Nutty Ken Rusell adaptation of a Bram Stoker - the acting is all over the place, the tone goes from genuine silly to camp comedy, there's Oscar Wilde quotes throughout, Hugh Grant as a Wilde type hero, a cast including Grant, Peter Capaldi, Sammi Davis, Catherine Oxenberg and most of all Amanda Donohoe in a star making turn.
This film was uneven but I really enjoyed it. It's constantly surprising and unexpected - sometimes it's unexpected in bad ways, but that keeps you on your feet. It's a comedy and is full of silly moments - but there's scary ones too like when Donohoe kills that kid.
I actually wish Russell had treated the material more seriously at times - I felt he could do it. The scary moments are effective and I wanted more of them.
Hugh Grant is kind of the hero... well you think he is, even if he is also depicted as a bit of an upper class twist complete with man servant and RAF uniform... at the end he goes on a mission to get the worm... but doesn't do anything during the climax while Peter Capaldi cuts down Oxenberg, rescues Sammi Davis, throws Donohoe into the worm then chucks in a grenade. That actually is pretty funny.
Capaldi walks around and plays the bag pipe, Donohoe ties up Oxenberg in her underwear above a pit with the worm and threatens her with a big dildo (I was confused at that bit bc I thought Oxenberg had to be a virgin). Oxenberg being tied up in her underwear and Davis being knocked out while a man comes to rescue them is one of the more conventional aspects of the them.
Oxenberg is stunningly beautiful though her acting isn't quite right - it was novel she was a virgin. Davis' voice might get on your nerves but she has energy. Capaldi has energy too and Grant had charisma - it's weird seeing both of them so young, they needed to grow into their looks. But the break out star here is Donohoe who is great fun.
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