Review of Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) by Stuart K — 30 Apr 2014
By the mid 1990's, Mel Brooks suddenly found it even harder to get his brand of movie spoofs made, he'd had a deal with Fox since the 1970's, but they'd grown tiresome of him. However, he was given one last stab at a movie spoof, sending up Dracula, in the same way he'd done Young Frankenstein (1974).
It's too faithful to the plot of the 1932 Universal original, but it does have some laughs. 1893, and solicitor solicitor Thomas Renfield (Peter MacNicol) has traveled all the way to Transylvania to meet the mysterious Count Dracula (Leslie Nielsen), who Carfax Abbey in England.
However, Dracula has Renfield hypnotised into becoming his slave and they head for England. Renfield is found on a boat with all the crew dead, so he's institutionalised under Doctor Seward (Harvey Korman).
However, Dracula has already taken a liking to Seward's ward Lucy (Lysette Anthony). Seward notices Lucy acting strangely, and he calls upon Dr. Abraham Van Helsing (Brooks), to help find out what's wrong with Lucy, and he takes an interest in Dracula.
Put it this way, this is much better than most of those horrible Scary Movie spoofs that followed in the years afterwards, and there's something quite old fashioned about this one, as it references the Draculas of Universal, Hammer and even Coppola's 1992 take.
It's not perfect, but the last of a dying breed of spoofs.
This review of Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) was written by Stuart K on 30 Apr 2014.
Dracula: Dead and Loving It has generally received mixed reviews.
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