Girls of Geek Movie Review - "Dracula: Dead and Loving It"

Written by Scotty

There are times in your life when you just need to put everything aside and watch a funny movie.  I have a couple of go to movies like this in my collection, but one that will never lose its place on the shelf is Mel Brooks’ Dracula: Dead and Loving It. This movie was purchased for my collection for two reasons, one, it is a Mel Brooks movie and two, my love for the Dracula story.  If you are a lover of the Dracula story or Vampires overall and are in need of a laugh, this might be the perfect movie to get you out of the depths and into loving life again.

Thomas Renfield is traveling to Transylvania to have the estate of Carfax Abbey signed over to Count Dracula.  Not knowing who the wealthy man is, Renfield is warned by the people in the village to stay away from the old castle where the Count has been known to lurk.  Not believing a word that the people say, Renfield ventures up to the castle along and meets the renowned Count and is blown away be the state of the castle he is living in.  Without being able to bring himself to ask any questions about what is happening around the castle, Renfield is accosted by two beautiful woman, who turn out to be vampires, but before they are able to bite him, Dracula comes to his rescue.  Putting Renfield under his spell, Dracula now has a minion to take him to his new home in London, along with the promise of overseeing very small lives, Renfield will do Dracula’s bidding, no matter what.

Doctor Seward is running his sanitarium without a care in the world.  Giving his patients countless enemas whether they are good or bad, he has his treatment plan in place and will not have to deviate. Receiving a new patient who was the lone survivor on a ghost ship that has landed in the harbor does not frighten him, but the outlandish antics that Renfield shows does leave the good Doctor curious.  But Renfield is not the only new person that has entered his life, as Count Dracula makes it known to Seward and his group that he will be residing at Carfax Abbey.  The group lead by Jonathan Harker does not know what to expect from the older gentleman, but young Lucy has been taken away by the Count and wants to have that long talk with him that she was promised.

Although everything seems safe and sound around the grounds, Dracula has decided to make his move on young Lucy and is able to find a way into her room and slowly start to change her into one of his own.  Not knowing what is happening to the young girl, Dr. Seward calls in outside help from Professor Van Helsing.  Van Helsing is able to tell straight away what is happing to the young girl and tries to save her, but he is too late and Lucy becomes one of the undead.  With his continuous thirst, Dracula is not ready to stop and has turned his sights to Seward’s daughter, Mina.  Although nobody believes that Dracula is a blood sucking vampire, they cannot leave it out of the question.  Filling Mina’s room with all sorts of vampire deterrents, Dracula has to break Renfield free from the sanitarium and utilize his human talents to make it passable, but even Renfield is not able to gain a hundred percent access as his mind wonders much too frequently. 

Without giving the away the ending of the movie, I will leave it right there.  I will admit that it is difficult to do a review on a comedy without quoting all of the hilarious lines and what made me laugh throughout.  What I will tell you is that Dracula does have a shadow that has a mind of its own, Renfield has developed a taste for insects and Jonathan Harker winds up covered in blood for no other reason than love.  This movie hits all of the aspects of the previous Dracula movies, but adds in what made them silly, along with scary.  It is hard to go wrong with a Mel Brooks movie whenever you need a good laugh or just to be entertained.  If you have not yet seen this movie, you should add it to whatever viewing list you have.  Until next time, Stay Scared and keep the laughter alive.

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