dracula represent dead and love it start in transylvania during the year 1593 where british solicitor r. m. renfield ( peter macnicol ) have a meeting with count dracula ( leslie nielsen ) to conclude the sale of carfax abbey in england . once the form be sign dracula travel to london to take up residence in his new property which be situate next to a mental asylum run by dr. jack seward ( harvey korman ) and a dracula introduces himself he notice lucy westenra ( lysette anthony ) a friend of seward daughter mina ( amy yasbeck ) and take an unhealthy interest in her a he change into a bat and fly into her room while she be asleep and drink her blood . lucy become ill and seward call in dr. abraham van helsing ( mel brook ) an expert on rare disease who quickly realise that lucy have be bite by a vampire . it up to van helsing to save the day and seward daughter mina who dracula intend to become his next victim . this american french co production be co write and produce and direct and star mel brook and to be honest it do not do that much for me . the script by brook and rudy de luca and steve haberman follow bram stoker original novel surprisingly closely and retain most of the relevant action and character but just spoof everything up . while the story be solid the decision to turn the film into a silly slapstick comedy first and foremost be one that doesn not work and surely dracula represent dead and love it would have work much well if the filmmaker have work around the principal that they be make a horror film first a per the original novel and structure the comedy and the gag and the spoof material around it . a it be dracula represent dead and love it be a comedy first and horror a very distant second while i think it would have be much well the other way around with it be a horror first and comedy second like the evil dead ( 1982 ) or dog soldier ( 2002 ) and i mean you can not really add horror to comedy yet i would say you could add a comedic element to horror . just a thought . another big problem with dracula represent dead and love it be that it just not very funny and in fact a to prove my point the best scene be when harker and van helsing stake lucy through the heart and be cover in gallon of blood and horror first guy and horror first . the only other funny moment in it be two run gag and one about enema and the other a silly duel between van helsing and dracula about who have to have the last word . director brooks use load of ancient gag and joke from silly accent to moronic slapstick like where dracula rise from his coffin and hit his head on a low hanging chandelier and hey this be classy sophisticated stuff . to it credit the film look really good and it have great set and costume and special effect and period production design . apparently the dialogue in dracula represent dead and love it spoof a lot of the dialogue from the original dracula ( 1931 ) with bela lugosi and well that fine if you have see the original dracula which i haven not and i be sure many other people haven not either so i have to ask myself what be the point when there be always go to a large amount of viewer who haven not see the original dracula and it seem like a bit of a waste and an in joke a lot of people weren not go to get . brook go for comedy all the way so forget about any scare . technically dracula represent dead and love it be pretty darn good but this aspect of thing only lead to more frustration when one think what this film could have be and a someone who have sit through load of low budget horror i could only think what the like of hammer could have do with a budget like this . the act wasn not anything special and everyone play it over the top and i must say that i personally think nielsen be awful a dracula and have little screen presence . dracula represent dead and love it be a comedy that isn not very funny and a horror that have no horror and it fail at everything it try to do . it not a totally worthless film a it quite nice to look at and it have a strong story thanks to the original source but a a whole it do not work for me .