Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)

[00:00:23] Children of the Night. What a mess they make while listening to Mike and Mike go to the movies. I'm Mike Smith and joining me as always is someone who falls asleep too quickly when you're trying to hypnotize him. I'm Mike DiCruccio. How's it going, Mike? I'm doing great. That is the thing everyone says about me all the time. When I'm trying to get hypnotized, they're like, no, you're too fast. Stop falling asleep, you crazy, silly guy. Yes, you and your antics. Yeah, my hijinks.

[00:00:50] I'm getting into that stuff. Yes, exactly. What's going on, Mike D? What's going on with you? Not a whole lot. I'm excited for today's episode because it's sort of like a weird blind spot for both of us. Yeah. So I'm hyped for that. But otherwise, you know, it's Halloween time, baby. We're here in the scary movie times. Yeah, absolutely. As if I don't watch horror movies all the time. Year round. Yeah. I feel like I sort of feel left out because I see people on my letterbox, like people who I follow who are like, yeah, we're doing 31 nights of, you know, horror movies.

[00:01:19] And I'm seeing people like so many different horror movies all October long. And I'm watching other stuff like I'm watching a lot of movies, but not like specifically horror stuff for the most part. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, I should get into the horror stuff. But it's like, I got others. I got to watch two towers, man. I got to get in. Yeah. I got an Elijah Wood podcast to deal with here. I have eight hours of two towers to watch if I'm watching both versions. Like, I don't have time for this shit. No one ever told you you had to watch both versions, Mike. That's what you set for yourself. I did that to myself. You're correct.

[00:01:49] But yeah, it is spooky season. And, you know, in the past on this podcast, we have done more stuff for spooky season. You know, we have done. We used to do for a couple of years. We did the guest makes my scream series. Which every year we were like, we're going to figure out a name for this. And we just never did. We basically just had like guest makes Mike watches, but they were all horror movies and had different guests come on to make us watch stuff, which was a lot of fun. Yeah. And then, you know, as the years went on, it was kind of tough to coordinate those and all that stuff.

[00:02:18] So unfortunately, we haven't really been able to do as much spooky season stuff this year. I think it's basically today's episode, which was a Kofi donation. We'll talk about that in a second. And then next week, we're going to do our Mike makes Mike watch for the month, which is a horror themed. Yes. Mike makes Mike watch. We're both watching horror movies. So both watching horror movies. Yeah. And it's funny this year. And then we didn't do that this year and we're still just going to do it in November. We're still kicking it back because we had others.

[00:02:48] The reason it was so late this year is because we had so many Kofi donations. It is. What a, you know, wealth of what's that phrase? You know what I'm talking about. Embarrassment of riches. Embarrassment of riches. That's the phrase. Yeah, you did it. All right. Yeah. So we will be doing Mike D's birthday bylaw, which luckily this has given him more time to choose one. And I don't think he has chosen one yet. No, I was. I was thinking about, I remembered I had floated taking of Pelham one, two, three. Oh, yes.

[00:03:18] Yes. Yes. A couple of weeks or months ago now at this point, I don't remember. Yeah. And then it came up on Macon Blair's episode of movies that made me recently and they were talking about it and I was like, damn, that movie's really good. Maybe I should just do taking of Pelham one, two, three. Not a bad pick if that's the one. I mean, I might do it. Yeah. That's a, that's a movie that I saw, I think for the first time in like 2020. Yeah. And saw it again at the Roxy a few years later. And I'm like, this might be one of my all time favorite movies. This is really, really good. It's so good.

[00:03:47] So yeah, if that's the one that you choose, I fully support you, Mike. Full steam ahead. It's a train joke. Train joke. Yeah. Good job. So yeah. Drops to Jupiter. It's also a train reference. I don't know. We'll have that as the tentative, probably going to be the pick, but you know, I've got a couple more weeks before we need to lock down the schedule for that. So I'll think about it. Yeah. Fair enough. I mean, there, it has happened in the past where we've done birthday bylaws and you've said like, Oh yeah, I think it's going to be this. And then you changed it at the last second. Right. I think it was, was it last year or two years ago?

[00:04:16] I think you were going to do a Hitchcock movie. You were like going through the Alfred Hitchcock stuff, trying to figure it out. And then like, you texted me like week of being like, Nope, it's going to be only angels have wings. The Howard Hawks filmed. All right. Great. I think that was last year. Yeah. Yes. No, last year, your movie was the devil rides out actually. Yeah. We'll see. We'll see what happens. Why plan ahead when I could just, we can spontaneously be like this movie tomorrow. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:04:43] I had a movie that I, it occurred to me like, Oh, this would be a great birthday bylaw movie, like for myself. And I, I wrote it down in our like shared, uh, like Mike's makes my watch history document so that in 2027, I can look at that and be like, okay, yes, that's the movie. Smart. I am getting rid of that headache now. Yeah. So that, so that six months from now, seven months from now, we know what my birthday bylaw is. So all that is to say we're doing some spooky season stuff. Uh, and thankfully one of our listeners is forcing us to do some spooky season stuff.

[00:05:13] Uh, making us watch a movie through a Kofi donation who donated, uh, for today's episode, Mike, this is from David, uh, who just recently made us watch undercover blues, uh, to complete the actor focused trilogy. And in that donation, he included a, you know, also as a gift I'm putting, uh, for putting up with me for October, please watch Dracula dead and loving it. Yes. There you go. All right. So let's get into it. Mike, it's time to talk about 1995's Dracula dead and loving it.

[00:05:41] This is the frightening and shocking tale of Count Dracula. Vampires do exist. This one we face is unlike any other. He can change the most innocent of humans.

[00:06:09] Oh, Jonathan, let me kiss you. But you see, I'm British. So are these. Women are rendered powerless under his spell. Stand up. Not you. Sit. You stand. No. Sit. No. Stand. Now, walk to the terror store. Watch out. His evil desire has no end.

[00:06:38] She's alive? She's not farate. She's Italian? All right. That was from the trailer for Dracula dead and loving it. Directed, of course, by Mel Brooks. His final film as a director. I feel relatively comfortable saying his final film. You don't know if he's going to throw in another one as a director. He's 99 years old. It's very unlikely that he's going to direct another movie. But that's crazy. Good for him. That Mel Brooks is 99 years old. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, he's a men. She's one of the best. I love Mel Brooks, obviously.

[00:07:09] And he's going to be back in Spaceballs 2 next year, which, of course, he's not directing. But I believe he's going to appear in as Yogurt and maybe President Scrooge. Probably not President Scrooge. I would guess it's a very small cameo role as Yogurt is my prediction for Spaceballs 2. Yeah. I hope it's like a psycho, like, full motion cap avatar style character. That'd be so funny. That would be really good. I am tentatively very excited for Spaceballs 2, actually.

[00:07:35] But, you know, every part of my being is like, you know, who knows? You know, whatever. But then I see the teaser trailer, which there's no footage out there yet. Yeah. But the teaser trailer is just like an opening crawl. And the opening crawl is very funny. And then it's a clip of Mel Brooks being like, Spaceballs 2, we're finally making it. And it's like, I got to see this. Yeah. I never saw History of the World Part 2, the series. Neither did I. If it was a movie, I would have seen it. Yeah. I would have made my way out to go see it for whatever.

[00:08:02] But yeah, because it was a four part TV miniseries on Hulu, I wanted to see it. There's a lot of great sketch comedians and stuff that I like that are in there and all that stuff. And it's History of the World. Mel Brooks was still involved, I think, in some capacity. Yeah. You said it. Or involved in it early. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I never watched it either. But I think it's the same. That was like Josh Gad. And I think it's like that's the same crew that's making Spaceballs 2, as far as I'm aware. Um, so I was going to say I didn't see that. So I don't, you know, but I heard pretty good things from some people that saw it.

[00:08:32] Like I know Jeff Canata was a big fan of it on the film cast and stuff. So, you know, like you said, tentatively excited for future Mel Brooks involved projects. Yeah, absolutely. And I think Spaceballs 2 riffing on the like new Disney trilogy of Star Wars can be a lot of fun. Yeah. Especially they are bringing back Bill Pullman as Lone Star and Louis Pullman is going to be playing his son, presumably like a Kylo Ren style figure. And I think that's going to be a lot of fun. I think that'll be cool. So yeah, sounds neat. Yeah. Tentatively excited. But we are not talking about Spaceballs today, Mike, because that is not what the

[00:09:01] Kofi donation brought in. Maybe one day if anybody wants to make us talk about Spaceballs, we certainly can. We'll do it. We double don't dare you. Actually, we beg you. Please make us watch. I would love to talk about Spaceballs on this podcast. Certainly a movie I was very much obsessed with when I was 10 years old. Yeah. But no, today David's actually making us watch Dracula Dead and Loving It, a movie that is generally considered among the worst of Mel Brooks' films. The last movie he ever made as a filmmaker and one that, as you mentioned, kind of a weird

[00:09:31] blind spot for us because we are both big Mel Brooks fans and just never really got around to checking out Dracula Dead and Loving It. Yeah. Well, I was looking up before the box set I have of like Mel Brooks films. Yep. And it's not a complete collection because obviously I was going to where I'm going is it does not include Dracula Dead and Loving It, but it also doesn't include Spaceballs. It doesn't include the like 90s stuff. All right. It has Men in Tights. It has Men in Tights in there, but it doesn't include the producers.

[00:10:01] So it's like a weird mix. I don't know. It's probably, you know, weird rights things. Just whatever Mel Brooks movies that studio owned at the time. Yeah. That's what they put on there. Yeah. Right. But it's got Men in Tights. It has High Anxiety. It has the other ones. Young Frankenstein. Young Frankenstein. Blazing Saddles. Blazing Saddles. Yeah. So it's kind of got like some of the big ones, but then also like the 12 Chairs and Silent Movie and stuff. Those are like the ones I've talked about or I watch a lot when I was growing up.

[00:10:29] And we've talked about this when we did the Paws of Hank, Legend of Fury, whatever the hell the name of that is. We did an episode of the Michelle Yeoh season on the movie Paws of Fury, The Legend of Hank, which was a children's friendly remake of Blazing Saddles, an animated film from 2022 starring Ricky Gervais in the Harvey Korman role. Yes. A weird movie. Also, I think Michael Cera's in the lead, right? He's the main character. He's the cat. Yeah. Yes. It's cat in a world of dogs, right? Right.

[00:10:58] They're all prejudiced against cats in that movie. It's a weird movie. We also did do years ago. We did a Let's Rank Mel Brooks movies episode. Oh, yeah. That's right. Way back when. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, we talked about those a lot. And, you know, so those are the movies that I have on DVD that I watched all the time. So, like, High Anxiety, personally, just in my family, is like the one we watched all the time. Like, that's the one we all quoted and stuff. Yeah. So, I never saw Dracula Dead, Love You!

[00:11:26] Because also, I heard, like, it has a pretty bad reputation. It's like, you know, it's his last movie, blah, blah, blah. It's kind of terrible. Yeah. Like, so I was just kind of like never, I'd never had it. It was supposed to be bad. Never went out of my way to see it is my, you know, sort of intro to that movie. Yeah. Fair enough. And as far as I go, like, I, again, was a big Mel Brooks fan as a kid. Spaceballs was the one that I was really obsessed with. Like, that's the one that me and my family watched a lot. Yeah. It was great because it was rated PG, but they said words like asshole over and over again. So. And they did the flip off arm thing all the time. Yes.

[00:11:55] You're like, oh, they're getting around with it. Yeah. So, Spaceballs was huge for me. Young Frankenstein was big in my house too. And that's probably my favorite Mel Brooks movie overall these days. But yeah, no, just a huge fan of his work when I was a kid. And as somebody who was really getting into movies and getting into comedy, Mel Brooks was somebody that was, that loomed very large. At the same time, Leslie Nielsen, also somebody that loomed very large for me. Yeah. I was a huge fan of Airplane, huge fan of the Naked Gun movies. Scary Movie 3.

[00:12:22] I was about to say Scary Movie 3 and 4, which he's very funny in. You know, Spy Hard, I saw it out because Weird Al did the theme song for it and all that stuff. And so the reason I knew Dracula Dead and Loving It when I was a kid. So I will say, I actually had seen maybe like a half hour of this movie when I was a kid. Really? I never finished it. Okay. But the reason I like knew of its existence was because, and I think I've mentioned this many times on the show before, but I used to watch a lot of AFI top 100 specials on TV,

[00:12:52] right? The American Film Institute every year would do a different top 100 list on TV. It was awesome. They should do that again. They should get back to getting that going because that was always great. And my favorite one was AFI's 100 years, 100 movie quotes. Okay. Where they were counting down the 100 greatest movie quotes of all time. One of which was actually, at the time, the most recent quote on the list was from Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers.

[00:13:18] My Precious made the list, a movie that we're talking about right after recording this for the Elijah Wood podcast. Indeed we are. But one of the quotes that was in that list was from the original Dracula from 1931, which was, children of the night, what music they make. That line was in the list somewhere. And one of the talking heads was Leslie Nielsen. No way. And Leslie Nielsen was talking about Dracula and talking about it. And he was like, oh, yes, that line. I use that line in Dead and Loving It.

[00:13:47] And then they played the clip from Dracula Dead and Loving It where he says, children of the night, what a mess they make. And then he slips on some poop and falls down the stair. P-comedy. Yeah. And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm like 12 years old. Hold on a second. Yeah, wait a second. Leslie Nielsen from Airplane is in a Mel Brooks movie. And I didn't know about it. Are you kidding me? And so I go to watch it. And I was, you know, probably airing on HBO or something.

[00:14:15] And I DVR'd it and watched like a half hour of it. And I was like, OK, this isn't that great. Yeah. I was not super into it. But, you know, I so it was one of those movies I never kind of got around to actually finishing because of that reputation of being kind of the worst one, you know, all that stuff. But I was hoping that time might be kind to Dracula Dead and Loving It. And now that David has forced us to watch it for the podcast. Curious to hear what your thoughts are, Mike. What do you think about Dracula Dead and Loving It?

[00:14:42] Yeah, I think that Dracula Dead and Loving It is maybe the greatest beneficiary of we used to have movies. I think I think I, you know, I have no idea what I would have thought at the time if I had seen it when I was younger in the midst of all the Mel Brooks discovery phase, you know, when your parents are like, you got to watch this. You got to check this out. You know, like I said, High Anxiety, Young Frankenstein, you know, Lumpin, Monty Python

[00:15:11] and the Quest for the Holy Grail. Like, you know, when you're kind of getting introduced to that stuff by your parents, if they had been like, and also don't forget Dracula Dead and Loving It or whatever. I don't know what I would have reacted to then. But reacting now, this movie does not deserve the reputation it has. I don't think. This movie is pretty good. It's fine. Like, it's fun. It's stupid. I think a lot of the jokes, you know, some of the jokes are, you know, like you said, you know, children of the night, what a mess they make.

[00:15:37] Or when Leslie Nielsen, like, has that thing where he's like walking out in the daytime and he comes across the people having a picnic and he's like, I've never drank wine before. Hey, that's pretty good. Like, and he's like, I don't drink wine. Yeah. Some of the jokes are that level, but other bits are actually pretty, really funny. I had kind of fun, like Harry Corbin's in this and, you know, look at him go. I don't know. Yeah. So I had a pretty good time, I think, because maybe my expectations were on the floor.

[00:16:07] I was like, this is just has to not be terrible. And it's not that bad. And then also, like I was saying, they have real people in real sets that they built in real rooms, you know, whatever. Some of them are not great. Like, you know, of course, the whole young Frankenstein reusing the actual literal sets from Dracula or from Frankenstein and stuff were around still. So it's not that level, but they built rooms. They built hallways. There's stuff in real places that are fine.

[00:16:36] And then also some of it has like the beginning intro with I don't remember the actor's name, but he's playing Renfield. Peter McNichol is playing Renfield. Peter McNichol. Yeah. He's shows up in the town and it's this gorgeous, gigantic matte painting. Like it's like it's a real fucking art thing. It's art happening on screen for a movie where Leslie Nielsen slips on bat poop and falls down the stairs, you know? So like I said, a huge beneficiary of the we used to have movies feeling on top of being

[00:17:05] not as terrible as I had always heard or assumed and all that stuff. So, you know, had a pretty fun time. Like, we kind of nailed it with this one, I think. Yeah, I'm right there with you, Mike. I think this is actually fine. It's all right. Right. You know, I think part of the reaction when it came out and I could totally see why this got bad reviews when it came out. You know, I don't think it's up to the standard of the great Mel Brooks movies. Right. You know, I wouldn't even say it's up to the standard of like Robin Hood Men in Tights, which, you know, which I haven't seen in a really long time.

[00:17:35] I would like to rewatch that again, actually, too, because that movie is very funny. I like Men in Tights. It's a good time. But that was his previous movie before this one. Okay. And this definitely feels like it's Mel Brooks doing Dracula. So already you're kind of doing like, well, Mel Brooks has already done Frankenstein. So there's already a movie to compare it to. It's not as good as Young Frankenstein. Like, no, no question. Not even close. But I was kind of surprised at how much I did enjoy it. I think there is some very funny bits in here. It does drag a little bit at times.

[00:18:03] And I was actually surprised by how much of it is just a straight adaptation of the Dracula story. It's just doing it, which was has is not really the case for the other Mel Brooks comedy movies. Like Young Frankenstein is like, you know, I mean, it's kind of a straight riff on Son of Frankenstein, but it's like sort of a sequel to Frankenstein. Right. It's like a whole like it's a it's an original story that's kind of doing that. And Blazing Saddles is a parody of all kinds of different Westerns. It's an original story riffing on a lot of different tropes. Spaceballs. It's Star Wars, but it's like it's doing a lot of other stuff.

[00:18:33] Right. Right. And this Dracula movie is like it's following the beats of the Dracula novel. Yeah. Yeah. And the original Dracula movie, like pretty straightforward, which is pretty interesting. And so it is riffing on the original Dracula movie. It's also riffing on the Hammer Horror stuff. I think a lot of the set design looks like the Hammer Horror Dracula. And of course, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Francis Ford Coppola one had come out just a few years before this. So it's definitely riffing on that as well with all the stuff with like Dracula with like the big white wig and stuff like that. Yeah.

[00:19:02] Very much like Gary Oldman in that Dracula movie. Yeah, I did. I meant to look up like what the time relationship was to that movie because I was like, this has to be what they're referencing unless like it's just a weird thing that this came out first. Like what is going on here? Yeah. That movie was 92. This was 95. And so this one's riffing on that one a little bit like it's doing some of that. But I also think that's not what Mel Brooks's reference point for Dracula is going to be.

[00:19:27] Mel Brooks is going to be much more familiar with the 1931 Dracula movie than the 92 Dracula movie. Right. Yeah, no, but definitely you can tell the visual stuff. So a lot of it is or the way Dracula himself, like like you said, the big hair, which they keep being like, oh, my hat, which is very funny. Yeah. Or like the shadow moving in the background, like all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It's riffing on the 92 Dracula for sure. But yeah, no, I was surprised by how much of this is a pretty good time. I think part of it, once I realized that Mel Brooks was going to be in the movie, I was like, oh, all right, we got a picture here.

[00:19:57] We got Mel Brooks is playing Van Helsing like sold. I'm in. That's all I need to hear. And I think one thing, too, is that, you know, for whatever reason, I was like, oh, but it doesn't have like the usual Mel Brooks regulars. Right. Yeah. But actually, Harvey Corman's in this. Yes. He's here. And Bancroft shows up for a second. Like she's she's there, too. She's got a fun bit. Yeah. And then Mel Brooks is there. So, you know, there's there's a few of the regular people in here. I would say, you know, you don't get like Dom DeLuise and Madeline Kahn or whatever, but like you still got a few Mel Brooks people in here. And that's kind of cool.

[00:20:27] Yeah. Yeah. Also co-written by friend of the show, Rudy DeLuca from Transylvania six 5000. Oh, right. Yes. Remember way back when in season two of the complete works? I think we spent a long time talking about. Oh, yeah. And he also wrote a bunch of Mel Brooks movies and he's in a couple of them and stuff. So, yeah. Yeah. You have some of the troop, but, you know, not many are left or, you know, are involved in this one is the guy that plays Harker. No, he's not in Men in Tights. Right.

[00:20:56] It's a different person with long brown hair. I'm not sure. So it's Steven Weber who plays Harker, who was on Wings back in the day. He's on Chicago Med these days. Oh, yeah. Yeah. He's also the guy who played Jack Torrance in the Stephen King miniseries version of The Shining. Yes. If he's on a Chicago show, he's set. He's golden. Yeah, exactly. But he's great, I think, as Jonathan Harker. And yeah, I think it's very funny, like how much this is just like a straight ahead. This this is Dracula.

[00:21:24] It's not really like a riff on all of the movies or anything like that. It's just horror movies as a whole, like Spaceballs kind of is with all sci fi. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or like you said, all Westerns or something like that. But yeah, it's like this is just Dracula. And that's pretty cool. Yeah, absolutely. And the set design is a lot of fun. The straight. I think as a result of it being a pretty straightforward version of Dracula, it's like, well, Dracula is a pretty good story. So I'm actually kind of like engaged with it just on the basis of like, OK, I enjoy the story. I know where it's going. I know where it's going.

[00:21:52] And I can kind of have fun with like the different kind of riffs it does. And you got Leslie Nielsen in the lead, man. And Leslie Nielsen, one of the greats just always top notch. Yeah. He's pretty good in this for sure. But I don't know what it is if it's like he's a little too silly. I don't know. Like, you know, I don't know. I was wondering. So I feel like what made Leslie Nielsen so great is that especially in like the 80s is like he he came from a very dramatic background. Right. Like before Airplane, he's pretty much exclusively in like, you know, dramas or thrillers. He's a serious actor. Yeah.

[00:22:22] He's in the Poseidon adventure, you know, like those guys. And then what's so great about his performance in Airplane and the Naked Gun is that he's doing incredibly silly stuff. Totally deadpan, completely straight faced. Yeah. And I think around the mid 90s, there starts to become a shift where like he's sort of in on the joke or he's like a little bit more self-aware of that kind of stuff. And he's still very funny. But I do think, yeah, this is like a year after Naked Gun 33 and a third. So it's got to be like we're in like Leslie Nielsen is the comedy parody guy.

[00:22:52] Like he that's what he does. Right. Yeah. I always hear Joe Dante talk about that with Police Squad. Is that the that's the original series that Naked Gun is based on? Yeah. Right. That comes out of that. He directed a couple episodes or was involved or Joe Dante. I mean, yeah. And he always talks about like there was no laugh track in that show, which he thinks it's only like six episodes or whatever. But he thinks that's what contributed to its its failure is people would turn on the channel and it'd be Leslie Nielsen in a police show.

[00:23:20] And they wouldn't know it's a comedy because there's no laugh track or whatever. And so they would just be like, oh, this must be an old thing, whatever. And they would change the channel. And so I think that's so crazy that there was a one say time in culture where Leslie Nielsen did not equal comedy, which for our whole lifetime, like you said, he's the airplane guy. He's the comedy. He's the parody guy. That's it. Truly. Like when I was like 10 years old, I was like, this is the funniest person to ever live. Like, yeah, he was like an idol of mine because of like airplane and a naked gun. Like I love Leslie Nielsen so much. He like he died in like 2008 or something.

[00:23:49] And it like crushed me. I was so upset. Devastating. Yeah. I can't remember. It was probably Poseidon Adventure. It was one of the kind of regular, like I'm homesick library rental movies, you know, from that like weird, like my mom would go and she would pick out, you know, old movies that she would like to watch with me, you know, and then they'd be like the, that's the guy from airplane or like, like what? I can't remember what other movie like that from him that that kind of thing would happen. But yeah.

[00:24:17] So it's crazy that, like I was saying, that there's like a time in pop culture where people didn't think automatically associate him with that. But I think, yeah, you can kind of feel that here in Dracula did and loving it where he's doing a little, you know, put a little sauce on it, you know? Sure. Yeah. Which is fine. Like it's cool. He's still very funny. Still very funny. A lot of good bits involving Leslie Nielsen's character. And I think Peter McNichol for me was a kind of a standout as Renfield. Just he immediately becomes like the grimy Renfield kind of character. So, so funny.

[00:24:46] He's great. I mean, he was great. Years later, he was on Veep as a recurring character as Jonah's uncle. And he has some of the best like lines in that show. He's incredible in that. And he was on, he was the guy from Bosom Buddies, like with Tom Hanks, right? It was him. Oh, maybe. The thing that he was from, I think at the time. Okay. So yeah, no, he's, he's all in on Renfield. There's the very funny bit where he's like eating bugs at the- With Harvey Corbin. Yeah. With Harvey Corbin's character, like trying to prove he's not insane, but can't stop himself from just eating bugs all around. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:25:16] Which is very good. It's very funny. And the runner that Harvey Corbin, who runs the Mental Institute, just keeps prescribing everybody enemas. Yeah. It's like hilarious. Yes. So yeah, yeah. I had a lot of fun with this movie or more fun than I anticipated just based on his sort of reputation of being like the worst Mel Brooks movie that, you know, he's never made anything after the directed anything, anything after this and all that stuff. But it's like, actually, this isn't that bad. It's fine.

[00:25:42] I totally see why people would have been disappointed in this in 1995, you know, being like, you know, based on like, this is the guy who made the producers and young Frankenstein and blazing saddles and even something like space balls or men in tights. Like, you know, he's, he's one of the greats. And this is certainly like fall short of like the best Mel Brooks stuff. Yeah. I think it's still a pretty good time. It's fun. It's a good time. It's still fun. Yeah. And I think you're right. They're like kind of looking back on it. Like, man, the set design of this is like really incredible. It like looks really good. It sounds really good.

[00:26:10] You got a lot of like just beloved performers in one place together. And like, that's great. Yeah. You know, so maybe it's like nostalgia. Just looking back on it. Nostalgia for a movie we never watched, but like still. Still, yeah. And it sounds like for an era of filmmaking that has died down a little bit. Yeah. Like I was thinking about the, the like gala thing towards the end where they sort of set up Dracula to be dancing in front of a giant mirror so they can like expose the fact that he's a vampire. Yeah.

[00:26:40] And that's like a giant ballroom with tons of extras and a band. And it's like, this is, there's, there's stuff with their filmmaking. They're doing it. Yeah. And then a genuinely impressive special effect with the mirror having to disappear Leslie Nielsen, but like have the actress, you kind of just spinning around on her own. There's like bits where like he's like holding her and like throwing her in the air and like doing dirty dancing stuff. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And it's just like, oh, this is genuinely pretty cool that they were able to pull this off. There's a cool filmmaking happening here. Right.

[00:27:09] Uh, which is like not what I expected out of Dracula didn't loving it, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And there's, but there's all, and there's also silly stuff where, you know, he goes to the, uh, Dracula goes to the opera house to, uh, to, to meet. And I had to look up when did Carfax become a company because the, the thing he buys is Carfax estates or whatever, the castle. It was 1984 is when Carfax started. Um, there you go. But when he goes to them to meet, he meets Harker and stuff and he tells the like, why can't

[00:27:37] I think of the word, the people that usher, the usher to, um, like deliver a message to them and tell them there's somebody waiting in the lobby for them. Yeah. And you're going to forget everything I've done to you. And he does the like, wiggah, wiggah, wiggah, wiggah, Dracula hands. And then when she goes to deliver the message, she can't remember anything. Like, you know, there's stuff like that going on, but then there's also pretty funny other bits that are fun time. Like you said, the, the Hark, uh, Renfield eating the bugs with Harvey Korman, who's it's great. You know, he, Harvey Korman's so funny. Yes. Yeah. It's great to see Harvey Korman in this.

[00:28:07] Uh, and I think my favorite bit in the movie is when they have to put a stake through the heart of the one girl who's become a vampire and it's Mel Brooks is Van Helsing and Harker and Mel Brooks is like, ah, this is my first date. You're like, you have to do it. It has to be from someone you love who loved her. It's like, but I only liked her. It's like, I got close enough. Uh, and you know, every time he like thrust the stake in, like just a pool of blood, come on. Yeah, exactly. It's like, oh, that one didn't take you gotta do it again. And Mel Brooks is like hiding behind the pillar because he knows how much blood comes out. Yeah.

[00:28:38] And all that stuff, uh, which is great. It's also a very funny exchange there where he's like, oh, she's a vampire. She's Nosferatu. She's Italian. I liked, uh, that, yeah, that, that, that seems probably the funny biggest laugh for me, that whole sequence. Uh, and then, yeah, when he hits the, when he drives the stake in and it's just the explosion of blood is so funny and he's like, oh, she must've ate just before we got here. It's very funny.

[00:29:04] Uh, but, uh, I also got a pretty big laugh when it, when it introduces Van Helsing, uh, Mel Brooks and he's like in a, like, uh, medical school surgery theater kind of thing. Uh, and he's like, oh, we're going to test your metal and find out who's really cut out to be a doctor and who can't handle it. And he's like, first, we're going to open the chest cavity. And like one by one, the people start, stop fainting until there's like the one kiss ass guy behind him is like, oh, Dr. Van Helsing, I'm still here.

[00:29:30] And he like pushes his nerdy glasses up and Van Helsing like is rolling his eyes to like, yeah, he's like, I'm going to get like, you know, like he can't believe this asshole is still here. Uh, and eventually he like cuts the brain out and the guy passes out and he's like, I knew it. Like, yeah, it's that whole sequence is pretty fun. Yeah. That's funny. I believe that guy, or at least one of the students there is actually, uh, David DeLuise, who is Dom DeLuise's son. Oh, fun. So yeah, a little Mel Brooks connection, uh, in there as well. But yeah, that scene is very

[00:29:57] funny. Uh, you know, the whole bit, uh, at the beginning with Renfield and the horse's carriage and stuff is pretty funny. Uh, I also really liked the exchange when, uh, he's like explaining to the townspeople, like where he's going to be going, uh, to Dracula's castle and you look at the town. It's like, I am scheduled to meet Dracula right away. And like the towns were like Dracula, Dracula, Dracula schedule. It's like peak Mel Brooks, you know? Yes. Yeah. That's a great moment. And the, you know, the, the whole opening riff,

[00:30:23] uh, it's, you know, heart, uh, Renfield, Renfield, uh, in Dracula's castle riffing on, you know, he has like the two for the love to us ladies come out and like, you know, all that stuff happens. Uh, and he tries to hypnotize Renfield and Renfield like just keeps falling asleep too quickly for the hypnosis to work. Yeah. Yeah. You're getting very sleepy. And he just immediately like conks out. Yeah. It's like, wait, wake up, wake up. You gotta do it again. I like that. The, the end of that or before he started trying to hypnotize, uh, Renfield, when it's the two,

[00:30:51] the, you know, the two ladies, um, and he's like, get out of here. And they're like floating out of the room and he's like, cut that out. And they're like, start stomp stomp. Like they're all disappointed. Like very funny. Um, I also really liked when he's trying to hypnotize Lena through the window to like, come to be like, come to the balcony, but he accidentally hypnotizes the maid and he's like, no, you sit down, you, you stand up. And they're like, they're like switching back

[00:31:16] over furniture and yeah. And she goes to the closet door and he's like, no, not that door. Come over here. And they just can't do it. Uh, he's like, okay, you stay there. I'll come to you. Uh, it's like the culmination of that is very funny. So yeah, I think this movie's got bits. It's got good stuff. You know, certainly like you said, not young Frankenstein. It's not the producers. It's not, you know, early peak seventies, uh, Mel Brooks, but for the reputation it had, it's way

[00:31:41] better than that. Yeah. Like I would still say, I would still probably rank it as the worst Mel Brooks movie, but now I know there are no more, there are no bad Mel Brooks movies. Yeah. It was, uh, you know, and I was foolish to think otherwise is, uh, basically that's, that's on me. I will say I've actually, there is, I think one Mel Brooks movie I still have yet to see, uh, which is the 12 chairs. I've never seen the 12 chairs, which I do have in my Blu-ray collection. So one of these days got to go around to watching it. Have you, you've seen 12 chairs Mike? Um, I have not. It's in that box set I have, but I just was like,

[00:32:11] I don't think I'm ready for Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky spoof or whatever the hell, like Russian literature spoof. I don't think I'm going to get it. It's such a niche thing compared to a lot of the other stuff Mel Brooks tends to parody. So I have never gotten around to it. Just was the number one that, uh, you know, jumped out at me, but, uh, been sitting in my Blu-ray collection for a long time. So one of these days got to get around to it. Uh, and for $50, you can make us watch the 12 chairs. You can make us watch the 12 chairs. Have you seen, um,

[00:32:37] life stinks? Actually, I have not. Is that also directed by Mel Brooks? That is a Mel Brooks movie. Yeah. Okay. Uh, so that was, that one's not very good either. Yeah. That ended up. So recently within the last couple of months, they did a screen drafts episode of Mel Brooks movies. And that was last life. They said that was the worst one. And so as soon as that wasn't Dracula dead and loving it while I was listening to it, I was like, Oh, interesting. Uh, and so that turned out being like, you know, a couple spots higher. Um, so certainly in the bottom half for sure,

[00:33:04] but there was a couple of other movies, uh, in there before Dracula dead and loving it. So I was like, Oh, I'm tentatively excited. And then David made us, gave us the donations. I was like, Oh wow, look at that. So, so yeah, I think, I think this certainly deserves maybe some reappraisal. Not going to go. I don't think we need to be Dracula dead and loving it stands, but it's better than people think. Absolutely. This is a solid enough time. Again, not one of the greats, but solid enough. What did they say about it on screen drafts? Were they kind of like defending it a little bit or what did they? Yeah, that was kind of where,

[00:33:31] what the vibe was. It ended up at a number 10 out of 13. So, you know, certainly down at the bottom, but that in that kind of thing where like, it's actually not the worst it's, you know, it's fine. It's fine. Like it doesn't maybe just, it doesn't deserve the reputation that it has started as being like an absolutely terrible garbage movie. That's sort of what they said about life stinks, which is crazy that that movie is actually terrible. Interesting. But yeah, that's sort of the vibe that I remember there being like, yeah, actually, you know, give it a

[00:33:58] try. It's better than you might've thought. And that's, that's sort of where I'm landing. Yeah, me too. So, uh, got to give thanks to David for, uh, donating to make us watch a movie and a double thanks to David for making us watch a movie that we liked this time. Uh, yeah, out of, out of the four that we've done this year, uh, this one we both liked. Yes. Yeah. I, yeah. Condor man, I liked, but you liked condor more than me. Yeah. Yes. Uh, condor man was one that David made us watch. The villain was also one that we watched

[00:34:24] as a David donation, uh, which I kind of liked elements of the villain. Like there were definitely aspects of it that I liked, but I think we were both kind of flat on that one. And then undercover blues. I think we were both kind of flat on that as well. So yeah, I think, uh, I would say I like condor man more than Dracula dead and loving it, but I did like Dracula dead and loving it. Okay. Spicy. I guess out of those four, I would put Dracula dead and loving it at the top for me personally. All right. There you go. Hot take, I guess. Dracula dead and loving it. Best movie we've watched this year. You heard it

[00:34:51] here first. When our, uh, 2026 year interview episode rolls around, don't be surprised when, uh, number one discovery for my tree is Dracula dead and loving it. I should put that on that list. That'd be really fun. Um, yeah, this was fun. I had a good time watching this movie because it's also, like you said, sort of crossing off, uh, another Mel Brooks movie that I definitely would have never gone out of my way to watch otherwise. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, so yeah, thankful to, uh, have gotten the chance to experience another Mel Brooks movie, uh, cause Mel Brooks,

[00:35:21] one of the greats, 99 years old, still kicking, still awesome. Uh, and so love that about that. Love that about Mel Brooks. Yeah. What a guy. I also, I'll recommend if you, I know, uh, I've talked about it before, but I don't know if you watched it, the Judd Apatow, HBO two-part documentary, Mel Brooks, the 99 year old man, really fascinating. I mean, it's just, you know, a biography, look at it, look at his life, but he's still 99. He's still 99 and still sharp. Uh, and so like he's telling all the stories it's and it's a good documentary deep dive into his, his career. Nice. Yeah. I should watch that. I have not gotten around to

[00:35:50] watching, uh, that documentary, but, uh, yeah, I've heard great things, but, uh, all right. Any other, uh, random thoughts about Dracula didn't love it, Mike, any other scenes that you want to highlight before we start wrapping up? Um, let's see. I like, uh, I like the, it's pretty fun little button, uh, where, well, actually I'll highlight before that the, the Demeter, uh, sequence, which is a one scene joke, which is very funny. Anytime the Demeter pops up in anything now,

[00:36:15] I'm like, Oh, like that movie, the last voyage of the Demeter, which I never saw. I never saw that. It's pretty fun. I mean, I like it, but I remember hearing like, it was actually like, not bad. And I remember you, you've seen it a couple of times. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, when the Demeter came up, I thought of you be like, Oh yeah. Mike D loves that last voyage of the Demeter. Love that movie. And, uh, yeah, it's just this, a cut to like a cargo hold of a boat and it's Dracula's coffin sloshing around and he's like Renfield hell.

[00:36:43] Yes. And Renfield's like chasing after the coffin and all that stuff. Yeah. It's very funny. That's fun. Um, but then at the very end, after Dracula has to be turned, turned into a pile of ash because they've kept him busy enough for the sun to rise. Uh, Renfield sweeps it into a pile and he's like, Oh master, you don't look like yourself. And he draws a, uh, with his finger, a smiley face and he's like, that's better. Like that's, yes, that's silly. I like that bit. Yes. I also liked, uh, there's an exchange there where Harvey Corbin's like, no, that Renfield, you're free now.

[00:37:11] You're nobody's slave. It's like, Oh wow. Really? And then, uh, you know, they like, they're so walking away. It's like, all right, come on, Renfield. Yes, master. Yes. Yeah. And then cut to credits, you know? Um, yeah, so that's fun, but yeah, I guess that's really, uh, we hit all the, I think the high points so far. Yeah, no, I think, uh, we hit the major beats, uh, Dracula dead and loving it. Uh, it's a solid little time again, not one of the great Mel Brooks movies, but a solid comedy that we enjoyed. And it was fun to see people we like

[00:37:40] and also see set design. That's actually really cool. And, uh, riffing on, uh, some stuff in the Dracula mythos that, uh, yeah, we haven't seen in a while. So yeah, Dracula doesn't love it. A lot of fun. They did it. They made a movie. I like, they also reference, uh, Nosferatu, not just, they call him like they say, Oh, she's a Nosferatu, you know, but when they're like going through the occult books and they're like, Oh, do you just have the story from Nosferatu? Like, cause famously Nosferatu was sued by the Bram Stoker. Right. And they're just like, Oh yeah, here's what's supposed to like.

[00:38:07] It's sort of like their reference, like look at the script kind of type joke, which is fun. Yes, absolutely. But all right. That is Dracula dead and loving it. Once again, thank you to David for donating $50 to our Kofi page and making us watch this movie. Uh, if you, if you want to donate $50 to our Kofi page, you can also choose a movie to make us watch anything. Yeah. Kofi.com slash Mike and Mike pods and we'll do it. Like we're been doing a lot of recently, which is pretty fun. Um, yeah, absolutely. I was, I actually was curious like, Oh, how much money have we made?

[00:38:34] Like via Kofi over the, can we've been doing this for a couple of years now? I feel like Kofi, right. Uh, and I was going through our list and I believe we have made through Kofi like over $1,100, uh, you know, but that's spread out over like three to four years of, uh, you know, us doing this probably more than that. Yeah. So over like 50, you know, making this thing of people donating 50 bucks. Um, so, you know, it's, it's not like a life changing amount of money by any means, but it's very exciting that like, Hey, we've raised over a thousand dollars just from people

[00:39:01] donating to get us to talk about stuff. And that's pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. It helps us pay for, uh, you know, producer Kyle, actual producer, Kyle's podcast. So shout out to you guys for supporting the show. Yeah, totally. Uh, all right, Mike D where can we find you online this week? You can find me at MD film blog on letterboxd and blue sky. Um, and like we were just saying, if you want to donate to Kofi, you can do that on Kofi page, Kofi.com slash Mike and Mike pods, where we can watch more Mel Brooks stuff. There's other ones I've actually never seen to be or not to

[00:39:29] be or silent movie or a silent movie. Okay. It's pretty fun. Yeah. I'm sure I would like it. It's in that box set. I don't know. I think I was like, Oh, I've got the three or four that I like. Uh, and I just watched those ones all the time. I own them. Uh, yeah. So, uh, yeah, Kofi.com slash Mike and Mike pods. And if you want merch, we have merch available on our red bubble, Mike and Mike pods.redbubble.com. That's right. You found me online at M Smith film blog on Twitter and blue sky, Mike Smith film on letterboxd radio, Mike sandwich and Instagram.

[00:39:54] Thanks so much for listening to Mike. The Complete Works Podcast. I'm Mike Smith. It's my podcast or any other podcast app. And if you want to contact us, go to blue sky at complete works pod or on Instagram. Also at complete works pod, you can find the rest of our podcasts and rapture press alongside many other podcasts, all kinds of comic books and movie news and all that good stuff. Check out the main podcast, the complete works where season five is currently underway. Uh, we just recently released our episode on the Lord of the Rings, the fellowship of the ring. We

[00:40:21] reached it in the Elijah Wood season. Uh, and there are more Lord of the Rings movies to come. Uh, there's a bunch more. There are in fact, uh, all right, that is the end of this week's episode of Mike, Mike go to the movies. We will see you on the other side.