Not even bad in a good way

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It's definitely true that when you know absolutely nothing about this movie beforehand, it might come as a bit of a shocker. It's a ballet version of the Dracula story and if that wasn't already enough originality and strangeness, it's also shot in a silent movie style.Actually, I already was familiar with some of Guy Maddin's other work, so I sort of knew what to expect from this movie already. He's a director that loves to shoot his movies in a very stylish and old fashioned style, often from the silent movie era. But it's not like he just mimics the style, he makes it completely his own. It's like he's always giving his own free interpretation of the genre and completely reinvents it instead. Saying that this movie is done in an old fashioned style does not mean you could compare it to older movies as well. It's very much its own thing, which is also the foremost reason why this movie works out so well.Basically the foremost reason why this movie is such an intriguing and perfectly watchable one, are its visuals. It's a spectacular movie to look at, even though it's almost entirely shot in black & white. The camera-work is very innovative and also helps to keep the movie going at all times.It was also quite interesting to see the familiar story being told for most part from the viewpoint of the Lucy Westernra character. This was actually a very good idea in my opinion, since her character perhaps goes through the biggest transformations and is one of the more interesting, yet mostly ignored, characters from the Dracula story.What also was quite interesting was seeing an Asian in the role of Dracula. It sounds odd but it actually was something that worked out quite well. Wei-Qiang Zhang, as it turned out, was a very charismatic choice, for the role of the well known and much portrayed blood sucking count.And as far as ballet goes; this movie does mostly a good job at keeping things understandable and not all about its dancing and exaggerated expressions from its actors. But I should probably say that if you aren't familiar at all with the Dracula story, you probably will still have a hard time following the story in this movie. But then again, who isn't familiar with the Dracula story now days?I should also probably admit that if the movie would had been any longer, I would had had a hard time finishing it. The movie as it is at times feels sort of overlong already, even while its only 73 minutes short. Watching a completely silent movie, with dancing characters, gets a bit of an endurance test after a while I guess but it still remains an ultimately rewarding movie, by the end. Visually and technically speaking, its a great and interesting, original movie, that might not keep everybody constantly interested though.7/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Awful. I actually got sick to my stomach trying to watch this film. I've been registered for a long time on IMDb.com and I've watched a lot of movies in that time, this is the first time that I've felt compelled to leave a review. This is more of a warning than a review. Run! Run away from the nasty piece of trash that can only mockingly be called art. Run! I found this film searching via Google because I'm a fan of classic silent horror films such as "Nosferatu" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013442/), "The Phantom of the Opera" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016220/), and the "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0010323/). If you are a fan of horror films or if you are a fan of silent films, do not believe any good reviews of this film you may have seen. This is NOT a good film. RUN! Beware!

Despite the extreme, extreme familiarity of the source material and the stuffy associations of the ballet form, Guy Maddin's 'Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary' emerges not only as one of the best 'Dracula' movies ever, but also as one of the best films about the Victorian Era (ranking with 'The Elephant Man' and 'Topsy-Turvy'). Maddin achieves the first feat with his insight into Stoker's novel (it's exciting to see somebody touch on the misogyny and xenophobia for once), and the second through a fascinating and completely appropriate aesthetic synthesis. Combining a 19th-century novel with a 19th-century pop art form, and setting it to 19th-century music (Mahler's from the wrong country, but so what), is a good beginning, but what makes it work, of course, is shooting it all in a mock-19th-century style. OK, so the silent horror films we think of date from a little later; still, Maddin does what he can to give the film a primitive, experimental, moving-daguerreotype effect, and the result feels like an actual window to the past, even if it's all just an artificial aesthetic construct. If this all sounds a bit self-conscious and over-the-top, it sort of is, but viewers will almost certainly be surprised at how unpretentious the effect actually is. The more explicitly balletic moments occasionally slow things down a bit for non-fans, but Maddin wisely keeps the running time at 75 minutes, and this helps the film retain a surprising accessibility. Not for all tastes, of course, but worth the effort for just about anyone. 8.5 out of 10.

May be spoilers. Watch out where you tread.This came to my local theater and I didn't see it. I could kick myself in the head for not seeing it on the big screen now.I have never seen the Dracula ballet, but this makes me want to run out and get tickets for it, if it is as great as it is made out to be in this movie.The film captures all the plot points of the novel and serves it up in only 75 minutes. I have read the book and seen countless movie versions, but I have never seen the reference to Dracula's coat being cut and money falling out of it. Amazing. I was so happy that was put in. Money had to be a silent way of conveying the menace of Dracula, who in a genius move by Maddin, is Chinese. Wow. A modern update on a classic, but it is, unlike other lesser movie updates, with a purpose. No longer are the "reds" the threat, it is the Asians who might take over the money systems of Europe and America. This metaphor also calls to mind the outsider baseness of Dracula, the evil animal who must be stopped before he consumes the land and white women! The subtitles were a riot. The one will Van Helsing that ends with Etc, was inspired. For those who didn't know the story from the novel of Stoker's novel (which was given good yet shoddy historical treatment by Coppola some years back, so more people should know most of its scenes, minus the Vlad Tepes bits not in the book) these words explained the characters, their intentions, places in the book, etc, so even the layman can't get lost, giving humor in the process.The techniques in the ballet and the film are brilliant. For example, when Dracula is staked at the end (did I give it away for some of you?) he ends up lying on top of it, much like in woodcuts of Vlad Tepes when he would put people on stakes to torture them. I can't see wires, so how this was done brings out the kid in me. The adding of color here and there (such in the green of money and the red of blood) added much to the movie and it looked hand done, even if it was done by computer. I am unsure if it was or not. The ballet itself was a good forum for Maddin, a man who loves dealing with imagery from the Victorian age to the Depression Era, using grainy film and making the films look bygone, but adding modern ideas and translations. He is one of my favorite directors. He is like a Victorian Lynch...in fact many of his films have an Eraserhead like feel. Empty, tense, with a lot of feeling. Tara Birtwhistle is wonderful as Lucy. There is a scene where her suitors and Van Helsing come to her grave and she rises up and towards the camera. It is lovely and disenheartening at the same time and is, again in my kid self, quite unnerving! It is beauty in horror, which Birtwhistle claims with honor and grace.Wei-Qiang Zhang is also full of poise as Dracula. I love watching him dance. His Dracula is seductive, taking along much of Stoker's characterizations, such as hairy palms. He even dances with a knife. Gorgeous! I rented this film and will watch it as many times as possible. I love that the DVD has many extras, including commentary. If you liked this film, I highly recommend Careful, Twilight of the Ice Nymphs and Archangel. I also recommend you go see The Saddest Music in the World when it is in theatres! Maddin's world is definitely unique, bringing the past into the present with a much inspired bloodtap!