Mel Brooks has endeavored to entertain Americans for the last sixty years. He’s had his hand in cartoons, skits, theater, film and even did a season of Curb Your Enthusiasm along side his downer offspring, Larry David.

The influence Brooks has on ensuing generations of comedians and actors can’t be calculated. And neither can the quality of his filmmaking. Some might figure that the nineties didn’t exactly count as the highlight of his career. And while that may well be an appropriate summation of the decade, it still found Brooks seeking to expand upon the vast history he’d accumulated by that point in time.

Young Frankenstein, released in 1974 and shot in black and white, easily serves as a comedic milestone. Whether viewers appreciate low brow humor or not, the cast, its costumes and the various sets in the film work together in creating one of the most enduring films of Brooks’ career.

In some ways Dracula: Dead and Loving It could be seen as an extension of that 1974 feature. Both films re-tell horror stories through Brooks’ own, skewed sense of humor. And what’s more, he waited almost twenty years between films. That’s persistence of vision.

While Dracula wasn’t shot in black and white, there is a carriage scene early in the film which easily connects to the efforts together. But beyond that and whatever trappings as a filmmaker Brooks brings along are aptly displayed. There’s a playfulness in the scripts plain language specific to Brooks.

His casting, too, goes a long way towards making the film something uniquely of Mel Brooks. Tapping Leslie Nielsen as Count Dracula wasn’t an obvious choice, but a good one. In the midst of his run as a detective in all the Naked Gun movies, Nielsen was a familiar face. And with his white pompadour, presented a stately façade on which to place the Dracula myth.

Really, that’s all this is. The film’s a recreation, with modifications, of a story that’s enrapt audiences and readers for centuries. So, it might be that Brooks sought a story that would immediately connect with movie goers – the whole thing is relatively true to Bram Stoker, replete with Renton and his odd trappings. There’s the boat trip and Dracula’s instillation into society.

Dracula: Dead and Loving It shouldn’t be considered the high point of Brooks’ career – or the nineties. But it’s a fitting portion of his legacy.