The Dracula Movies

From LoveToKnow Sci-Fi

Dracula Movies: Countless Counts

Count Dracula, as created by Bram Stoker in his 1897 novel, has been recreated on the big screen dozens, even hundreds of times. Here are just a few of the best of the Dracula movies.

First, a Bootleg

Nosferatu, a 1922 silent film made by F.W. Murnau in Germany, was an attempt to reproduce the Dracula story as a movie without having the permission of the copyright owner. Starring Max Schreck as 'Count Orlok'. In this version, vampires are graveyard horrors, corpse-like, with long claws and often bat-like ears. The erotic frisson of later Draculas isn't found here.

Murnau and company made very little alteration in the actual Stoker story, outside of changing the names of the main characters, and the Stoker estate successfully sued the company and won. The prints of this Dracula movie were supposed to have been all destroyed under the court order, yet a few survived. It is thought to be one of the creepiest of the silent movies.

The Gold Standard of 1931

The version of Dracula that most people think of is that of 1931's film directed by Tod Browning, and starring Romanian actor Bela Lugosi as the Count. In this version, the strange allure that vampires can have over their victims starts to become part of the story. This film spawned several sequels and spin-off Dracula movies.

The acting is slightly campy by today's tastes and the effects unimpressive, but at the time, this movie had audiences both terrified and attracted. America's love affair with vampires was underway.

The Hammer Era

In 1958, Hammer Films released their version of Dracula, released in the US as The Horror of Dracula. Peter Cushing plays Professor van Helsing, and Christopher Lee the Count, in this lush gothic masterpiece. Many feel this version is the closest to the Stoker story of any of the film adaptations.

Hammer Films spent the sixties making sequels and spinoffs in this franchise, most of which starred both Cushing and Lee.

1979

1979 saw two entries into the Dracula movie files; a serious contender and a comedy.

George Hamilton played Dracula for laughs in Love at First Bite. Stage actor Frank Langella, possessed of dramatic good looks, brought the Broadway stageplay Dracula to the screen, giving Dracula perhaps his sexiest incarnation ever. This version also boasted Laurence Olivier as Van Helsing. It is also probably responsible for the eroticization of the 'death by vampire bite' that finds echoes in cult television's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Anne Rice's New Orleans vampire tales.

Coppola's Count

Francis Ford Coppola took a stab at the Count in 1992, with Gary Oldman playing Dracula, Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing, and Keanu Reeves and Winona Rider as Jonathan and Mina.