Count Dracula

I have a friend who swears that Louis Jourdan as Count Dracula is just about the sexiest-scariest thing she's ever seen. I can't say I agree, after having finally seen this 1977 two-part BBC miniseries, bowing at last on DVD—to the delight, I'm aware, of the legion of fans slavishly devoted to this incarnation of the classic tale of the famed bloodsucker. While Count Dracula is a stylishly surreal reinterpretation of Bram Stoker's novel, it feels a bit dated and stodgy some 30 years later. Oh, Jourdan does indeed put a sexy, urbane spin on the vampire—the fact that he is attractive and seductive is the only serious deviation from the Victorian novel (the count was decidedly repulsive) in this otherwise remarkably faithful adaptation. Still, even though all of the nightgown-clad virgins fluttering dreamily across manor lawns, coupled with moany-groany scenes of nocturnal bedroom neck-rophila, make for quite a sexually charged story of the supernatural, director Philip Saville's Count Dracula will feel slow moving to modern viewers. Presented with a so-so transfer and no extras, this is an optional purchase. (M. Johanson)