The best I can do is a 3. I watched it on streaming and it got a 5 out of 5 rating there... on a 5-scale, I might be generous and give a 2, or I might have to be more realistic and go down to a 1.
Palance isn't particularly effective in the part, and the TV-movie quality doesn't help matters any. For me, it started off badly when the sound of wolves howling cut to scenes of innumerable German Shepherds running down a deserted forest road at top speed. So... were the dogs howling earlier and that was what we heard, or were the dogs running away from wolves in the forest who were howling? Also, the interior of the castle is brightly-lit even during nighttime hours, almost like an operating theater, and to me that's a lost opportunity to lay in some "mood".
Dan Curtis is what he is.. either you like his work or you don't. I always got the feeling he saw something in his own head when he was directing that never made it onto the screen so the rest of us could see it.
I respect the opinions of those who say this is one of the scariest and best Dracula interpretations they've ever seen; I just don't understand them. My vote would go to F.W. Murnau's "Nosferatu" which has more atmosphere than any version I've ever seen, even Lugosi's (although he's a close second). However, that's just my opinion... I have no qualifications as movie critic and I just know what I like. This, I didn't like.
Palance isn't particularly effective in the part, and the TV-movie quality doesn't help matters any. For me, it started off badly when the sound of wolves howling cut to scenes of innumerable German Shepherds running down a deserted forest road at top speed. So... were the dogs howling earlier and that was what we heard, or were the dogs running away from wolves in the forest who were howling? Also, the interior of the castle is brightly-lit even during nighttime hours, almost like an operating theater, and to me that's a lost opportunity to lay in some "mood".
Dan Curtis is what he is.. either you like his work or you don't. I always got the feeling he saw something in his own head when he was directing that never made it onto the screen so the rest of us could see it.
I respect the opinions of those who say this is one of the scariest and best Dracula interpretations they've ever seen; I just don't understand them. My vote would go to F.W. Murnau's "Nosferatu" which has more atmosphere than any version I've ever seen, even Lugosi's (although he's a close second). However, that's just my opinion... I have no qualifications as movie critic and I just know what I like. This, I didn't like.