Why do some directors simply lose it? Maintaining a high level of excellence throughout a career is difficult for anyone, but there are some filmmakers who have a good run and then it's suddenly like they become a different person and the quality of their output plummets. Few would argue that this occurred with famed Italian director Dario Argento. During the 1970s and the early part of the 80s, Argeno's wildly inventive and daring murder-mysteries and horror movies blazed a trail with their creative camerawork and bizarre imagery. And then, things went bad and the man hasn't made a truly enjoyable movie in nearly 30 years. But, he keeps at it, and he's turned to the gothic period piece with his latest project, Dracula. Will this mark a return to form for Argento?

As Dracula opens, a young woman named Tanja (Miriam Giovanelli), who has gone out to meet her lover, is attacked by a shape-shifter. The next day, Jonathan Harker (Unax Uglade) arrives in the small town of Passburg. He is traveling to the castle of Count Dracula (Thomas Kretschmann) in order to organize the Count's library. On the way, he stops to see his old friend Lucy Kisslinger (Asia Argento), and explains that his wife, Mina (Marta Gastini), will soon be joining him. Arriving at the Count's castle, Jonathan meets Dracula and begins work on the library, but soon finds himself a prisoner. Mina arrives in town and begins to look for Jonathan, only to find that Lucy has fallen ill and that she feels a strange presence around her at all times. Meanwhile, Dracula increases his control over the townspeople, just as a vampire hunter comes to the area.

With Dracula, if his goal was to make a film which looked just like a Hammer movie from the 1960s, then Argento should pat himself on the back. Not only does this look like a period piece, it impeccably captures the look of those classic gothic horror films, from the sets to the lighting to the color palette. (When the film started, my wife said, "What year was this made?") I think even the most skeptical Hammer aficionado will appreciate what Argento has done here.

Beyond the look of the film though, Argento's Dracula does have some major issues. The film’s pacing is very slack (even for a European film) and it simply drags at times. There are also editing issues with the way in which the story is laid out. Things seem to happen in a random way and the movie has no narrative flow. Therefore, there is no suspense or sense of menace here. Matters aren’t helped by the fact that every character is underwritten, most notably Dracula. If nothing else, Dracula should be creepy, if not scary, but Kretschmann is given very little to work with here, so he simply walks around like a normal person who occasional bites other people. The CG effects which are used for the transformation sequences look like something from a PlayStation 2 game. Unax Ugalde is a very bland lead, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was cast simply due to his slight resemblance to Keanu Reeves.

I’ve read some scathing reviews of Argento's Dracula, but, while it certainly is not a good movie, it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected it to be. Again, the movie has a great look and the scene in which Dracula confronts his detractors contains some nice action and gore. I think that the reason that the film has garnered such a reputation as a stinker in such a short time has to do with the praying mantis scene. Now, I haven’t read Dracula, but I’m pretty sure that moment isn’t in the book. And yes, it is that goofy and ludicrous. No, Dracula doesn’t come close to Argento’s seminal classic movies and if I didn’t know who directed it, I would have never guessed that it was from this former master. However, I’ve certainly seen worse movies and it’s goofy charm makes it a nice candidate for movie night with friends.

The Argento's Dracula Blu-ray Disc only has a few extras. "Behind the Scenes" (64 minutes) is a feature-length making-of which features interviews with those involved in the film and explores several components of the movie. The piece explores the script, the production design and sets, the editing, the 3D effects, the costumes, the visual effects, and the practical make-up effects. In essence, this is a series of interviews with various members of the creative team who are allowed to explain what they did on the film. We then hear from the cast who talk about their characters and their work on the movie. We do not hear from Argento here. The Disc includes the MUSIC VIDEO for the song "Kiss Me Dracula" by Simonetti Project. The extras are rounded out by the TRAILER and the RED-BAND TRAILER.