The Rules of the Beast (E01)

Claes is a great Dracula (except for that first version of the Romanian Borat), but the only time I buy this cardboard B-movie crap is when the Count is pulling off the lines of a villain from the pulp district. Otherwise, it's an ugly-looking, flimsily-mashed-together joke. (01/05/2020)

There are old-fashioned gore effects in a line working with the original material, but referring to the Hammer adaptations in visuals and B-movies, plus cuts to a line in a convent that is conceived in a completely different way. On top of that, the traditional "Gatiss-Moffat" messing with the vampire rules, rubbing up against and alluding to the Universal era, Coppola's version and much more, including the great Dracula-Agatha duo, but not working against each other. She would need a completely differently styled vampire against her, and he would need a differently styled hunter with regard to the "very charismatic fun-loving overworked bastard" stylisation. I haven't been this torn in a long time; I both appreciated and more or less liked every aspect of it (and enjoyed some of it like a gourmand), but I still had trouble finishing it because of the disjointed hodgepodge of it all. (01/05/2021)