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45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Why Only 4 Stars, You Ask...?, June 30, 2005
Well, as far as the movie itself goes, this movie deserves 10+ stars, because not since, Young Frankenstein, has a movie so poignantly and perfectly, captured the true feel of the original classic, of which it so lovingly satires.
George Hamilton plays Dracula, like no one else (except maybe, Jack Palance, but that's another review altogether :) doing Bela Lugosi, proud, whilst still putting his own stamp on the character.
And who can forget, Arte Johnson, as Dracula's , "Cockroach eating friend" (he-he-he... :) Renfield, and Richard Benjamin as their foil, Van Helsing ("Dracula's stolen my girlfriend, and I think he's better in bed with her, then I am...")
This movie is a hands down, no, if-ands-or-buts, classic, from, "Children of the night, shut up", to the end credits.
So why did I only give it 4 stars then?
Well, when this great homage to the classic Dracula films was first released to the big screen (I went to see it with my first girlfriend) there was this great show stopping dance sequence where Dracula seduces Cindy ("The only woman that I have ever loved") on the dance floor to the tune of the disco classic, I Love The Night Life, but then, years and years later, when the movie finally came out to video, I was dismayed to discover that this song had been replaced by some generic disco song.
Now don't get me wrong here, this new song is pretty good, and had it been the original choice for the dance sequence, then I would have had no complaints, but that's not the case here, I Love The Night Life, is the song that defined this movie for all of us who remember seeing it at the theater, and its apparent non-inclusion, on this highly awaited, DVD release, is just another slap in the face to the fans who have been waiting for over 20 years, to finally hear the right song, put back in the movie...
I mean, could you imagine if Star Wars had been released without the opening music, but instead, replaced by some stock music (in order to save a few bucks on the licensing rights) sure, it would still be Star Wars, but there would be something missing. I mean jeepers; it would almost be as bad as say, Greedo, getting off the first shot..., oh right... lol, never mind...
We the fans, should petition MGM, just to let them know that we are not happy with the omission of our beloved song, but alas, seeing as the DVD's have already been manufactured, and will be in stores in a couple of weeks, I'm afraid that the only way in which, I Love The Night Life, will ever be heard in this movie again, is if you sync up the CD of the song, and turn down the DVD's volume during the dance sequence.
It's a darn shame, if you ask me... :(
***NOTE: Just got my copy of this DVD, and as feared, "I Love The Night Life" is missing in action, on both the widescreen and full screen versions (as I had secretly hoped that it made it onto one of the two versions, but alas, no :(
But here's the rub, as there's a rather lengthy trailer for the movie, included on the DVD, and guess what song is used through out this trailer, yep, none other then, "I Love The Night Life".
What a slap in the face to the fans of this great film, to have to endure the generic disco song during the actual movie, only to have the original song, dangled in our face, over and over again in the trailer (there are even snippets of the dance sequence, with the proper music, in the trailer :(
FYI: you'll probably want to watch the movie in the full screen mode, because the widescreen mode it simply the full screen mode, matted to widescreen, and not the other way around, so there's more top and bottom info on the screen in the full screen mode, as opposed to less right and left screen info with movies cropped to fit full screen.
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