Drácula

Saw the trailer for the new BBC TV adaptation of Dracula, the Count spouting humorous one liners and the action taking place in both the 19th and 21st Centuries I was not sure if I wanted to devote 4.5 hours of my time to watching this. But I'm a big Dracula fan, plus I like Mark Gatiss so how could I resist? I couldn't. Divided into 3 episodes the first was for me the best. This is the beginning, set in the Old Country at Dracula's foreboding castle. Very impressive, the sets, the stunning location, superb special effects. It is also pretty scary. great acting. The only thing caught me off guard was having Van Helsing as a female, but it kind of worked and it is essential to treat that this as a "Based On" adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, or in other words a re-imagining. Pretty much the entire length of part 2 takes place on board the boat to England. It is good, thankfully the various characters help make it interesting, but it is a tad too long. Part 3 takes place over 100 years later in modern day England. This one is by far the most reworked part of the story. I like the idea of this but do feel that the writers are trying to be too clever for their own good with this section and the humour detracts from the horror, though it still has plenty of scary moments. I am glad that I watched the series, despite initial reservations. Like I have mentioned this is very much a modern reworking of the novel (none of the film adaptations follow the book exactly), watch it with an open mind. It's not going to please everyone but despite all the negative reviews so far it does have a respectable current average score of 7/10.

It was fantastic for the first 2 seasons, well written, brilliantly acted and amazing direction...that being said the 3rd episode was atrocious, clearly pandering for the urban youth, the current London setting, the adulterous storyline, it was like a really bad episode of black mirror, the fearless youth "not scared of anything" ridiculous notion, it could have been infinitely more, they could have cut the nonsense youth side cast out completely and focused on Draculas journey in the new world, a real shame as while it takes up about 20% of the 3rd episode its knocked its score from a solid 9 to an average 5.

The third episode was simply terrible. It's a shame because the first two were pretty good. I don't know what they were thinking with the third, it's absurd and very out of place with the other two.

The first episode was excellent and I was gladly went into episode 2. There were some (what seemed to me) extreme liberties taken, and I was still on board at that point. Ok, I don't mind a little deviation, let's see how it goes. Then episode 3 started and I was in full disbelief the whole time. They must have gotten David Benioff, D.B. Weiss to write that one.

First episode maintains a gothic vibe and the second holds up well to that. the third episode is an absolute DOOSEY and does not hold up at all compared to the other two.