's performances that are dramatic without being hammy, and writing that's telling without being expository, and all the while, we're in a perfect little moment ripe with imagery and darkness, betrayal and double-cross.

The interpersonal relationships between the characters twist and turn and shift from one moment to the next, and Edward G. Robinson is ever vigilant in his stone-faced way. As the walls close in on our suspect played by Welles himself, his demeanor shifts from one that is cautious and secretive to 'the brave man in need of a confidant' as he draws in those near to him by twisting honesty just enough. The way the investigation itself is secondary to the constant trust games and mind games is what makes The Stranger so powerful. Combined with a shooting style that embraces the Film Noir mood, it's no surprise that Orson Welles' only profit-making film is one worthy of being brought out into the light.

Welles, ever awesome

Performance: 10 Cinematography: 8 Script: 9 Plot: 9 Mood: 9

Overall Rating: 90% (Get To Know It Better)

Aftertaste:

My only complaint is the lack of slapping. I've decided long ago that the best Films Noir have a five-finger foray to the face, and I was very disappointed that this classic Genre-following/propagating/rooted film was sans slap. Perhaps The Stranger is like a Persian rug, with each having an imperfection deliberately woven into it. Because only God can create something that's perfect, it would be arrogant for mere mortals to aspire to the same standards.

Either way, it's been far too long since I delved into the Film Noir Genre and I think I've been bitten by the bug. Any Noir-O-Thons out there?

I think it got it's name from the number of times I got up to turn it off.

Genre: Comedy Western

Starring: Cleavon Little (Vanishing Point • Fletch Lives), Gene Wilder (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory • The Producers)

Directed By: Mel Brooks (Young Frankenstein • Spaceballs)

Overview: When a corrupt industrialist sends a posse of outlaws to run the people out of a town to make way for the rail, the town asks the equally corrupt governor for a sheriff. What he sends them is the blackest sheriff that ever sported a silver star.

I hate Mel Brooks. If I had to sum up what I think of the man in one word it would be 'goof', and I don't mean it in a nice way. Yet, somehow, somewhere, after all the pros and cons are added up, I can't help but reluctantly say, "Yeah yeah fine. Blazing Saddles is stupid, but not that stupid." And, much to my surprise, if it's one question I never thought I needed asking, this film answered it: "How many times do you have to hear the word 'Nigger' in one sitting before it turns hilarious?" Turns out he number is somewhere around 19.

There's a scene where a little old lady gets punched repeatedly in the gut, a scene with a horse gets punched out in the face, repeated moments of absolutely retarded writing and idiotic racism, constant breaking of the fourth wall, not to mention a comic disregard for historical accuracy and as you'd expect, a fart joke scene that is, at least, appropriate for a Western given that cowboys are sitting around a fire eating beans.

Then again there's Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, and Cleavon Little to even out Mel Brooks' moronic performance (not to mention this hot momma below). But surprisingly, above all things, there's a solid plot that delivers, entertains and makes us laugh enough to give kudos to the makers of this little slice of film history. I'm sure this film had had it's share of hate, given the frequent racism, but it's all tongue-in-cheek deconstructivism that somehow helps us see the stupidity of it all in the long run.

You know. I was looking for a picture of our dark hero, but I could only think of one of his lines, "Where the white women at?"

Performance: 8 Cinematography: 8 Script: 7 Plot: 8 Mood: 7

Overall Rating: 76% (Hurts The Tuchus, But A Good Hurt)

Aftertaste:

Just goes to show you, no matter what you've thought of a man's work in the past, you can still be surprised by the odd gem in his pants.

Cheers to that.

Same Rating as Hellboy 2 - yet 10 times more terrifying.

Genre: Action Crime Drama 

Starring: Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain • A Knight's Tale), Christian Bale (The Machinist • The Secret Agent)

Directed By: Christopher Nolan (Memento • Batman Begins)

Overview: As Batman's plan to stop the Mafia's money laundering draws to a close, he discovers the mob still has one hell of a wild card up it's sleeve. Batman enlists the aid of Harvey Dent, the new District Attorney, to help find the Joker in the deck.

Don't believe the hype.

Create it.

It's official, The Dark Knight is breaking all sorts of world records for box office cash-ins and rightly so. With Heath Ledger taking the madness that is one of DC's favorite villains and making it his own, sprinkling in a wonderfully written and eloquent explanation to his morality, then tossing in the most frightening look he's ever had, I'm sure I'm not the only blogger out there giving Heath top billing. 

I suppose the greatest shame of all is how we'll never be able to look forward to Heath's particular brand of The Joker in sequel after chaotic sequel. He's gone the way of John Cazale, James Dean, and scores of other actors who's final performance could easily be called their best, and have been taken  in their prime.

I'll do you all a favour and refrain from praise or criticism that would even come remotely close to a spoiler, and add only that you should really make a point of seeing it on the IMAX screen. Given that 30 minutes of the film were shot in the ginormous format, you aren't doing yourself any favours missing the presentation the way it was meant to be seen.

Yeah, it's damned good and I'd see it again in theaters. I wonder... has Hollywood finally learned that the best thing they could do for a film is make it good? Oh wait, the last record breaker was Spiderman 3. Nevermind.

But you know, in the end, what did you expect. It's motherfucking Batman.

You couldn't break it if you tried... er...

And everyone say hello to the un-toppable new Joker

Performance: 9 Cinematography: 9 Script: 9 Plot: 9 Mood: 10

Overall Rating: 92% (And A Long Dark Knight It Should Be)

Aftertaste:

Although I will take this opportunity to call bullshit on IMDB's user voting system, which places this film at the number one slot, far above and beyond The Godfather now dethroned from its years long top-of-the-heapness. I blame all the contextless little kiddies who only watch recent films. It's sad to think that a morality play with superheroes is the Internet's all time favorite movie in the world.

I've heard far too many people say they won't watch films that are older than they are - or ever worse "aren't Hollywood movies made since GCI the only ones worth seeing?"

Gah! Don't get me started.

Theirs the horribly postered

Genre: Western

Starring: Kirk Douglas (Paths Of Glory • Ace in The Hole), Dewey Martin (Land of the Pharaohs)

Directed By: Howard Hawkes (Rio Bravo • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)

Overview: A band of fur traders decide to cut a trade route north up the Missouri river. With a wealthy trading company out to stop them and Blackfoot Indians blocking their path, theirs will be a perilous journey indeed.

Howard Hawkes. Turns out I've seen quite a few of his films in the last couple years. The Big Sleep, Sergeant York, Rio Bravo. And there's more on my list to be seen as well: Only Angels Have Wings, Bringing Up Baby, Scarface (1932), His Girl Friday. Clearly Howard's the kind of guy who makes movies with staying power, but I'm finding that Howard Hawkes will forever be one of those middle of the road directors in my books.

Perhaps it's the era he worked in. Perhaps his subjects were far more hard-hitting in that day than they are today. I mean take The Big Sky for example. What daring Hawkes must have been displaying by including in his cast of characters a bunch of French Canadian coureurs-de-bois! Perhaps he just liked exploring pioneering spirit as long as there's frequent moments of singing Frenchmen, who knows. Either way, that's what you're going to get with The Big Sky, though a young and full-of-song Kirk Douglas may surprise you in a scene or two.

Ultimately, I can't wrap my head around the fact that The Big Sky is a film I just had to see before buying the farm because it's about how men are going north with a kidnapped Indian princess to break the trading ice. A few of you may enjoy the sarcasm and embellishment of my words on occasion, but I assure you that is precisely their plan. Since the Blackfoot usually attack white folk on sight, these guys get the brilliant idea of bringing along a "hostage" - not "rescued captive" or "merciful translator" or any other word to describe a noble young Blackfoot Princess - but "hostage". What makes it sting that much more is that we get a couple noble speeches along the way about white man's greed.

I don't get it.

I need to remind myself that breaking into song is normal in 50s' Westerns and given that I have to sit and listen to it, it's a nice change of pace having it be a bunch of my French Canadian ilk.

"Tradum Wampum Whisky Princess?"

Performance: 7 Cinematography: 8 Script: 7 Plot: 6 Mood: 6

Overall Rating: 68% (Regular Sky, Trust Me)

Aftertaste:

With antagonists that are your typical "strong ox goon bad guy" and "foppish powerful rich trader dude", the originality of the story, though enticing, is certainly not something I'll be thanking the heavens I went out of my way to find this gem on eBay, given its rarity.

Did I mention it could only be found on videotape? Or that it was colourized?

Right. Let's stop there.

Travis Bickle, thy name is fame

Genre: Crime Drama Thriller

Starring: Robert DeNiro (Raging Bull • 1900), Jodie Foster (Contact • The Silence of the Lambs)

Directed By: Martin Scorsese (The Departed • Goodfellas)

Overview: Travis Bickle is a Vietnam veteran who drives a cab on the graveyard shift. Everyday he sees New York City's depredation and decides to make a change for himself and a young prostitute.

Feel free to click here to skip the spoiler bit at the beginning.

He·ro

1 a: a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability
b: an illustrious warrior

c: a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities

d: one that shows great courage
e: an object of extreme admiration and devotion: idol

When Travis Bickle makes his application to be a taxi driver, he's asked about his military service. "Honourable discharge" he answers. Sounds like a great guy right from the start. From then on we are shown the very definition of the post-modern nuance. We have as archetype a Vietnam War veteran, the 70s' classic symbol of a questionable hero. As we follow his attempt at becoming someone beyond his station, he succeeds, but a more convoluted hero there cannot be.

When he guns down a robber at a convenience store (below)  everything about that act is heroic in one light: Travis gives the robber fair warning before firing. He then asks the store owner if he requires any more assistance, and when told no, he leaves without any desire for reward. Yet in another light he's nothing more than a murderer: said warning is nothing more than "hey, dude" and he leaves  before the authorities arrive only because the gun was bought illegally.

Enter Iris the prostitute, someone Travis sees as an innocent that can be saved. And in the final climactic shootout, he does save her, though in doing so he greatly endangers her in the war zone he creates. Aside from that he presents great horrors to her by shooting a pleading man in the head a she begs him not to do it.

From being seconds away from becoming famous for the murder of a presidential candidate, he instead kills a den of pimps and gangsters, receiving praise as a hero and getting his name in the paper, and indeed changing lives for the better in the process.

Writer Paul Shrader certainly knew how to take every situation Bickle faced and warped it to make the character a shining example of a disturbed man with a hero complex.

And a nice stab at media bias too.

Hero Factor: Part I 

Sometimes a film is as easy as having a character explore his existence, and the reason Taxi Driver has made it this far in the books of classic Hollywood film history, in my humble opinion, is because it plants us firmly in a zone that's pure art and high drama while still being on the pulse of the contemporary issues that our everyman character and his city was currently facing.  An anthropological study of the now by one of its observers, who at the same time is unwittingly one of it's tragic victims, is what Taxi Driver is really about. A man as tainted as everyone else seeing the rot around him decides to do something about it.

What a better example of life imitating art than John Hinkley Jr.?

What astounded me on this third viewing was the montage work. Whether it be night shots of a 70s NYC or during voiceovers while we saw the garage or Travis alone at home, these shots from the cab and the moments during our disturbed's monologues were always crowned by a 'real' mood. What we saw was gritty but without being overly dark or expository.

Add names with weight like Cybil Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle and a nice little cameo role played by a very young Scorcese and that fleshes it out pretty well indeed.

You know Scorcese's proud of this one.

Practicing the intimidation stance in front of the mirror, all while watching your character slip into madness? That's the stuff of genius.

Performance: 10 Cinematography: 8 Script: 8 Plot: 8 Mood: 9

Overall Rating: 86% (Pull on up)

Aftertaste:

Taxi Driver is without a doubt Americana Classics material because it embodies the essence of that little burg. One year after this was made Charles Burnett would the bring us something very similar: a gaze into the tribulations of the poor black ghetto of Watts as seen by the victims of its society, doing what they can to get by. Both Taxi Driver and  Burnett's Killer Of Sheep have been inducted into the Library of Congress' National Film Registry.

So when I say Taxi Driver is a national treasure, I'm not exagerating. 

Nope not in Blackface yet.

Genre: Drama Music Romance

Starring: Al Jolson, May McAvoy (Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925))

Directed By: Alan Crosland

Overview: A young jewish boy goes against tradition and decides to sing jazz rather than following in his father's footsteps and becoming the next church cantor.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain't heard nothin' yet!" - #71 on AFI's Top 100 movie quotes, and the first sychronized spoken line of dialogue (as opposed to sung) in film.

For those of you who know nothing of The Jazz Singer, let me tell you the reason for its fame: this is the first film in history that featured synchronized sound. Yes kiddies, The Jazz Singer is the world's first talkie. That's its claim to fame, but at the same time its a film that merits more than simply being technologically... sound (oh, I slay me).

Now, let it be known that this is also a silent film. In exactly the same way that Chaplin used synch sound in his first talkie, Modern Times, and Hitchock used with his first sound film Blackmail, they also had bits that did not use the technology throughout. All that to say, don't get confused when you see intertitles instead of hearing people speak for the first while.

Let's move on to the tale. We have a young Jew who can sing. his father and his father before him were Cantors, Jews who lead a synagogue in songful prayer. Of course pops wants what is best for himself and expects his son to follow in his footsteps. In the meantime, his son is off singing at a smoky pub. What's he singing? Ragtime music. One things leads to another and the son is disowned, sent away to become a man on his own, taking with him nothing but a photograph of his mother.

Years later we hear (for the first time in film history) Al Jolson sing a song that skyrockets him to stardom. He ends up back in his home town, and decides to drop in for a visit in hopes that his father can forgive him, especially with his grand success a proven thing.

As stories go, it's cozy as a blanket, heartfelt and snuggly, though there are deep moments. Clashing traditions and impossible decisions add an element of suspense that turn what could have been merely a fluffy musical into a drama worthy of its fame.

Knowing that you're hearing the first words spoken in film, and knowing that those words are a much bigger picture intro of "You ain't heard nothin' yet"... well that's a moment of history that washes over you in a very interesting way.

Uh.. yeah... there it is.

Performance: 8 Cinematography: 8 Script: 7 Plot: 7 Mood: 8

Overall Rating: 76% (Listen Up)

Aftertaste:

Then there's Blackface. It's one of those stark reminders that what you're watching is certainly not current. While watching The Jazz Singer, the typical attitude and conveyance of the minstrel show Al Jolson is 'tributing' isn't there. Yes Al sings a song called mammy, and yes, clearly he's done up like a raging Negro, but there's none of the mockery or the disparaging attitude common of the minstrel show.

I guess what I'm saying is, I have no idea what they were thinking with the Blackface bits, they're so out of place, regardless of how innocuous they are.

The bat has feet. How quaint!

Genre: Vampire Horror

Starring: Bela Lugosi (White Zombie • The Wolf Man), Helen Chandler

Directed By: Tod Browning (Freaks • The Unknown)

Overview: "MLENH! MLENH! I vant to suck yer blud!"

Bela Lugosi, in his most classic role: Dracula. The man with a distinctly strange accent and a gaze that bores to the very soul. A man whose castle is nothing more than a broken, web-entangled grave that creaks of death and despair. Talk about a weirdo.

Imagine my surprise when I found myself yelling, "No! No! No!" at the screen for Dracula being a crappy film.

Dracula had a deep streak of the mood I felt while watching the original King Kong, namely, it's really just a 30s B-Grade film with a lot of hype and special effects that somehow etched its way into pop culture for generations. The only difference is that, with Dracula, there's a lack of good special effects (big rubber bats on strings are quite beauteous and ever so majestic) and I don't see how the hype carried it this far... 

Having recently seen Herzog's 1979 Nosferatu, I can tell you how chilling and strange Dracula seems as a character, yet Lugosi's portrayal carries absolutely none of that strange behaviour indicative of centuries of twisted unlife. Admittedly, comparing 1931's tamer, saner Drac to 1979 is unfair, yet when comparing to Murnau's version from a decade earlier, the mood of terror in Browning's vision is simply not there. Though most of it can be attributed to sub-par cinematography, there's other factors that played into it's mediocrity.

Firstly, the year it was made: 1931, two years into The Talkie as a commonplace thing, and the camera / sound technology was still in its dirty clunky stages. I've said it time and again, the worst era for film were those transition years. Combine that with the Great Depression, which caused a drastic drop in Dracula's budget, and you find clunky visuals with the more lavish and elaborate scenes completely cut. Next we have veteran director Tod Browning. Given his penchant for the absurdly strange, you'd think he'd be a perfect candidate for the subject matter. Turns out he wasn't completely into the project. His ideal candidate and good friend, Lon Chaney, had recently died of throat cancer. Bela was the one who'd gotten fame from playing Dracula on stage and was the obvious casting choice, yet Browning was against it from the beginning. During production, rumour has it that he was completely uninterested, tearing out pages of the script and leaving much of the direction to his cinematographer.

What disappointed this critic most of all was how the vampirism of Dracula was diminished by a frequent lack of on-screen display. While feeding from a female neck, the camera cuts to a reaction of a scream, or Dracula leans towards a woman hidden behind a wall. In the final scene, where Van Helsing comes to drive the stake into Dracula's chest, we see it as a wide shot, with Van Helsing blocking the action, hiding the coffin with his body. As he deals that final blow, we don't see any of it. Rather we cut to the screaming maiden clutching her heart. Though I may easily chalk it up to not wanting to terrify the 1930s kiddies in the audience, I still won't like it. I'll spare you the discussion as to how there's no real mention of the romanticism of the blood or the complete obsession our main character should have with it.

Dracula is a classic, but be warned children. It may only chill your wallet.

Entirely mislead by the awesome that is this moment.

Performance: 7 Cinematography: 5 Script: 6 Plot: 7 Mood: 7

Overall Rating: 62% (Once Bitten...)

Aftertaste:

As with 99% of all film, all is not lost. The original run-down, spider-infested castle of Dracula strewn with his eerie wives is certainly a welcome sight. I shall also extol the virtues of Dwight Frye, the man who played Renfield the mad slave, a dramatic performance above and beyond that of Bela himself, and I was quite pleased to see a version of Dracula that focused much on a little-explored character. 

A final note about the sequel, Dracula's Daughter (1936)? It also sucks, pardon the pun. How anyone could get excited about a woman whose power is shining a ring in people's eyes is beyond me.

I much preferred Bela in White Zombie. In that he was a force of motion, something to be looked up to. And he definitely uses those hypnotic eyes.