MovieChat Forums > Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) Discussion > Unintentionally hilarious quotes in this...

Unintentionally hilarious quotes in this movie.

posted 6 years ago by Ghaleon (606)
9 replies | jump to latest

In this film Keanu Reeves delivers some of the silliest sounding lines I've ever heard.

Here are a couple off the top of my head:

"Bloody wolves chasing me through some blue inferno!"
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/828aa687-6b0f-4eb3-a0d9-9f07539b4edf

"I know where the bastard sleeps!"
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/cf5f5519-badd-4e6f-9305-d21705941dfd

There's something great about that laboured and spotty attempt at a posh English accent, saying words like 'bloody' and 'bastard'.

Are there any other funny lines in this movie?

[–] BrunoAntony (1198) 6 years ago

Every line of dialogue is hilarious because every actor in this film is hamming it up with the worst accents ever.

[–] Frogarama (12942) 6 years ago

I feel like the movie is intended to be lush and over the top in every way, and that's one thing I love about it. There's a classical movie (or even stage play) vibe to the overdone performances. Just look at Cary Elwes, his performance here is closest to The Princess Bride than it is any other role of his.

Look at the mix of horror and dark humor, with Renfield and with Van Helsing, with the suitors chasing after Lucy. Look at the sarcasm of Dracula's shadow choking Harker. The cut from violence to cutting meat for dinner. The gushing blood, in Lucy's bedroom, a scene that defines "overdone" in a beautiful way.

Granted, Keanu Reeves' accent is the worst of them all, but he is almost perfect for the role. Harker is a naive man who is lost, in over his head, and not sure if he can cut the mustard. That's exactly how Keanu Reeves himself was in this performance, probably nervous working for Coppola alongside greats like Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins.

I bet Winona Ryder was hired on to make him feel more comfortable.

Anyway, Harker is a side character. The main characters are Mina and Vlad, who are performed magnificently and with enough overzealousness to accent the unreal look of the film.

This is a movie that isn't meant for immersion. It reminds you that this is a performance, the varying narration (taken directly from the novel) reminds us that we are watching something false, and the way it happily celebrates the overindulgence of cinema and entertainment is just wonderful to me.

I love this movie not just because it's well made, but because it's entertaining on multiple levels. It can be violent and dramatic and then funny and whimsical like a parody in the next scene.

Tarantino does it to great success, and here, Coppola left his comfort zone to have fun.

Another movie from one of his peers which is similar is Bringing Out the Dead, by Scorcese. Amazing, entertaining, dark and funny and weird.

Dracula & that are my favorites from those two directors.

[–] Retromogul (1082) 6 years ago

That's a really great breakdown there. I've always enjoyed it on the level of intentional irony, an almost satirical depiction of Victorian social mores, and deliberate overdramatics, but not to the level of complete camp.

[–] Frogarama (12942) 6 years ago

Thanks! This Dracula is one of my favorite movies, possibly top 10 but at least top 15. I've loved it since I saw it opening week when I was 15 (wow, same age as when I caught Jurassic Park!)

I have also been meaning to design a shirt with a front that resembles the poster / cover of the DVD, with the stone wall in the back.... but it has a steel spatula in front of the wall. Instead of grease slits, the spatula has a design of holes that, put together, look like the devil face on that poster/cover.

Then the text above says "Bram Stoker's Spatula."

[–] Wuchak (8772) 6 years ago

It can be violent and dramatic and then funny and whimsical like a parody in the next scene.

It can also be horrifying, not in a scary way, but in a creepy or haunting way, e.g. when Drac delivers the infant to his three wives and when Lucy comes back to her tomb.

It's also very artistic in it's beautifully overblown Victorian Gothic world.

Then there are some truly gross moments, like when Drac's the hideous man-bat.

It's erotic in spots too, like Lucy in the garden with the man-beast, a really well-done sequence, and Harker with the three wives.

[–] Frogarama (12942) 6 years ago

And it's a visual stunner with 100% practical IN-CAMERA visual effects!

No effects were done in post, from what I understand. Even that train going across the top of the screen with the book filling the bottom -- That was built on a table, oversized book and miniature train. Then the eyes in the sky were projected onto the background as the camera rolled.

All that helps with the feeling of it being a play of sorts, like it could almost all be done live.

[–] Frogarama (12942) 6 years ago

P.S.

Also, I agree with your points, especially the creepy/haunting. The shadow of Dracula's hand moving across to Mina's picture, knocking over the ink... Dracula as a bat backing into the shadows, only his eyes visible, and lit up to reveal the same form made of rats.

The MUSIC, oh god it's one of my favorite movie scores of all time right there with Star Wars (technically, Empire Strikes Back is my fave score of that franchise).... the great Woljciech Kilar composing, I'll never forget that name (but I rarely spell his first name right). Deep and haunting, with highlights of beauty and softness that all too easily blend right back into the forboding depths. Tremendous, epic, sweeping, yet tense melodies.... powerful kinetic movements as well, it has so much to it, so very unique to the movie, so iconic, and all the tracks are amazingly consistent. Very inspired music.

I have tracks from it on my phone along with other favorite music I listen to regularly. It's also one of the only remaining CDs I keep handy in case I need it. I should rip lossless tracks from it.

Great words to describe the overall experience of the movie: Lush, Vivid, Unsettling, Hypnotizing, Grand... It's truly one of a kind.

I would love to see a movie inspired by it, a talented director trying to evoke the same feelings and atmosphere... without simply copying.

[–] Retromogul (1082) 6 years ago

Whatever intentionally or not these are some of my favourites.

Dr. Seward: "I feel like a blundering nobis!"

Quincy to Van Helsing: "Well you're a sick old buzzard!"

Quincy yelling out what sounds like "Coat!" a lot when he's angry or stunned. Have no idea as to its meaning but it still makes me laugh.

Mina: "Was she in a lot of pain doctor?"
Van Helsing (exasperated): "Yes she was in a lot of pain. Then we drove a stack through my heart; cut off her head; filled it with garlic and she found peace".
Harker: "Doctor!"

Not a line but the smash cut to a cooked roast after Lucy's beheading always made me laugh.

Lucy to Quincy at the party: "Oh please let me touch it...It's so big..."

Mina and Lucy gazing upon Arabian Nights.
Mina: "Can a man and woman really do...that?"
Lucy (breathless): "I did...Last night".
Mina: *gasp* "Fibber. You did not!"
Lucy: "Well...in my dreams".
Laughter.
Lucy: "Jonathan measures up doesn't he? You can tell Lucy".

Dr. Seward: "An autopsy?".
Van Helsing (Casual): "No, no...I just want to cut her head off and drive a stack through her heart".
Dr. Seward walks off in dismay: "Ohhh..."

[–] Karl Aksel (1487) 6 years ago

Dr. Seward: "I feel like a blundering nobis!"

I think you'll find that it's "novice".