Screening Log

This new site feature is a collective effort to summarize our viewing habits. Occasionally, you will find titles here that are coming to a theater near you, in addition to films viewed on television, and even films viewed in piecemeal. The screening log is archived each month; to view past entries select a month in the menu below.

September 2006 activity

Total Log Entries: 51

Total Comments: 37

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Dracula: Dead and Loving It / USA/France / 1995

After finding this staple of my teen years on a dusty shelf—recorded from somewhere onto a very poor-quality VHS—I was dismayed by the sparseness of humor. Compared to Brooks’ earlier work, this film lacks the rapid wit and sly social, cinematic commentary he came to be known for (though the film is pervaded by the usual horde of big-busted women, idiotic men, and crude body humor). There are rare moments of perceptive brilliance—the staking of Lucy, for one—as well as sharp drama that doesn’t fit Brooks’ forte—the Hungarian Dance sequence, one of the best scenes of any vampire film, doesn’t belong.

The union of Brooks and Leslie Nielsen, as well as the world’s most famous horror story, ripe for parody, should have resulted in one of the director’s best, ranked alongside Young Frankenstein; instead, it’s considered his greatest failure, and Mel Brooks, now 80, hasn’t directed a film since. Not that Brooks’ career has suffered—he’s won three Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, and three Emmy Awards since—or that my love of this film will ever subside. Despite its many flaws, Dracula: Dead and Loving It still remains one of my go-to films on a rainy day.

by Adam Balz | Source:
04 Sep 2006 8:44 PM | Submit Comment

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