What could be more inspirational than watching Bram Stoker's Dracula? Yes, we all know that Mr. Monotone (a.k.a. Keanu Reeves) should have never been allowed within 20 miles of the sets of this film, but, be that as it may...
The sets, the costuming, Gary Oldman's and Anthony Hopkins' performances, the atmosphere, man! Beautiful! (As an aside, and very strangely, both an ex-boyfriend and an ex-husband worked on this film, in two different departments. Truly chilling!) If you haven't seen this, you should. Here's the trailer:
What woman wouldn't want to be told that a man "crossed oceans of time to find you?" Especially one who looks as hot as Gary Oldman did in that amazing gray suit, top hat and Pince Nez glasses. (And the "I am your servant," comment didn't hurt, either.)
I have to add that the score of the movie itself was a pulse, another character in the movie. One of the interesting things about Dracula, the book, versus Dracula, the movie, is the fact that, in the book, Dracula was only a presence throughout the bulk of the book. As has been noted before, a movie about Dracula without seeing Dracula is... Freaking boring.
Thus, the love story. It's interesting that Mina chooses Jonathan Harker, rather than Dracula, as her husband. Jonathan seems to me to be a not-so-bright replacement. Perhaps this was the seed of the sexy vampire idea. The idea of the vamire as the seductor is a will-o-the-wisp in the book. It is merely a suggestion, something easily missed in the rest of the story.
As he seduces and finally takes Lucy, Mina's friend since childhood, he says, "I condemn you to living death. To eternal hunger for living blood." At last, his teeth fasten on Lucy's throat, and we know the throat he's really craving is Mina's. Next we see Lucy, she's in a glass coffin, like Snow White. 
And at the very end, Mina defends her master, her eternal lover. In the snow, Quincey's blood is a red gibbering grin. And Van Helsing says, "We've all become God's madmen. All of us."How could a haunter be uninspired by this?
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