Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary

a film by Guy Maddin

1:15:00 | B&W | 2002

Language: English

Famed Winnipeg director Guy Maddin takes a stab at the last century's most famous monster, re-creating an original ballet by Mark Godden, with his own baroque silent-movie flavour.  Maddin's cinematic style is rooted in melodrama and Soviet montage, among other characteristics of the silent-film era. As with his other works, he succeeds with bravura to turn his film-historical obsessions into contemporary art. 

In this ballet version of Bram Stoker's classic vampire tale, Dracula (Zhang Wei-Qiang) arrives in London and performs a dance of seduction with the virgin Lucy (Tara Birtwhistle), whom he turns into a ravenous monster. Lucy's three suitors vow revenge even as Dracula stalks his next victim. When the trio's efforts prove counterproductive, professional vampire hunter Van Helsing (David Moroni) enters the picture and meets Dracula in a climactic battle.