I was all "You know it's one huge steaming pile of poo, right?"

Very stylish poo, though. If I turned off my brain I could enjoy a fair bit of the pretty. Kind of like Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.

That reminds me, at the scene where the suitors and Van Helsing are riding to save whatsherface in Dracula, the guy I was watching the movie with leaned over to me and said, "Good God. It's Van Helsing and the Three Stooges vs. Dracula."

Tom Waits made an excellent Renfield.

By the time Renfield showed up, I was gnawing off my own leg to get out of the theater.

The Klimt-style stuff was pretty, if completely inappropriate (and I'm not a huge Klimt fan anyway).

Oh! But on topic, Gary Oldman's Romanian, and the accent, were atrocious. Romanian accents are hard to do, though.

Thesis: There have been no good vampire movies made in Hollywood since Lost Boys, with the exception of the original BTVS movie. Discuss.

Even "Lost Boys" requires some rosetinting, which is allowable because so many of us were young'uns when it came out. I'm thinking particularly of the very end, which was only missing an over-the-top, hands-on-hips, "Oh, Grampa!" followed by the entire cast laughing and then a freeze as the credits roll.

I don't think the original BTVS movie was good either.

There have been vampire movies I've enjoyed, but damned few I'd say were good.

Gary Oldman's Romanian, and the accent, were atrocious.

Yeah, but he does a good American accent. As does Emma Thompson.

Tom Waits is a better Renfield than Dwight Frye. He's the new standard.

Gwyneth and RZ are the two American actors I know who seem to do well with a British accent. AD doesn't count since he cheated and grew up over there. Of course, Meryl is probably the accent champ. Though I think it's possibly a crutch and her choice to go Italian in Bridges of Madison County seemed dubious.

There have been no good vampire movies made in Hollywood since Lost Boys, with the exception of the original BTVS movie. Discuss.

I thought Shadow of the Vampire was rather good. Willen Dafoe hamming it up as Max Shreck was a tremendous fun to watch.

Not a feature film, but one of my favorite modern take on the vampire myth is the short-lived British series, Ultraviolet, in which vampirism is approached as a contagious disease and the protagonists work on possible scientific cure. Sharp writing, moody camera-work, and some terrific villains and moral ambiguity galore.

If I turned off my brain I could enjoy a fair bit of the pretty. Kind of like Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.

Visually quite impressive, yes. Especially considering that the vast majority of the special effects were done "in camera" meaning that they happened live on set, with or without using some camera trickery, rather than CGI-ed or other "post production" effects.

All of the creepy shadow effects were done live on set with lighting tricks, for example.

Yes, Shadow of the Vampire was good. Plus Eddie Izzard.

Quite possibly. I liked Night Life. It's not to everyone's taste, but I will submit it for consideration.