Dracula in popular culture
Encyclopedia
The character of Count Dracula
from the 1897 novel Dracula
by Bram Stoker
, has remained popular over the years, and many film
s have used the Count as a villain, while others have named him in their titles, such as Dracula's Daughter
, The Brides of Dracula, and Zoltan, Hound of Dracula
. The number of films that include a reference to Dracula may reach as high as 649, according to the Internet Movie Database
. Dracula has enjoyed enormous popularity since its publication and has spawned an extraordinary vampire subculture in the second half of the 20th century. More than 200 films have been made that feature Count Dracula, a number second only to Sherlock Holmes
, (and several hundred more that have vampires as their subject). More than 1,000 novels have been written about Dracula or vampires along with a plethora of cartoons, comics, and television programs. At the center of this subculture is the place myth of Transylvania, which has become almost synonymous with vampires.
Most adaptations do not include all the major characters from the novel. The Count is obviously always present, and Jonathan
and Mina Harker
, Dr. Seward
, Dr. Van Helsing
, and Renfield
usually appear as well. The characters of Mina and Lucy are occasionally combined into a single female role. Jonathan Harker and Renfield are also sometimes reversed or combined. Quincey Morris
and Arthur Holmwood
are usually omitted entirely.
. In 1922, silent film
director F. W. Murnau
made a horror film
called Nosferatu: eine Symphonie des Grauens ("Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror"), which took the story of Dracula and set it in Transylvania
and Germany
. In the story, Dracula's role was changed to that of Count Orlok
, played by Max Schreck
(whose name literally means 'fright').
The Stoker estate won its lawsuit, and all existing prints of Nosferatu were ordered destroyed. However, a number of pirated
copies of the movie survived to the present era, where they entered the public domain. Nosferatu was remade in 1979 as Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
by Werner Herzog
. Unlike in the original Nosferatu, the vampire in Herzog's version was named Dracula, not Orlok.
The 1931 film version of Dracula
starred Bela Lugosi
and was directed by Tod Browning
. It is one of the most famous versions of the story and is commonly considered a horror classic. In 2000, the United States Library of Congress
deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry
. It is an adaptation of the 1927 play, and Van Sloan also transferred his role to the big screen. The films had music only during the opening (the famous main theme from Swan Lake, which was also used at the beginning of other Univesal horror productions) and closing credits, and during a brief sequence set at an opera. In 1999, Philip Glass
was commissioned to compose a musical score to accompany the film. The current DVD release allows access to this music.
At the same time as the 1931 Lugosi film, a Spanish language
version
was filmed for release in Mexico. It was filmed at night, using the same sets as the Tod Browning production with a different cast and crew, a common practice in the early days of sound films. George Melford
was the director, and it starred Carlos Villarías
as the count, Eduardo Arozamena as Van Helsing and Lupita Tovar
as Eva. Because of America's movie industry censorship policies, Melford's Dracula contains scenes that could not be included in the final cut of the more familiar English version. It is also included on the Universal Legacy DVD.
During the 1930s and 1940s, the Universal Studios
horror films made Dracula a household name by starring him as a villain in a number of movies, including several where he met other monsters (the most famous being the comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
, in which Lugosi played Dracula on film for only the second and final time.)
One 1944 oddity from Columbia Pictures that is worthy of mention is The Return of the Vampire
, in which rescue workers revive a previously staked vampire during the London Blitz. Bela Lugosi plays the undead Armand Tesla, who is Dracula in all but name.
produced Dracula
, a newer, more Gothic version of the story, starring Christopher Lee
as Dracula and Peter Cushing
as Van Helsing
. It is widely considered to be one of the best versions of the story to be adapted to film, and in 2004 was named by the magazine
Total Film
as the 30th greatest British film of all time. Although it takes many liberties with the novel's plot, the creepy atmosphere and charismatic performances of Lee and Cushing make it memorable. It was released in the United States as Horror of Dracula to avoid confusion with the earlier Lugosi version. This was followed by a long series of Dracula films, usually featuring Lee as Dracula.
The Hammer films in which Dracula (or a relative) appeared (and the actor portraying the character) were:
Though Dracula is pronounced as dead in The Brides of Dracula he is resurrected for Dracula: Prince of Darkness, before being killed off again. This formula is followed in each succeeding film apart from the last: The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires.
Christopher Lee, the British actor who played in the Hammer Dracula films, reminisced in a 1999 interview for NPR.
(1953) was a Turkish made production starring balding Atif Kaptan as the count. It was the first sound film to depict Dracula with fangs.
The Blood of Dracula (1957) was producer Herman Cohen's attempt to cash in on his previous success with I Was a Teenage Werewolf
. The film was basically "I was a Teenage Dracula," with the same story of a wayward teenager (Sandra Harrison) being transformed into a legendary fiend by an ill-willed adult (Louise Lewis). Herbert L. Strock
directed.
The Return of Dracula
(1958) brought the Count to modern day America. Matinee idol Francis Lederer
played Dracula, who flees vampire hunters in Transylvania to take up residence in small-town America in the guise of an artist he had previously murdered. The Count begins to feed on the local populace and create more vampires before he is tracked to his lair in an abandoned mine and destroyed. Paul Landres directed from a screenplay by Pat Fielder. The film is also known, for some reason, as The Fantastic Disappearing Man. It has been shown on television under the title The Curse of Dracula.
Billy the Kid vs. Dracula
(1966) saw the Count in America's old west, facing off with a pre-outlaw years Billy the Kid. John Carradine returned to the role of the Dracula under the direction of William Beaudine
.
The Fearless Vampire Killers
(1967) was directed by Roman Polanski
and introduced him to Sharon Tate
. This was a parody of Hammer's films, and featured Ferdy Mayne
as the Dracula-like Count Krolock.
Thames Television's (UK) anthology series Mystery and Imagination
ran Dracula
based on the book in 1968. It featured Denholm Elliott
as Dracula.
Blood of Dracula's Castle
(1969) was a low-budget entry from director Al Adamson
. Alex D'Arcy and Paula Raymond play Count and Countess Dracula,who have taken up residence in a castle in America under the aliases of Count and Countess Townsend. Too genteel to stalk their prey by night, these fiends are content to sip their blood from cocktail glasses prepared by their faithful butler George (John Carradine
). In the end, they meet their doom in the rays of the morning sun.
Jonathan (1969) was an arty take on the legend from Germany. Jonathan (played by Juergen Jung) infiltrates the castle of the undead Count (who is never actually named in the film) played by Paul Albert Krumm. The whole thing is a partially successful allegory on the dangers of fascism by director/writer Hans Geissendoerfer.
Count Dracula (1970), directed by Jesus Franco
starring Christopher Lee as Dracula. In spite of its star, Franco's film is not a part of the Hammer series, and was shot on a small budget. Regarded by many as a underrated classic, it claims to be closer to the spirit of the book than other versions. Lee is made up to look like the description of the Count from Stoker's novel, and he does seem to grow younger as the story progresses, but the film otherwise takes some huge liberties with the plot. The international cast includes Herbert Lom
as Van Helsing and Klaus Kinski
as Renfield.
Jess Franco followed this with Vampyros Lesbos
in 1970, in which Soledad Miranda
plays Nadina, a descendant of the Dracula family.
CBC-TV's (Canada) anthology series Purple Playhouse
featured an hour-long adaptation, Dracula based on the book in 1970. It starred Norman Welsh as Dracula.
1970 saw Al Adamson
return with Dracula vs. Frankenstein
, a grade Z budget film with Zandor Vorkov as the Count terrorizing a California boardwalk community with Frankenstein's monster in tow. Screen legends J. Carroll Naish and Lon Chaney Jr. appeared, and Famous Monsters of Filmland
editor Forrest J. Ackerman cameoed as an unlucky victim.
In 1971, Hrabě Drakula, directed by Anna Procházková, was broadcast on Czechoslovakia television. It was reasonably faithful to the novel, except for the exclusion of Renfield. Ilja Racek played Dracula.
In 1972, Paul Naschy
starred in Count Dracula's Great Love
, directed by Javier Aguirre
for the Spanish production company Janus Films. This movie predated Francis Ford Coppola
's vision of Dracula as a romantic figure by 20 years.
1972 also saw the release of Blacula
, a low-budget blaxploitation
horror film about an African prince vampirized by Count Dracula himself (who is portrayed by Charles Macaulay) in a brief opening prologue. The 1973 sequel, Scream Blacula Scream
briefly replays this scene as a flashback.
In 1973, Dracula
starring Jack Palance
was produced by Dan Curtis
, best known for producing the gothic soap opera
Dark Shadows
from a script by sci-fi favorite Richard Matheson
. Filmed in Yugoslavia
and England, it was a relatively faithful to the novel, though it tried to paint Dracula as a tragic, rather than evil, character in search of his lost love. It also drew the connection between Dracula and the historical figure of Vlad the Impaler, which was a popular notion at the time (see above). In these respects, it, too, is a close fore-runner of Coppola's later film.
In 1974, Andy Warhol
presented an outrageously campy Dracula (also known as Blood for Dracula
), directed by Paul Morrissey
and starring cult icons Udo Kier
(as the Count) and Joe Dallesandro
.
Dracula père et fils
("Dracula Father and Son"), a French comedy again starring Christopher Lee as Dracula, here having trouble convincing his son to take up the family mantle of vampirism. (In interviews, Lee has claimed that his character was not called Dracula during filming, and that the producers only decided to make it a Dracula film after the fact.)
1977 saw a solid BBC version titled Count Dracula
. It was made for television and starred Louis Jourdan as the Count and Frank Finlay
as Van Helsing. It was directed by Philip Saville
. This version is one of the more faithful adaptations of the book. It includes all of the main characters (only blending together Arthur and Quincey) and has scenes of Jonathan recording events in his diary and Dr. Seward speaking into his dictaphone.
In 1978, an independent film company produced the horror thriller Zoltan, Hound of Dracula
starring Michael Pataki
as the mild-mannered family psychiatrist destined to encounter the resurrected hound of Dracula.
Draculas ring
(1978) is a Danish
TV-miniseries, written and directed by Flemming la Cour and Edmondt Jensen, starring Bent Børgesen as Dracula, who journeys to Denmark
on a quest to reclaim his stolen ring.
1979 saw three film versions released. In the first, Frank Langella
starred opposite Laurence Olivier
as a sexually charged version of the Count in the big budget Dracula. Based on the 1977 Broadway play, it was directed by John Badham
and featured a score by John Williams
. That year also saw the release of Love at First Bite
, a romantic comedy
spoof set in contemporary New York City
starring George Hamilton
as the Count. The third film is the previously mentioned Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
starring Klaus Kinski
and directed by Werner Herzog. In this remake of the 1922 film, the vampire is specifically called Count Dracula rather than Count Orlok. Additionally, a holiday television film starring Judd Hirsch
was released on ABC
, The Halloween That Almost Wasn't
. It later aired on the Disney Channel
until the late 1990s.
(played by Duncan Regehr
), and was one of the monsters featured in Waxwork
(played by Miles O'Keeffe
).
In 1992, Francis Ford Coppola
produced and directed a new version of the film, called Bram Stoker's Dracula starring Gary Oldman
, Winona Ryder
, Keanu Reeves
, and Anthony Hopkins
. Coppola's story includes a backstory telling how Dracula (who is the historical Vlad Ţepeş in this version) became a vampire, as well as a subplot in which Mina Harker was revealed to be the reincarnation
of Dracula's greatest love. This story is not part of Stoker's original. The soundtrack includes 'Love Song for a Vampire', sung by Annie Lennox
.
In 1995, Mel Brooks
did a comedic parody, Dracula: Dead and Loving It
, which parodied all of the standard Dracula themes, but especially noteworthy was the scene where Dracula's reflection was noticeably absent in a mirror as he danced at a ball, to the horror of those watching. A scene where Van Helsing has Harker pound a stake into a sleeping Lucy's chest with a seemingly impossible amount of blood spraying back on himself asks the question: just where does all the blood go? Mel Brooks
played Van Helsing as an aged Professor. Dracula was played by Leslie Nielsen
.
took a stab at the legend with his modern day Dracula 2000
, promoted as Wes Craven Presents Dracula 2000. Wes Craven
was an executive producer. It was released in the UK as Dracula 2001. To discover how to destroy Dracula, Van Helsing (portrayed by Christopher Plummer
) keeps himself alive with injections of Dracula's blood. When thieves steal the vampire and crash near New Orleans, Van Helsing and his ward Simon, must track down the vampire and save Van Helsing's daughter Mary, who shares his blood. The film also gives Dracula (played by Gerard Butler
) a new identity as Judas Iscariot
, forbidden by God to die following his betrayal of Christ
and intent on corrupting the innocent and finding Mary, whose nightmares he has haunted for years. Dracula 2000 was followed by two sequels, Dracula II: Ascension
(in 2003) and Dracula III: Legacy
(in 2005).
In 2001, Dracula, the Musical
, composed by Frank Wildhorn
, premiered in California. It went on to Broadway in 2004 to play 157 performances.
In 2002, Canadian cult film director Guy Maddin
released his screen adaptation of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's version of the count's tale, a ballet
set to the music of Gustav Mahler
and titled Dracula, Pages From a Virgin's Diary. Mainly greyscale until Dracula is cut and bleeds gold coloured coins.
In 2002, Dracula
, an Italian telemovie of Dracula set in modern times. Dracula was played by Patrick Bergin
. In the US, it was released on VHS and DVD as Dracula's Curse.
In 2002, director Jesús Franco
made a movie entitled The Killer Barbys vs. Dracula
starring the real life band The Killer Barbies whose new song woke Dracula from his eternal slumber.
Mina Harker appeared as a capable leader and investigator of unusual phenomena in the comic book
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
. In the 2003 film adaptation, the character was revised into a vampiric superheroine, played by Peta Wilson
.
Dracula 3000
(2004) is a futuristic adaptation that is set in outer space, where Dracula has infiltrated the space ship and is killing its passengers.
Van Helsing
is a film based on the vampire-hunter Van Helsing from the book, played by Hugh Jackman
, only reinvented as an immortal action hero assigned by the Vatican
to hunt monsters. Richard Roxburgh
portrays Dracula in this reinvigoration of the 1930s and 1940s Universal Horror monsters which also featured new versions of the Frankenstein Monster and The Wolf Man
. In this movie, Dracula is impervious to the normal methods of killing a vampire, only able to die through a werewolf
bite.
A character named Drake serves as the primary antagonist in Blade: Trinity
, in which a group of vampires summon him in order to finally defeat Blade. It is stated directly that Drake is in fact Dracula, but this is only one of many names he has gone by throughout the centuries, having been born around 5000 BC in ancient Sumer
. Dominic Purcell portrays Drake.
2005 saw the premiere of Dracula's most recent stage incarnation, an adaptation by playwright P. Shane Mitchell
. By the end of 2005, the opera Dracula, by the Colombian composer Héctor Fabio Torres Cardona, opened in Manizales, Colombia.
Also in 2005 WB released the direct to DVD animated film The Batman vs. Dracula
. It is a continuation of The Batman cartoon series in which The Dark Knight faces the Prince of Darkness.
Lust for Dracula, a softcore lesbian
pornographic semi-parodical film with an all-female cast, was also released in 2005 with actress Darian Crane as Count Dracula. Dracula and Jonathan Harker were apparently male characters, albeit played by women.
A French Canadian musical production (Dracula - Entre l'amour et la mort
http://www.zone3.ca/dracula/index.htm) opened in Montreal
in January 2006, starring Bruno Pelletier
.
On December 28, 2006, a made-for-TV film adaptation of Dracula was aired on BBC One
. The film starred Marc Warren
as Dracula, David Suchet
as Van Helsing, Dan Stevens
as Lord Holmwood and Sophia Myles
as Lucy.
And there was "Dracula Spectacula", a slightly spoof-esque musical written by John Gardiner.
Dracula is to be performed entirely on a Bouncy Castle at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Bouncy Castle Dracula will be produced by The Strolling Theatricals, the company behind the famous 'Bouncy Castle Hamlet' and 'Bouncy Castle Macbeth', which featured on ITV's 'Britain's Got Talent'.
Giallo
master Dario Argento
will shoot his 3-D interpretation of Dracula
in January 2011 .
In 1924, with the permission of the Stoker estate, the story was adapted for the stage a second time by Hamilton Deane
. Entitled Dracula, The Vampire Play
the English touring production starred Deane himself as Van Helsing. In 1927, the play, as substantially revised by John L. Balderston
, opened on Broadway
in a production starring Bela Lugosi
and Edward Van Sloan
as the count and Van Helsing, respectively.
1977 saw a revival of the 1927 Broadway version. The atmospheric sets and costumes were designed by Edward Gorey
. The Count was portrayed by Frank Langella
, who, like Lugosi before him, would go on to perform the role on the big screen. The same Gorey sets and costumes were used for a U.S. touring version of the play starring Jeremy Brett
. The Deane-Balderston lines were altered somewhat and played for a more comedic effect.
A musical, featuring classic monsters I'm Sorry the Bridge Is Out, You'll Have to Spend the Night with book, music and lyrics by Sheldon Allman
and Bobby Pickett;
Dracula: Sabbat an Off-Off Broadway rendition, by Leon Katz
, premiered 1970;
Dracula, the Vampire Play by Tim Kelly
; various others following similar staging, such as The Passion of Dracula by Bob Hall & David Richmond, Count Dracula, Countess Dracula, etc.;
Undead, Dreams of Darkness mixing Stoker's characters and situations with those from Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
's Carmilla
, in a modern setting, written & directed by David M. Nevarrez in New York in 1998. The last sighting on Broadway was from the adapted version by composer Frank Wildhorn
, Dracula, the Musical in 2004.
The opera by Hector Fabio Torres Cardona was believed to be the first Dracula opera. However, in October 2004 an operatic version of Dracula premiered at the Lancaster Opera House, by the composer Paul Ziemba. Gary Sage as Dracula. The score includes a waltz, a polonaise, a mazurka, several romantic arias, a lively gypsy number, plus music to accompany several specially choreographed ballets. Here is how Paul describes the score, "In all the music, melodic themes are distinct and often strongly developed depending upon scene, setting, story, and of course, the characters."
In 1996 playwright Steven Dietz
published an adaption of Dracula
In 2006, Dracula - Entre l'amour et la mort
, a French Canadian musical starring Bruno Pelletier
premiered in Quebec, Canada.
In 2010 a new musical version entitled The Blood of Dracula premiered in Scotland, UK. It ran from 13–16 January at the Denny Civic Theatre in Dumbarton. It has a Book & Lyrics by Joseph Traynor and Music by Kevin Taylor.
The Sequel to "The Blood of Dracula" entitled "Dracula: Resurrection" is already underway. Re-uniting a lot of the original cast, it features another excellent score by Kevin Taylor. It will premiere at the Denny Civic Theatre, Dumbarton the last week of March 2010
and John Houseman
chose Dracula to be the inaugural episode of the new radio show featuring their Broadway production company, The Mercury Theatre on the Air
. The adaptation was largely faithful to the book, although condensed to fit in the show's hour-long format and with a different ending. Welles was the voice of both Dracula and "Arthur Seward," a pastiche character combining two of Lucy's suitors. The music was composed by Bernard Herrmann
.
's Salem's Lot, Kim Newman
's Anno Dracula, Fred Saberhagen
's The Dracula Tape, Wendy Swanscombe's erotic
parody Vamp
, Dan Simmons
's Children of the Night, and Robin Spriggs
's The Dracula Poems: A Poetic Encounter with the Lord of Vampires. Loren D. Estleman
's novel The Case of the Sanguinary Count pits Dracula against that equally venerable Victorian-era character Sherlock Holmes
- written as though Dracula fought with Holmes when he was not being tracked by Van Helsing's men-, as does Fred Saberhagen
's The Holmes-Dracula File. In Jim Butcher
's novel Grave Peril, Dracula is mentioned (under the name "Drakul") by the character Harry Dresden as being "still in eastern Europe when we last checked". Caitlín R. Kiernan
's short fiction has drawn upon Dracula a number of times — most notably in "Emptiness Spoke Eloquent" (which follows the lonely life of Mina Harker after the vampire's death), "The Drowned Geologist", and "Stoker's Mistess."
In The Diaries of the Family Dracula, a trilogy by Jeanne Kalogridis
, Vlad's relationship with his mortal descendants is explored, as are the specific terms of his vampiric curse and his pact with the Romanian peasants who serve him. The novels are written in epistolary form, and the story is intertwined with that of Stoker's novel, expanding on minor characters and details from the Dracula mythos.
Elizabeth Kostova
's 2005 novel The Historian
follows several historians, whose research has led them too close to Dracula, as they hunt the vampire across Europe.
Meg Cabot
's 2010 novel Insatiable has a main character named Meena Harper who has a relationship with Dracula's son, Lucien.
Kelly Jacobs
's 2011 novel "The Diary of Drakula, volume one," expands heavily on the Dracula character, blending the fictional Count with his inspiration, the real life Viovode of Wallachia, Vlad the Impaler, in a biography. The novel is the first part of a two part series which is written in the same style as the original by Bram Stoker
, as a collection of diary entries, letters and various documents.
Although the novel has non-historical elements for entertainment value, most of the events depicted therein have a real historical basis, such as the fall of constantinople
and the night attack of 1462.
In the book series Vampire Hunter D
which takes place ten thousand years in the future, D's adversary Count Magnus discovers that D is the son of Dracula, the Sacred Ancestor. D also nearly states this during a psychological attack in the second volume, Raiser of Gales.
Freda Warrington
's Dracula the Undead
is an unofficial sequel to Dracula.
A great-grandnephew of Bram Stoker, Dacre Stoker, and screenwriter Ian Holt have written a sequel to Dracula titled Dracula the Un-dead
(Stoker's original title), which reveals that Dracula was not actually the true villain but sought to eliminate the more dangerous Elizabeth Bathory. Dacre Stoker claims that parts of the work are based on excised material from the original novel and Stoker's notes. In North America, the book was published by E.P. Dutton. Director Ernest Dickerson
was supposed to have begun shooting a film based on the book in 2007; later delayed to June 2009. As of summer 2011, imdb.com still lists this project as "in development."
The most successful and notable, to date is by Michael Pink and Christopher Gable
. Premiered in 1997, to commemorate the centenary publication of the novel, it was created for the Northern Ballet Theatre
in the United Kingdom. The production stays as faithful to the book as possible in non verbal theatre. Original music was composed by Philip Feeney, the Naxos
recording of the score has remained a top seller. Sets and costumes were designed by Lez Brotherston, whose career as a designer for dance began with NBT. Lighting was by Paul Pyant
. The production has been seen throughout the world, most companies presenting the work more than once during the last decade. It is the lure of the novel that makes this as popular in the dance world as the film industry. This same production team is responsible for many successful adaptations of popular novels.
Another ballet based on Dracula was created by choreographer David Nixon
and has become popular at Halloween
among many companies in the US and England.
s, most notably, the Marvel comics
version of Dracula
featured in Tomb of Dracula
written primarily by Marv Wolfman
(following two issues each by Gerry Conway
, Archie Goodwin
and Gardner Fox
) and drawn by Gene Colan
for Marvel Comics
in the 1970s. They concurrently published Dracula Lives (1973–1975) in their black-and-white magazine line under the Curtis
imprint, thirteen issues followed by a separately numbered all-reprint annual. After the color comic ended with #70 (August 1979), the company utilized the exact title for another black-and white magazine (#1, October 1979), which was cancelled as of its sixth issue (August 1980). Their version of the character would continue to be a presence in the Marvel Universe for many years thereafter, as recently as the 2006 X-Men
crossover X-Men: Apocalypse vs. Dracula
(prior to that, Dell Comics
had produced a superhero
version of Dracula). Wolfman and Colan reteamed for a three-issue Dracula miniseries comic in 1998, titled The Curse of Dracula, this time for Dark Horse Comics
. Although briefly killed in a recent storyline, Dracula was resurrected by the X-Men to help them defeat his son, Xarus, when he attempted to bring the vampires of the world together to turn the X-Men and other remaining mutants.
In 2003, Dracula was re-invented as the globe-trotting "Osama Bin Laden
of vampires" in the Image Comics
series Sword of Dracula
. Dracula was used as a villain in the webcomic
, Clan of the Cats in 2004. In 2005, Dracula faced off against King Arthur in the Silent Devil Productions series Dracula vs. King Arthur. One of the Elseworlds
book by DC Comics
is Batman & Dracula: Red Rain, which features the caped crusader fighting Dracula, who has come to Gotham City
, forcing Batman to become a vampire himself to stop his foe. Dracula has also been featured in the webcomic Dr. McNinja. The novel, and "Dracula's Guest" are being adapted into comic form by Leah Moore
and John Reppion
, for Dynamite Entertainment
, as a five-issue limited series
, The Complete Dracula. Victor Gischler
wrote, Giuseppe Camuncoli pencilled and Marko Djurdjervic created the cover of the Marvel Comics
published Death of Dracula.
In 2010 noted graphic novelist Andy Fish
known for his usually dark stories peppered with elements of gallows humor began a 500 page adaption and sequel to the original novel called DRACULA THE DEAD TRAVEL FAST re-setting the novel in the 1930s and introducing the unrest leading up to World War II. The book is notable in that it was one of the first non-mainstream graphic novels released digitally and traditionally at the same time via both the Kindle and Nook stores and comic shops worldwide.
. An Autarkis of the Tzimisce
Clan
, he has been present at many of the major events in the World of Darkness
, serving the Camarilla, Sabbat and Inconnu at various times throughout his existence. In Vampire: the Requiem
, Dracula is the historical Vlad Tepes and a legendary figure among vampires. His clan is not known, as he, and his followers, claim that he was cursed by God himself for his atrocities. The Ordo Dracul claims that they follow his teachings about overcoming the curse of vampirism. The games draw much from the novel Dracula and vampire myths in general.
In the Dungeons and Dragons setting, Ravenloft
, the villain of the adventure is Count Strahd von Zarovich who is a tribute to the Count and his castle which houses many diabolical items and quest. The entire adventure is filled with Gothic horror centering all around the Count who is the Master of the Castle and anything that happens in Barovia
happens because he wills it to. Adaptations of Strahd's appearance come from descriptions of the traditional Dracula.
In Warhammer Fantasy Battles there is a long dynasty of titled vampires in the Empire
who rose up against the mortal Emperor and started the Undead wars. The von Carstein Trilogy (Inheritance, Dominion and Retribution) as novelised by Steven Savile
fictionalises the lives of the most infamous these Vampires, Vlad Von Carstein and his gets, Konrad and Mannfred. Vlad himself draws on Dracula stereotype.
In Dracula's Riddle, an online riddle game, Dracula is the evil Count who has put a curse on the world, slowly turning it into his dark realm. As he is vanquished in the first game, his curse lives on to possess his slayer who serves as the evil power in the sequel, Dracula's Riddle 2.
In Melty Blood
, a visual novel
/fighting game
based on Tsukihime
, the phenomena TATARI, aka "The Night of Wallachia"'s first and most commonly recognized form was the incarnation of the first fear it manifested: Count Dracula.
series (known as "Akumajo Dracula" (Devil's Castle Dracula) in Japan
), Count Vlad Tepes Dracula
, as he is known in the series, is the ultimate source of evil that the protagonists must confront, after adventuring through Dracula's castle
. The other aspect in relations to the Count is his son, Adrian Farenheights Tepes, commonly known as "Alucard
", who has dedicated his life to ensure the survival of the human race and the preventing of his father's tyranny. It is often said by both fans and Konami
that the Castlevania timeline is meant to exist in the same universe as the Bram Stoker novel. This is evidenced in Castlevania:Bloodlines, as one of the protagonists is a relative of Quincy Morris. Aside from Alucard, Dracula's major enemies come from the Belmont clan, which includes the Belmont, Belnades, Graves, Morris, LeCarde, and Schneider families. In the series, Dracula's origin is revealed to be as Mathias Cronqvist, a fictional 11th-century tactician and alchemist. His origins were revised in the 2010 reboot Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.
In the first Castlevania game in 1986, Dracula turns into a large bat-like creature, in 1992 he does this again, in Bram Stoker's Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola
. These may have inspired the forms he takes in Van Helsing
, Blade: Trinity
, and many of the later Castlevania games.
Now-defunct software company CRL
produced a series of games in the 1980s featuring classic horror classics including Dracula. These were the first game titles in the UK to receive BBFC
certification (they were rated "15"), normally reserved for films and videos. There were two adventure games, Dracula: Resurrection and The Last Sanctuary. Both took place after the novels end and continued Jon and Mina's fight against the Count.
Count Dracula appears in Sierra Entertainment
's Kings Quest II which was released in 1985. The hero of the game, King Graham has to defeat Dracula by driving a stake through his heart.
Dracula: Resurrection
, Dracula: The Last Sanctuary and Dracula 3 - The Path of the Dragon
form a series of adventure games. They were published in 1999, 2000 and 2008, respectively.
In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
, The Count of Skingrad is a vampire not unlike Transylvania's Count, Dracula.
In Namco
's Vampire Night
, The Count of Auguste is a vampire, a reference to Count Dracula.
Dracula: Origin is a 2008 PC point-and-click adventure
developed by Ascaron Entertainment
, in which the player assumes the role of Abraham Van Helsing in a storyline based on the original novel.A sequel is currently in production, called Dracula: Origin 2. This time, the player will assume the role of Dracula himself as he tries to regain power after his defeat at the hands of Van Helsing during the end of the first game.
In Popcap Games "Bookworm Adventures Deluxe",Dracula is the Boss for Dracula's castle.
A character similar to Dracula, named The Count, appears as a boss in the PlayStation game "Medievil 2".
produced the TV anime
movie Yami no Teiô Kyûketsuki Dracula, based upon Marv Wolfman
and Gene Colan
's Tomb of Dracula
comic from Marvel
. It was released on cable TV in North America by Harmony Gold
under the title Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned.
In the Manga
and Anime
series Hellsing
, the vampire Alucard
is actually Dracula himself, becoming the servant to the Hellsing family
rather than being destroyed outright. He hunts and kills other vampires, armed with two specially-made pistols that are too heavy to be effectively carried by humans. In later chapters of Hellsing, Alucard, dressed in armor, summons an army of the undead. Some members of this army are holding flags, recognized by Enrico Maxwell
as those from Wallachia
, and with later admittance from Alucard himself, it is confirmed that he is Vlad Tepes. (Note that Vlad Dracula the Impaler is believed to be the inspiration of Bram Stoker's character Dracula, and, in Hellsing, seem to be considered the same person.)
In an anime and manga series, Shaman King
a man named Boris Tepes Dracula is a descendant of Vlad Tepes Dracula the Impaler, revealing all of history and joining forces with Hao Asakura to get revenge on Humanity, he is ultimately defeated by Ryu.but was killed by the X-Laws
Dracula also appears in the novel series Vampire Hunter D
. In this adaptation, Dracula is seen as a vampire god-king who deals out both life and death. Dracula does not appear in the Vampire Hunter D anime adaptations, however he is referenced. The main protagonist of the series, referred to simply as "D", is a vampire hunter who slays creatures of the night for a bounty. It is implied that D is the offspring of Dracula and a human woman, and is referenced at least twice in the novel series and adaptations by the parasitic organism living in D's left hand, though Dracula's name is never explicitly stated. This can be later taken as fact within the Vampire Hunter D series as it is stated directly by Count Magnus Lee in the anime adaptation, though he did not know until moments before his death that the vampire who had sired D was Dracula himself, though D never confirms it, and Lee's daughter, who in the novel is the one to make the connection and ask D about it. In the second novel, Raiser of Gales D himself is very nearly brought to say the name of his father while in a psychic trap set by an enemy. In the film adaptation of the third Vampire Hunter D novel Demon Deathchase which was released under the title Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust, Dracula is referred to simply as The Vampire King.
The author of Vampire Hunter D, Hideyuki Kikuchi also wrote a novel that presents Dracula himself appearing in Japan sometime before the events of Bram Stoker's novel called Meiji Dorakyuu Den. The book was released in the United States as Dark Wars: the Tale of Meiji Dracula and featured Dracula facing off with several citizens of Japan, who ultimately drive him away from Japan, presumably back to Romania, where he then lives out the events of Bram Stoker's novel.
In the Digimon
series there is a digimon called Dracmon who is a little vampiric imp who goes around causing mischief going as far as to do things without fear of danger. He then digvolves into a digimon called Sangloupmon who is a vampiric wolf (a possible reference to Dracula taking a wolf's shape at one point). Then he next becomes Matadormon who is a vampiric matador (bull fighter). His fully evolved form is GranDracmon whose name comes from Gran which is short for Grand and Drac short for Dracula. He is designed after a demonic version of Dracula. In the Digimon mythos he is said to be a major source of evil within the Digital World
. There is another Digimon called Myotismon
whose design is that of a vampire and whose English name (the original being Vamdemon) is that of a bat. His digivolved forms VenomMyotismon and MaloMyotismon are designed after a satanic version of a vampire and a Chinese demon version vampire respectively. A Myotismon and his subsequent Digivolved forms serve as major villains in the Digimon Adventure
anime series and saga. His most powerful form was the main villain of Digimon Adventure 02
. A Myotismon named Lord Vamde starts of as a quaternary villain but becomes something akin to a tertiary villain in the Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01
manga. A Myotismon is the main Boss in the second level of the game based on the anime series Digimon Data Squad, Digimon World Data Squad.
The manga "Endo Beast" written by Riko Takahashi features a character named "Dracula" living as a commoner with the name Daniel Illiescu. He is a wealthy businessman living in the fictional world of Kanaeda, instead of a castle Daniel resides inside a large chateau with a rich view of the countryside. He plays a key role in the manga sporting a dual personality as the kind, generous Daniel during the day time, and at night turning into the evil, blood-thirsty Dracula.
The manga Dance in the Vampire Bund
by Nozomu Tamaki
features one Mina Tepes as the female protagonist and ruler of the vampire world. It is more or less certain that she is a descendant of who we would call the original Dracula, i.e. Vlad Tepes, although the vampires have had to emigrate east to escape persecution in Europe. As Princess-ruler of all vampires, she publicly bought an island off the coast of Tokyo and declared it to be a home for her subjects, the vampire race. The manga deals in part with her efforts to ease the tensions between the newly-revealed vampire race and the humans who have to live alongside them.
cereal mascot Count Chocula is a vampire who craves Count Chocula cereal rather than blood. His title of count is an allusion to that of Count Dracula's.
The association of the book with the Yorkshire
fishing village of Whitby
has led to the staging of the twice-yearly Whitby Gothic Weekend
, an event that sees the town visited by Goth
s from all over Britain and occasionally from other parts of the world. In addition, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution
runs a fundraising bungee jump
event in the town every April named the Dracula Drop.
Mad Magazine
has published countless spoofs of Dracula. In one, appearing in the Mad Summer Special 1983, on the inside front cover, a cartoon sequence drawn by Sergio Aragonés
shows Dracula attacking a hippie who has taken LSD; Drac staggers away, seeing colorful hallucination
s including blood
, bat
s and such.
Dracula appears at the end of Tom Lehrer
's song "L-Y" from The Electric Company
;
"You enter a very dark room, and standing there in the gloom...is DRACULA! Now how do you say goodbye?/Immediately, Immediately, Immediate L-Y! Bye-Bye!"
In the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall
, Composer Peter Bretter (Jason Segel
) in a subplot, finishes his Dracula rock opera titled "A Taste For Love."
Russian authors Andrey Shary
and Vladimir Vedrashko in 2009 published a book "Sign D: Dracula in Books and on the Screen" devoted in particular to Dracula image' implications in Soviet and Russian popular and mass culture.
The American heavy metal band Iced Earth
wrote a song entitled "Dracula" on their 2001 album Horror Show
.
Count Dracula
Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and archetypal vampire. Some aspects of his character have been inspired by the 15th century Romanian general and Wallachian Prince Vlad III the Impaler...
from the 1897 novel Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
by Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
, has remained popular over the years, and many film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s have used the Count as a villain, while others have named him in their titles, such as Dracula's Daughter
Dracula's Daughter
Dracula's Daughter is a 1936 American vampire horror film produced by Universal Studios, a sequel to the 1931 film Dracula. Directed by Lambert Hillyer from a screenplay by Garrett Fort, the film stars Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden, Marguerite Churchill and, as the only cast member to return from the...
, The Brides of Dracula, and Zoltan, Hound of Dracula
Zoltan, Hound of Dracula (film)
Zoltan, Hound of Dracula is a 1978 film in which a 17th century innkeeper, played by Reggie Nalder, becomes the willing thrall to the line of Dracula.-Plot:...
. The number of films that include a reference to Dracula may reach as high as 649, according to the Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
. Dracula has enjoyed enormous popularity since its publication and has spawned an extraordinary vampire subculture in the second half of the 20th century. More than 200 films have been made that feature Count Dracula, a number second only to Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
, (and several hundred more that have vampires as their subject). More than 1,000 novels have been written about Dracula or vampires along with a plethora of cartoons, comics, and television programs. At the center of this subculture is the place myth of Transylvania, which has become almost synonymous with vampires.
Most adaptations do not include all the major characters from the novel. The Count is obviously always present, and Jonathan
Jonathan Harker
Jonathan Harker is one of the main protagonists in the 1897 horror novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. His journey to Transylvania and encounter with Count Dracula and the Brides of Dracula at Castle Dracula constitutes the dramatic opening scenes in the novel and most of the film adaptations.-In the...
and Mina Harker
Mina Harker
Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's 1897 horror novel Dracula.- In the novel :She begins the story as Miss Mina Murray, a young school mistress who is engaged to Jonathan Harker, and best friends with Lucy Westenra...
, Dr. Seward
John Seward
John Seward, M.D. is a fictional character appearing in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.-In the novel:Seward is the administrator of an insane asylum not far from Count Dracula's first English home, Carfax. Throughout the novel, Seward conducts ambitious interviews with one of his patients,...
, Dr. Van Helsing
Abraham Van Helsing
Professor Abraham van Helsing is a protagonist from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.Van Helsing is a Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc." The character is best known as a...
, and Renfield
Renfield
R. M. Renfield is a fictional character in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.-In the novel:A description of Renfield from the novel:R. M. Renfield, aetat 59. Sanguine temperament, great physical strength, morbidly excitable,...
usually appear as well. The characters of Mina and Lucy are occasionally combined into a single female role. Jonathan Harker and Renfield are also sometimes reversed or combined. Quincey Morris
Quincey Morris
Quincey P. Morris is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's horror novel Dracula.-In the novel:He is a rich young American from Texas, and one of the three suitors for the hand of Lucy Westenra. Quincey is friends with the two other suitors, Arthur Holmwood and Dr. John Seward, as well as Jonathan...
and Arthur Holmwood
Arthur Holmwood
Arthur Holmwood is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.-In the novel:He is engaged to Lucy Westenra, and is best friends with the other two men who proposed to her on the very same day — Quincey Morris and Doctor John Seward...
are usually omitted entirely.
Early adaptations
One of the first film adaptations of Stoker's story caused Stoker's estate to sue for copyright infringementCopyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
. In 1922, silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
director F. W. Murnau
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
Friedrich Wilhelm "F. W." Murnau was one of the most influential German film directors of the silent era, and a prominent figure in the expressionist movement in German cinema during the 1920s...
made a horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
called Nosferatu: eine Symphonie des Grauens ("Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror"), which took the story of Dracula and set it in Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. In the story, Dracula's role was changed to that of Count Orlok
Count Orlok
Count Orlok is a fictional character portrayed by Max Schreck in the silent movie Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens...
, played by Max Schreck
Max Schreck
Friedrich Gustav Max Schreck was a German actor. He is most often remembered today for his lead role in the film Nosferatu .-Early life:Max Schreck was born in Berlin-Friedenau, on 6 September 1879....
(whose name literally means 'fright').
The Stoker estate won its lawsuit, and all existing prints of Nosferatu were ordered destroyed. However, a number of pirated
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
copies of the movie survived to the present era, where they entered the public domain. Nosferatu was remade in 1979 as Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
Nosferatu the Vampyre is a 1979 West German vampire horror film written and directed by Werner Herzog. Its original German title is Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht...
by Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
. Unlike in the original Nosferatu, the vampire in Herzog's version was named Dracula, not Orlok.
Dracula (1931 film)
Dracula is a 1931 vampire-horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi as the title character. The film was produced by Universal and is based on the stage play of the same name by Hamilton Deane and John L...
starred Bela Lugosi
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
and was directed by Tod Browning
Tod Browning
Tod Browning was an American motion picture actor, director and screenwriter.Browning's career spanned the silent and talkie eras...
. It is one of the most famous versions of the story and is commonly considered a horror classic. In 2000, the United States Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
. It is an adaptation of the 1927 play, and Van Sloan also transferred his role to the big screen. The films had music only during the opening (the famous main theme from Swan Lake, which was also used at the beginning of other Univesal horror productions) and closing credits, and during a brief sequence set at an opera. In 1999, Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
was commissioned to compose a musical score to accompany the film. The current DVD release allows access to this music.
At the same time as the 1931 Lugosi film, a Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
version
Dracula (Spanish-language version)
Drácula is a 1931 American Spanish-language horror film directed by George Melford. It is an adaptation of the 1897 novel of the same name by Bram Stoker and was filmed during the night on the same sets that were being used for the 1931 English-language film of the same name...
was filmed for release in Mexico. It was filmed at night, using the same sets as the Tod Browning production with a different cast and crew, a common practice in the early days of sound films. George Melford
George Melford
George H. Melford was an American stage and film actor, director, producer, and screenwriter.-Career:...
was the director, and it starred Carlos Villarías
Carlos Villarías
Carlos Villarías , was a Spanish actor who was born in Córdoba, Spain and died in California, USA. His best remembered role is in a Spanish language version of Dracula made at night on the same sets as the version starring Bela Lugosi.-External links:...
as the count, Eduardo Arozamena as Van Helsing and Lupita Tovar
Lupita Tovar
Lupita Tovar is a Mexican actress, best known for her starring role in the 1931 Spanish language version of Dracula, filmed in Los Angeles by Universal Pictures at night using the same sets as the Bela Lugosi version, but with a different cast and director.Born as Guadalupe Tovar , in Matías...
as Eva. Because of America's movie industry censorship policies, Melford's Dracula contains scenes that could not be included in the final cut of the more familiar English version. It is also included on the Universal Legacy DVD.
During the 1930s and 1940s, the Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
horror films made Dracula a household name by starring him as a villain in a number of movies, including several where he met other monsters (the most famous being the comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is a 1948 American comedy horror film directed by Charles Barton and starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. It is the first of several films where the comedy duo meets classic characters from Universal's horror film stable...
, in which Lugosi played Dracula on film for only the second and final time.)
One 1944 oddity from Columbia Pictures that is worthy of mention is The Return of the Vampire
The Return of the Vampire
The Return of the Vampire is a horror film released in 1944 by Columbia Pictures. It is in black and white, and describes an Englishwoman's two encounters with a vampire...
, in which rescue workers revive a previously staked vampire during the London Blitz. Bela Lugosi plays the undead Armand Tesla, who is Dracula in all but name.
Universal Studios productions of Dracula
The Universal Studios films in which Dracula (or a relative) appeared (and the actor portraying the character) were:- DraculaDracula (1931 film)Dracula is a 1931 vampire-horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi as the title character. The film was produced by Universal and is based on the stage play of the same name by Hamilton Deane and John L...
(1931 - Bela LugosiBéla LugosiBéla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
(collectively the most famous interpretation)) (A second versionDracula (Spanish-language version)Drácula is a 1931 American Spanish-language horror film directed by George Melford. It is an adaptation of the 1897 novel of the same name by Bram Stoker and was filmed during the night on the same sets that were being used for the 1931 English-language film of the same name...
was filmed at the same time in Spanish, with Carlos VillaríasCarlos VillaríasCarlos Villarías , was a Spanish actor who was born in Córdoba, Spain and died in California, USA. His best remembered role is in a Spanish language version of Dracula made at night on the same sets as the version starring Bela Lugosi.-External links:...
as Dracula) - Dracula's DaughterDracula's DaughterDracula's Daughter is a 1936 American vampire horror film produced by Universal Studios, a sequel to the 1931 film Dracula. Directed by Lambert Hillyer from a screenplay by Garrett Fort, the film stars Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden, Marguerite Churchill and, as the only cast member to return from the...
(1936 - Gloria HoldenGloria Holden-Early life:Gloria Holden came to America as a child. She attended school in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and later studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.-Theater:...
) - Son of DraculaSon of Dracula (1943 film)Son of Dracula is a 1943 American horror film directed by Robert Siodmak - his first film for Universal studios - with a screenplay based on an original story by his brother Curt. The film stars Lon Chaney, Jr. and his frequent co-star Evelyn Ankers. Notably it is the first film where a vampire...
(1943 - Lon Chaney, Jr.Lon Chaney, Jr.Lon Chaney, Jr. , born Creighton Tull Chaney, was an American character actor. He was best known for his roles in monster movies and as the son of famous silent film actor, Lon Chaney...
) - House of FrankensteinHouse of Frankenstein (1944 film)House of Frankenstein is an American monster horror film produced in 1944 by Universal Studios as a sequel to Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man the previous year. This monster rally approach would continue in the following film, House of Dracula, as well as the 1948 comedy Abbott and Costello Meet...
(1944 - John CarradineJohn CarradineJohn Carradine was an American actor, best known for his roles in horror films and Westerns as well as Shakespearean theater. A member of Cecil B DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, he was one of the most prolific character actors in Hollywood history...
) - House of DraculaHouse of DraculaHouse of Dracula was an American horror film released by Universal Pictures Company in 1945. It was a direct sequel to House of Frankenstein and continued the theme of combining Universal's three most popular monsters: Frankenstein's monster, Count Dracula and The Wolf Man...
(1945 - Carradine) - Abbott and Costello Meet FrankensteinAbbott and Costello Meet FrankensteinAbbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is a 1948 American comedy horror film directed by Charles Barton and starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. It is the first of several films where the comedy duo meets classic characters from Universal's horror film stable...
(1948 - Lugosi) - Dracula (1979 - Frank LangellaFrank Langella-Early life:Langella, an Italian American, was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, the son of Angelina and Frank A. Langella Sr., a business executive who was the president of the Bayonne Barrel and Drum Company. Langella attended Washington Elementary School and Bayonne High School in Bayonne...
)
Hammer Films productions of Dracula
1958, Hammer FilmsHammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
produced Dracula
Dracula (1958 film)
Dracula, also known as Horror of Dracula in the United States, is a 1958 British horror film. It is the first in the series of Hammer Horror films inspired by the Bram Stoker novel Dracula. It was directed by Terence Fisher, and stars Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Carol Marsh, Melissa Stribling and...
, a newer, more Gothic version of the story, starring Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
as Dracula and Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
as Van Helsing
Van Helsing
Van Helsing is a 2004 American action horror film directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as vigilante monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale...
. It is widely considered to be one of the best versions of the story to be adapted to film, and in 2004 was named by the magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
as the 30th greatest British film of all time. Although it takes many liberties with the novel's plot, the creepy atmosphere and charismatic performances of Lee and Cushing make it memorable. It was released in the United States as Horror of Dracula to avoid confusion with the earlier Lugosi version. This was followed by a long series of Dracula films, usually featuring Lee as Dracula.
The Hammer films in which Dracula (or a relative) appeared (and the actor portraying the character) were:
- DraculaDracula (1958 film)Dracula, also known as Horror of Dracula in the United States, is a 1958 British horror film. It is the first in the series of Hammer Horror films inspired by the Bram Stoker novel Dracula. It was directed by Terence Fisher, and stars Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Carol Marsh, Melissa Stribling and...
(1958) - Christopher LeeChristopher LeeSir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
. Released in the US as Horror of Dracula - The Brides of Dracula (1960 - David PeelDavid Peel (actor)David Peel was a British film and television actor.He was born in London on June 19, 1920. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and was a minor player in a few films. In 1960, he was cast in the starring role of Baron Meinster in Hammer Film Productions The Brides of Dracula...
as Dracula disciple Baron Meinster) - Dracula: Prince of DarknessDracula: Prince of DarknessDracula: Prince of Darkness is a 1966 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer Studios. The film was photographed in Techniscope by Michael Reed, designed by Bernard Robinson and scored by James Bernard.-Plot:...
(1966 - Lee) - Dracula Has Risen from the GraveDracula Has Risen from the GraveDracula Has Risen from the Grave is a 1968 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis for Hammer Films. It stars Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, with support from Rupert Davies, Veronica Carlson, Barry Andrews, Barbara Ewing, Ewan Hooper and Michael Ripper.- Plot :The film opens in a...
(1968 - Lee) - Taste the Blood of DraculaTaste the Blood of DraculaTaste the Blood of Dracula is a British horror film produced by Hammer Film Productions and released in 1970. It stars Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, and was directed by Peter Sasdy...
(1969 - Lee) - Scars of DraculaScars of DraculaScars of Dracula is a 1970 British horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker for Hammer Studios.It stars Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, alongside Dennis Waterman, Jenny Hanley, Patrick Troughton, and Michael Gwynn...
(1970 - Lee) - Dracula AD 1972Dracula AD 1972Dracula A.D. 1972 is a 1972 Hammer Horror film directed by Alan Gibson, written by Don Houghton and starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Stephanie Beacham. Unlike earlier films in the Hammer Dracula series, Dracula A.D...
(1972 - Lee) - The Satanic Rites of DraculaThe Satanic Rites of DraculaThe Satanic Rites of Dracula is a 1974 Hammer Horror film directed by Alan Gibson. It is the eighth film in the Hammer Dracula series, and the seventh and final to feature Christopher Lee as Dracula. The film also the third film to reunite Peter Cushing as Van Helsing with Christopher Lee together...
(1973 - Lee). Released in the US as Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride - The Legend of the Seven Golden VampiresThe Legend of the 7 Golden VampiresThe Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires is a 1974 horror film produced by Hammer Studios and Shaw Brothers Studio. It was released in North America in an edited version as The Seven Brothers Meet Dracula, and alternatively known as The Seven Brothers And Their One Sister Meet Dracula.-Plot:Professor...
(1974 - John Forbes-RobertsonJohn Forbes-Robertson (actor)John Forbes-Robertson was a British actor best-known for being the only actor other than Christopher Lee to play the title role in the Hammer horror series of Dracula films....
). Variously released as The Seven Brothers Meet Dracula and Dracula and the Seven Golden Vampires
Though Dracula is pronounced as dead in The Brides of Dracula he is resurrected for Dracula: Prince of Darkness, before being killed off again. This formula is followed in each succeeding film apart from the last: The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires.
Christopher Lee, the British actor who played in the Hammer Dracula films, reminisced in a 1999 interview for NPR.
Other productions 1953–1979
Drakula İstanbul'daDrakula Istanbul'da
Drakula İstanbul'da is a Turkish 1953 film version of Bram Stoker's original novel Dracula.The screenplay was based on a 1928 novel by Ali Riza Seyfi called Kazıklı Voyvoda , and is more or less a translation of Stoker's novel, but there is no Renfield character and Güzin, the "Mina" character, is...
(1953) was a Turkish made production starring balding Atif Kaptan as the count. It was the first sound film to depict Dracula with fangs.
The Blood of Dracula (1957) was producer Herman Cohen's attempt to cash in on his previous success with I Was a Teenage Werewolf
I Was a Teenage Werewolf
I Was a Teenage Werewolf is a 1957 horror film starring Michael Landon as a troubled teenager and Whit Bissell as the primary adult. It was co-written and produced by cult film producer Herman Cohen, and was one of the most successful films released by American International Pictures...
. The film was basically "I was a Teenage Dracula," with the same story of a wayward teenager (Sandra Harrison) being transformed into a legendary fiend by an ill-willed adult (Louise Lewis). Herbert L. Strock
Herbert L. Strock
Herbert L. Strock was an American television producer and director, and a B-movie director of titles such as I Was a Teenage Frankenstein , How to Make a Monster and The Crawling Hand ....
directed.
The Return of Dracula
The Return of Dracula
The Return of Dracula is a 1958 horror film starring Francis Lederer as Dracula. The female lead, Rachel, is played by Norma Eberhardt. It is filmed in black and white and directed by Paul Landres....
(1958) brought the Count to modern day America. Matinee idol Francis Lederer
Francis Lederer
Francis Lederer was a film and stage actor with a successful career, first in Europe, then in the United States.-Europe:...
played Dracula, who flees vampire hunters in Transylvania to take up residence in small-town America in the guise of an artist he had previously murdered. The Count begins to feed on the local populace and create more vampires before he is tracked to his lair in an abandoned mine and destroyed. Paul Landres directed from a screenplay by Pat Fielder. The film is also known, for some reason, as The Fantastic Disappearing Man. It has been shown on television under the title The Curse of Dracula.
Billy the Kid vs. Dracula
Billy the Kid vs. Dracula
Billy the Kid vs. Dracula is a 1966 American low-budget horror/western film directed by William Beaudine. It was released theatrically as part of a double bill, along with Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter...
(1966) saw the Count in America's old west, facing off with a pre-outlaw years Billy the Kid. John Carradine returned to the role of the Dracula under the direction of William Beaudine
William Beaudine
William Beaudine was an American film actor and director. He was one of Hollywood's most prolific directors, turning out films in remarkable numbers and in a wide variety of genres.-Early life and career:...
.
The Fearless Vampire Killers
The Fearless Vampire Killers
The Fearless Vampire Killers is a 1967 comedy horror film directed by Roman Polanski, written by Gérard Brach and Polanski, produced by Gene Gutowski and co-starring Polanski with future wife Sharon Tate...
(1967) was directed by Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
and introduced him to Sharon Tate
Sharon Tate
Sharon Marie Tate was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small television roles before appearing in several films. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic performances, she was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for...
. This was a parody of Hammer's films, and featured Ferdy Mayne
Ferdy Mayne
-Early life:He was born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel, in Mainz, Germany. His German father was the Judge of Mayence, and his half-English mother gave singing lessons. Because his family was Jewish, he was sent to England to protect him from the Nazis, and he stayed with his aunt, the photographer...
as the Dracula-like Count Krolock.
Thames Television's (UK) anthology series Mystery and Imagination
Mystery and Imagination
Mystery and Imagination is a British television anthology series of classic horror and supernatural dramas. Five series were broadcast from 1966 to 1970 by ITV and featured plays based on the works of well-known authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, M. R. James, and...
ran Dracula
Dracula (1968)
Dracula is a television adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, part of the series Mystery and Imagination . Denholm Elliott played Count Dracula with Susan George as Lucy Weston Dracula is a television adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, part of the series Mystery and Imagination...
based on the book in 1968. It featured Denholm Elliott
Denholm Elliott
Denholm Mitchell Elliott, CBE was an English film, television and theatre actor with over 120 film and television credits...
as Dracula.
Blood of Dracula's Castle
Blood of Dracula's Castle
Blood of Dracula's Castle is a 1969 horror cult B-movie directed by Al Adamson.-Plot:Count Dracula and his vampire wife , hiding behind the pseudonyms of Count and Countess Townsend, lure girls to their castle in the Arizona desert to be drained of blood by their butler George , who then mixes...
(1969) was a low-budget entry from director Al Adamson
Al Adamson
Al Adamson was a prolific director of B-grade horror films throughout the 1960s and 1970s.After assisting his father, Victor Adamson, in making the 1963 movie Halfway to Hell, Adamson decided to work in the motion picture industry himself...
. Alex D'Arcy and Paula Raymond play Count and Countess Dracula,who have taken up residence in a castle in America under the aliases of Count and Countess Townsend. Too genteel to stalk their prey by night, these fiends are content to sip their blood from cocktail glasses prepared by their faithful butler George (John Carradine
John Carradine
John Carradine was an American actor, best known for his roles in horror films and Westerns as well as Shakespearean theater. A member of Cecil B DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, he was one of the most prolific character actors in Hollywood history...
). In the end, they meet their doom in the rays of the morning sun.
Jonathan (1969) was an arty take on the legend from Germany. Jonathan (played by Juergen Jung) infiltrates the castle of the undead Count (who is never actually named in the film) played by Paul Albert Krumm. The whole thing is a partially successful allegory on the dangers of fascism by director/writer Hans Geissendoerfer.
Jesús Franco
Jesús "Jess" Franco is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. His career took off in 1961 with his cult classic The Awful Dr. Orloff, which received wide distribution in the United States and England...
starring Christopher Lee as Dracula. In spite of its star, Franco's film is not a part of the Hammer series, and was shot on a small budget. Regarded by many as a underrated classic, it claims to be closer to the spirit of the book than other versions. Lee is made up to look like the description of the Count from Stoker's novel, and he does seem to grow younger as the story progresses, but the film otherwise takes some huge liberties with the plot. The international cast includes Herbert Lom
Herbert Lom
Herbert Lom is a Czech film actor, best known for his role as former Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in the Pink Panther movie series.-Life and career:...
as Van Helsing and Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski , was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and is perhaps best-remembered as a leading role actor in Werner Herzog films: Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Nosferatu the Vampyre , Woyzeck , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .-Early...
as Renfield.
Jess Franco followed this with Vampyros Lesbos
Vampyros Lesbos
Vampyros Lesbos is a 1971 erotic horror film directed and co-written by Jesús "Jess" Franco, inspired by Bram Stoker's short story Dracula's Guest.- Plot :...
in 1970, in which Soledad Miranda
Soledad Miranda
Soledad Rendón Bueno , better known by her stage names Soledad Miranda or Susann Korda , was an actress who was born in Seville, Spain to Portuguese parents of Roma ancestry. She frequently starred in the films of Jess Franco, such as Count Dracula and Vampyros Lesbos...
plays Nadina, a descendant of the Dracula family.
CBC-TV's (Canada) anthology series Purple Playhouse
Purple Playhouse
Purple Playhouse is a Canadian dramatic television series which aired on CBC Television in 1973.-Scheduling:This hour-long series was broadcast most Sunday evenings from 25 February to 6 May 1973, generally at 9:00 p.m. except the final broadcast was aired at 8:00 p.m...
featured an hour-long adaptation, Dracula based on the book in 1970. It starred Norman Welsh as Dracula.
1970 saw Al Adamson
Al Adamson
Al Adamson was a prolific director of B-grade horror films throughout the 1960s and 1970s.After assisting his father, Victor Adamson, in making the 1963 movie Halfway to Hell, Adamson decided to work in the motion picture industry himself...
return with Dracula vs. Frankenstein
Dracula vs. Frankenstein
Dracula vs. Frankenstein is a 1971 horror film directed by Al Adamson.-Plot:A mad descendent of the original Dr. Frankenstein takes to murdering young women for experimentation in hopes to revive his ancestor's creation , with help from his mute assistant...
, a grade Z budget film with Zandor Vorkov as the Count terrorizing a California boardwalk community with Frankenstein's monster in tow. Screen legends J. Carroll Naish and Lon Chaney Jr. appeared, and Famous Monsters of Filmland
Famous Monsters of Filmland
Famous Monsters of Filmland is a genre-specific film magazine started in 1958 by publisher James Warren and editor Forrest J Ackerman.-Magazine history :...
editor Forrest J. Ackerman cameoed as an unlucky victim.
In 1971, Hrabě Drakula, directed by Anna Procházková, was broadcast on Czechoslovakia television. It was reasonably faithful to the novel, except for the exclusion of Renfield. Ilja Racek played Dracula.
In 1972, Paul Naschy
Paul Naschy
Paul Naschy was a Spanish movie actor, screenwriter, and director working primarily in horror films. His portrayals of numerous classic horror figures—the wolfman, the hunchback, Count Dracula, the mummy—have earned him recognition as the Spanish Lon Chaney...
starred in Count Dracula's Great Love
Count Dracula's Great Love
Count Dracula's Great Love is a 1974 Spanish film directed by Javier Aguirre.The film is also known as Cemetery Girls , Dracula's Great Love , Dracula's Virgin Lovers and The Great Love of Count Dracula...
, directed by Javier Aguirre
Javier Aguirre
Javier Aguirre Onaindía , popularly nicknamed El Vasco , is a Mexican football manager and former midfielder. He was also a member of the Mexico national team and later became manager in two different occasions, but resigned after the 2010 FIFA World Cup...
for the Spanish production company Janus Films. This movie predated Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
's vision of Dracula as a romantic figure by 20 years.
1972 also saw the release of Blacula
Blacula
Blacula is a 1972 American horror film produced for American International Pictures. It was directed by William Crain and stars William Marshall in the title role about an 18th century African prince named Mamuwalde, who is both turned into a vampire and locked inside a coffin by Count Dracula...
, a low-budget blaxploitation
Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation or blacksploitation is a film genre which emerged in the United States circa 1970. It is considered an ethnic sub-genre of the general category of exploitation films. Blaxploitation films were originally made specifically for an urban black audience, although the genre's audience...
horror film about an African prince vampirized by Count Dracula himself (who is portrayed by Charles Macaulay) in a brief opening prologue. The 1973 sequel, Scream Blacula Scream
Scream Blacula Scream
Scream Blacula Scream is a 1973 blaxploitation horror film, made under the working titles Blacula Is Beautiful and Blacula Lives Again!. This is the only sequel to the 1972 film Blacula...
briefly replays this scene as a flashback.
In 1973, Dracula
Dracula (1973)
Dracula is a 1973 television adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula written by Richard Matheson and directed by Dark Shadows creator Dan Curtis.-Plot summary:"Bistritz, Hungary May 1897"....
starring Jack Palance
Jack Palance
Jack Palance , was an American actor. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers.-Early life:Palance, one of five children, was born Volodymyr...
was produced by Dan Curtis
Dan Curtis
Dan Curtis was an American director and producer of television and film, probably best known for his miniseries The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, his afternoon TV series Dark Shadows, and the made for TV movie, . Dark Shadows originally aired from 1966 to 1971 and has aired in syndication...
, best known for producing the gothic soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows is a gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements...
from a script by sci-fi favorite Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson
Richard Burton Matheson is an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is perhaps best known as the author of What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, A Stir of Echoes, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and I Am Legend, all of which have been...
. Filmed in Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
and England, it was a relatively faithful to the novel, though it tried to paint Dracula as a tragic, rather than evil, character in search of his lost love. It also drew the connection between Dracula and the historical figure of Vlad the Impaler, which was a popular notion at the time (see above). In these respects, it, too, is a close fore-runner of Coppola's later film.
In 1974, Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
presented an outrageously campy Dracula (also known as Blood for Dracula
Blood for Dracula
Blood for Dracula is a 1974 film directed by Paul Morrissey and produced by Andy Warhol and Andrew Braunsberg. It stars Udo Kier, Joe Dallesandro, Maxime McKendry, Stefania Casini, and Arno Juerging...
), directed by Paul Morrissey
Paul Morrissey
Paul Morrissey is an American film director, best-known for his association with Andy Warhol.Morrissey attended Ampleforth College, a private Roman Catholic boarding school and Fordham University, both Roman Catholic schools, and later served in the United States Army...
and starring cult icons Udo Kier
Udo Kier
Udo Kier is a German actor, known primarily for his work in horror and exploitation movies.-Early life:...
(as the Count) and Joe Dallesandro
Joe Dallesandro
Joseph Angelo D'Allesandro , better known as Joe Dallesandro, is an American actor, and Warhol superstar. Although he never became a mainstream film star, Dallesandro is generally considered to be the most famous male sex symbol of American underground films of the 20th century, as well as a sex...
.
Dracula père et fils
Dracula and Son
Dracula and Son, originally titled Dracula père et fils, is a French comedy about a vampire father and son. It was never intended to be a follow-up to the Dracula series from Hammer productions...
("Dracula Father and Son"), a French comedy again starring Christopher Lee as Dracula, here having trouble convincing his son to take up the family mantle of vampirism. (In interviews, Lee has claimed that his character was not called Dracula during filming, and that the producers only decided to make it a Dracula film after the fact.)
1977 saw a solid BBC version titled Count Dracula
Count Dracula (1977)
Count Dracula is a British television adaptation of the famous novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. It first aired in December 1977. It is among the more faithful of the many adaptations of the original book...
. It was made for television and starred Louis Jourdan as the Count and Frank Finlay
Frank Finlay
Francis Finlay, CBE is an English stage, film and television actor.-Personal life:Finlay was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of Margaret and Josiah Finlay, a butcher. A devout Catholic, he belongs to the British Catholic Stage Guild. He was educated at St...
as Van Helsing. It was directed by Philip Saville
Philip Saville
Philip Saville is a British television direction and screenwriting from the late 1950s...
. This version is one of the more faithful adaptations of the book. It includes all of the main characters (only blending together Arthur and Quincey) and has scenes of Jonathan recording events in his diary and Dr. Seward speaking into his dictaphone.
In 1978, an independent film company produced the horror thriller Zoltan, Hound of Dracula
Zoltan, Hound of Dracula (film)
Zoltan, Hound of Dracula is a 1978 film in which a 17th century innkeeper, played by Reggie Nalder, becomes the willing thrall to the line of Dracula.-Plot:...
starring Michael Pataki
Michael Pataki
Michael Pataki was an American character actor.-Early life:Pataki born in Youngstown, Ohio. He attended the University of Southern California with a double major in Political Science and Drama...
as the mild-mannered family psychiatrist destined to encounter the resurrected hound of Dracula.
Draculas ring
Draculas ring
Draculas ring is a Danish TV-miniseries produced by Danmarks Radio and shown only once, with daily episodes from October 15 to October 21, 1978....
(1978) is a Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
TV-miniseries, written and directed by Flemming la Cour and Edmondt Jensen, starring Bent Børgesen as Dracula, who journeys to Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
on a quest to reclaim his stolen ring.
1979 saw three film versions released. In the first, Frank Langella
Frank Langella
-Early life:Langella, an Italian American, was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, the son of Angelina and Frank A. Langella Sr., a business executive who was the president of the Bayonne Barrel and Drum Company. Langella attended Washington Elementary School and Bayonne High School in Bayonne...
starred opposite Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
as a sexually charged version of the Count in the big budget Dracula. Based on the 1977 Broadway play, it was directed by John Badham
John Badham
- External links :...
and featured a score by John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
. That year also saw the release of Love at First Bite
Love At First Bite
Love at First Bite is a 1979 comedy horror film directed by Stan Dragoti and written by Robert Kaufman, using characters originally created by Bram Stoker. It stars George Hamilton, Susan Saint James, Richard Benjamin and Arte Johnson. The original music score was composed by Charles Bernstein...
, a romantic comedy
Romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...
spoof set in contemporary New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
starring George Hamilton
George Hamilton (actor)
George Stevens Hamilton is an American film and television actor.-Early life:Hamilton was the youngest son of bandleader George "Spike" Hamilton and his first wife, Ann Stevens . He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and lived in Blytheville, Arkansas...
as the Count. The third film is the previously mentioned Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
Nosferatu the Vampyre is a 1979 West German vampire horror film written and directed by Werner Herzog. Its original German title is Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht...
starring Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski , was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and is perhaps best-remembered as a leading role actor in Werner Herzog films: Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Nosferatu the Vampyre , Woyzeck , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .-Early...
and directed by Werner Herzog. In this remake of the 1922 film, the vampire is specifically called Count Dracula rather than Count Orlok. Additionally, a holiday television film starring Judd Hirsch
Judd Hirsch
Judd Hirsch is an American actor most known for playing Alex Rieger on the television comedy series Taxi, John Lacey on the NBC series Dear John, and Alan Eppes on the CBS series Numb3rs.-Early life and education:...
was released on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, The Halloween That Almost Wasn't
The Halloween That Almost Wasn't
The Halloween That Almost Wasn't is a 1979 telefilm which aired regularly on the Disney Channel until the late 1990s. It revolves around Dracula trying to save Halloween from the Witch who threatens it. It won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement - Children's Program" and was...
. It later aired on the Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
until the late 1990s.
Dracula adaptations 1980–1999
In the 80s, Dracula appeared as the leader of the monsters in The Monster SquadThe Monster Squad
The Monster Squad is a comedy/horror film written by Shane Black and Fred Dekker and directed by Fred Dekker . It was released by Tri-Star Pictures on August 14, 1987. The film features the classic monsters , led by Count Dracula...
(played by Duncan Regehr
Duncan Regehr
Duncan Peter Regehr is a Canadian writer, multi-media artist, and film and television actor. He has also been a figure skater, an Olympic boxing contender, and a classically trained Shakespearean stage actor in his native Canada, before heading to Hollywood in 1980...
), and was one of the monsters featured in Waxwork
Waxwork (1988 film)
Waxwork is a 1988 horror comedy film starring Zach Galligan and Deborah Foreman.-Plot:In a small suburban town a wax museum appears, seemingly overnight. The owner invites two college students, Sarah and China, to attend that night with four more guests of their choice...
(played by Miles O'Keeffe
Miles O'Keeffe
Miles O'Keeffe is a television and movie actor. O'Keeffe got his first big break playing the title role in the 1981 version of Tarzan, the Ape Man.-Early life:...
).
In 1992, Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
produced and directed a new version of the film, called Bram Stoker's Dracula starring Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
, Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
, Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
, and Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
. Coppola's story includes a backstory telling how Dracula (who is the historical Vlad Ţepeş in this version) became a vampire, as well as a subplot in which Mina Harker was revealed to be the reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
of Dracula's greatest love. This story is not part of Stoker's original. The soundtrack includes 'Love Song for a Vampire', sung by Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...
.
In 1995, Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
did a comedic parody, Dracula: Dead and Loving It
Dracula: Dead and Loving It
Dracula: Dead and Loving It is a 1995 comedy film starring Leslie Nielsen, directed by Mel Brooks. It is a parody of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, and of some of the films it inspired....
, which parodied all of the standard Dracula themes, but especially noteworthy was the scene where Dracula's reflection was noticeably absent in a mirror as he danced at a ball, to the horror of those watching. A scene where Van Helsing has Harker pound a stake into a sleeping Lucy's chest with a seemingly impossible amount of blood spraying back on himself asks the question: just where does all the blood go? Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
played Van Helsing as an aged Professor. Dracula was played by Leslie Nielsen
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
.
Dracula adaptations 2000–present
Patrick LussierPatrick Lussier
Patrick Lussier is a Canadian horror and thriller genre writer, editor and director.- Career :Lussier has worked as a film editor on most of Wes Craven's latter films, including Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Vampire in Brooklyn, Scream and Red Eye and has directed films including Dracula 2000, The...
took a stab at the legend with his modern day Dracula 2000
Dracula 2000
Dracula 2000, also known internationally as Dracula 2001, is a 2000 horror film written and directed by Patrick Lussier. The film stars Gerard Butler, Christopher Plummer, Jonny Lee Miller, Justine Waddell, Omar Epps, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Jeri Ryan, and Jennifer Esposito.Dracula 2000, the...
, promoted as Wes Craven Presents Dracula 2000. Wes Craven
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl "Wes" Craven is an American actor, film director, writer, producer, perhaps best known as the director of many horror films, particularly slasher films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character, the...
was an executive producer. It was released in the UK as Dracula 2001. To discover how to destroy Dracula, Van Helsing (portrayed by Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
) keeps himself alive with injections of Dracula's blood. When thieves steal the vampire and crash near New Orleans, Van Helsing and his ward Simon, must track down the vampire and save Van Helsing's daughter Mary, who shares his blood. The film also gives Dracula (played by Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler
Gerard James Butler is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies , which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in...
) a new identity as Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
, forbidden by God to die following his betrayal of Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
and intent on corrupting the innocent and finding Mary, whose nightmares he has haunted for years. Dracula 2000 was followed by two sequels, Dracula II: Ascension
Dracula II: Ascension
Dracula II: Ascension is a 2003 horror film, directed by Patrick Lussier. It stars Jason Scott Lee, Stephen Billington, and Diane Neal. The film is the sequel to Dracula 2000. It was released direct-to-video on June 7, 2003...
(in 2003) and Dracula III: Legacy
Dracula III: Legacy
Dracula III: Legacy is a 2005 horror film and the sequel to Dracula 2000 and Dracula II: Ascension. The film was directed by Patrick Lussier and stars Jason Scott Lee, Jason London, Roy Scheider, and Diane Neal...
(in 2005).
In 2001, Dracula, the Musical
Dracula, The Musical
Dracula, the Musical is a musical based on the original Victorian novel by Bram Stoker. The score is by Frank Wildhorn, with lyrics and book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton....
, composed by Frank Wildhorn
Frank Wildhorn
Frank Wildhorn is an American composer known for both his musicals and popular songs. He is most known for his musical Jekyll & Hyde, which ran four years on Broadway, and for writing the #1 International Hit song "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?" for Whitney Houston.-Early years:Wildhorn was born in...
, premiered in California. It went on to Broadway in 2004 to play 157 performances.
In 2002, Canadian cult film director Guy Maddin
Guy Maddin
Guy Maddin, OM is a Canadian screenwriter, director, cinematographer and film editor of both features and short films from Winnipeg, Manitoba...
released his screen adaptation of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's version of the count's tale, a ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
set to the music of Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
and titled Dracula, Pages From a Virgin's Diary. Mainly greyscale until Dracula is cut and bleeds gold coloured coins.
In 2002, Dracula
Dracula (2002)
Dracula is an Italian 2 part TV-miniseries, directed by Roger Young. It is based on the 1897 novel of the same name by Bram Stoker, though it updates the events of the novel to the present day.-Plot summary:...
, an Italian telemovie of Dracula set in modern times. Dracula was played by Patrick Bergin
Patrick Bergin
Patrick Connolly Bergin is an Irish actor and singer. He may be best-known internationally for playing the menacing husband of Julia Roberts' character in the thriller Sleeping with the Enemy and is also known for his role as Irish terrorist Kevin O'Donnell in the film adaption of Patriot Games....
. In the US, it was released on VHS and DVD as Dracula's Curse.
In 2002, director Jesús Franco
Jesús Franco
Jesús "Jess" Franco is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. His career took off in 1961 with his cult classic The Awful Dr. Orloff, which received wide distribution in the United States and England...
made a movie entitled The Killer Barbys vs. Dracula
starring the real life band The Killer Barbies whose new song woke Dracula from his eternal slumber.
Mina Harker appeared as a capable leader and investigator of unusual phenomena in the comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a comic book series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, publication of which began in 1999. The series spans two six-issue limited series and a graphic novel from the America's Best Comics imprint of Wildstorm/DC, and a third miniseries...
. In the 2003 film adaptation, the character was revised into a vampiric superheroine, played by Peta Wilson
Peta Wilson
Peta Gia Wilson is an Australian actress and model. She is best known as Nikita in the television series La Femme Nikita.-Early life:...
.
Dracula 3000
Dracula 3000
Dracula 3000, also titled Dracula 3000: Infinite Darkness, is a horror movie released in 2004 that brings the legend of Count Dracula into outer space in the distant 31st century...
(2004) is a futuristic adaptation that is set in outer space, where Dracula has infiltrated the space ship and is killing its passengers.
Van Helsing
Van Helsing (film)
Van Helsing is a 2004 American action horror film directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as vigilante monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale...
is a film based on the vampire-hunter Van Helsing from the book, played by Hugh Jackman
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters...
, only reinvented as an immortal action hero assigned by the Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
to hunt monsters. Richard Roxburgh
Richard Roxburgh
Richard Roxburgh is an Australian actor who has starred in many Australian films and has appeared in supporting roles in a number of Hollywood productions, usually as villains.-Early life:...
portrays Dracula in this reinvigoration of the 1930s and 1940s Universal Horror monsters which also featured new versions of the Frankenstein Monster and The Wolf Man
The Wolf Man
The Wolf Man is a 1941 American Werewolf Horror film written by Curt Siodmak and produced and directed by George Waggner. The film stars Lon Chaney, Jr. as The Wolf Man, featuring Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, Béla Lugosi, and Maria Ouspenskaya...
. In this movie, Dracula is impervious to the normal methods of killing a vampire, only able to die through a werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
bite.
A character named Drake serves as the primary antagonist in Blade: Trinity
Blade: Trinity
Blade: Trinity is a 2004 American superhero vampire action film, written and directed by David S. Goyer, who also wrote the screenplays to the first two Blade films...
, in which a group of vampires summon him in order to finally defeat Blade. It is stated directly that Drake is in fact Dracula, but this is only one of many names he has gone by throughout the centuries, having been born around 5000 BC in ancient Sumer
Sumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
. Dominic Purcell portrays Drake.
2005 saw the premiere of Dracula's most recent stage incarnation, an adaptation by playwright P. Shane Mitchell
P. Shane Mitchell
P. Shane Mitchell is an American actor, playwright and director. He became the Artistic Director of TBA Theatre Company in Anchorage, Alaska in 2003.Mitchell was born in Toole, Utah, the youngest of four sons: Brad, Troy, and his twin D...
. By the end of 2005, the opera Dracula, by the Colombian composer Héctor Fabio Torres Cardona, opened in Manizales, Colombia.
Also in 2005 WB released the direct to DVD animated film The Batman vs. Dracula
The Batman vs. Dracula
The Batman vs. Dracula is a 2005 direct-to-video animated movie based on The Batman television series. It has a much darker tone than the show, and features Vicki Vale...
. It is a continuation of The Batman cartoon series in which The Dark Knight faces the Prince of Darkness.
Lust for Dracula, a softcore lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
pornographic semi-parodical film with an all-female cast, was also released in 2005 with actress Darian Crane as Count Dracula. Dracula and Jonathan Harker were apparently male characters, albeit played by women.
A French Canadian musical production (Dracula - Entre l'amour et la mort
Dracula - Entre l'amour et la mort
Dracula – Entre l'amour et la mort is a Québécois musical created by Bruno Pelletier. Lyrics are written by Roger Tabra; music is by Simon Leclerc; the original concept is credited to Bruno Pelletier and Richard Ouzounian.The musical ran in Quebec from January 13, 2006, to December 16, 2006.The...
http://www.zone3.ca/dracula/index.htm) opened in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
in January 2006, starring Bruno Pelletier
Bruno Pelletier
Bruno Pelletier , is a francophone Quebecer singer.-Life:Pelletier was born in Charlesbourg, a suburb of Quebec City. In 1983 Pelletier performed in the bands Amanite and Sneak Preview, which sang in English. He later started a group called Pëll, singing in French. At 23 years old, he moved to...
.
On December 28, 2006, a made-for-TV film adaptation of Dracula was aired on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
. The film starred Marc Warren
Marc Warren
Marc Warren is an English actor, known for his British television roles as Danny Blue in Hustle, Dougie Raymond in The Vice and Dominic Foy in State of Play.-Career:...
as Dracula, David Suchet
David Suchet
David Suchet, CBE, is an English actor, known for his work on British television. He is recognised for his RTS- and BPG award-winning performance as Augustus Melmotte in the 2001 British TV mini-drama The Way We Live Now, alongside Matthew Macfadyen and Paloma Baeza, and a 1991 British Academy...
as Van Helsing, Dan Stevens
Dan Stevens
Daniel Jonathan Stevens is a British actor.-Education:Stevens was educated at Tonbridge School, an independent school in the market town of Tonbridge in Kent, in South East England, followed by Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he read English...
as Lord Holmwood and Sophia Myles
Sophia Myles
-Early life:Myles was born in London. She is the daughter of Jane, who works in educational publishing, and Peter Myles, a retired Anglican vicar in Isleworth, west London. Her maternal grandmother was Russian, and she refers to herself as "half-Welsh, half-Russian". She grew up in Notting Hill,...
as Lucy.
And there was "Dracula Spectacula", a slightly spoof-esque musical written by John Gardiner.
Dracula is to be performed entirely on a Bouncy Castle at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Bouncy Castle Dracula will be produced by The Strolling Theatricals, the company behind the famous 'Bouncy Castle Hamlet' and 'Bouncy Castle Macbeth', which featured on ITV's 'Britain's Got Talent'.
Giallo
Giallo
Giallo is an Italian 20th century genre of literature and film, which in Italian indicates crime fiction and mystery. In the English language it refers to a genre similar to the French fantastique genre and includes elements of horror fiction and eroticism...
master Dario Argento
Dario Argento
Dario Argento is an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, particularly in the subgenre known as giallo, and for his influence on modern horror and slasher movies....
will shoot his 3-D interpretation of Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
in January 2011 .
Stage
The first stage adaptation was written and directed by Bram Stoker himself, and performed once only at the Lyceum Theatre in London for the sole purpose of securing a stage copyright on the material in England. Stoker's production, which Lyceum actor/manager Henry Irving reportedly pronounced "Dreadful!," was called Dracula, or The Un-Dead and took place on May 18, 1897, preceding the novel's publication by eight days. The unwieldy manuscript took fifteen actors over four hours to perform.In 1924, with the permission of the Stoker estate, the story was adapted for the stage a second time by Hamilton Deane
Hamilton Deane
Hamilton Deane was an Irish actor, playwright and director. He played a key role in popularising Bram Stoker's Dracula as a stage play and, later, a film.-Life:Deane was born in Clontarf, a suburb of Dublin...
. Entitled Dracula, The Vampire Play
Dracula (play)
Dracula is a 1924 stage play adapted by Hamilton Deane from the novel of the same name by Bram Stoker, and substantially revised by John L. Balderston in 1927...
the English touring production starred Deane himself as Van Helsing. In 1927, the play, as substantially revised by John L. Balderston
John L. Balderston
John L. Balderston was an American playwright and screenwriter best known for his horror and fantasy scripts....
, opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in a production starring Bela Lugosi
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
and Edward Van Sloan
Edward Van Sloan
Edward Van Sloan was an American film character actor best remembered for his roles in Universal Studios horror films.-Career:...
as the count and Van Helsing, respectively.
1977 saw a revival of the 1927 Broadway version. The atmospheric sets and costumes were designed by Edward Gorey
Edward Gorey
Edward St. John Gorey was an American writer and artist noted for his macabre illustrated books.-Early life:...
. The Count was portrayed by Frank Langella
Frank Langella
-Early life:Langella, an Italian American, was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, the son of Angelina and Frank A. Langella Sr., a business executive who was the president of the Bayonne Barrel and Drum Company. Langella attended Washington Elementary School and Bayonne High School in Bayonne...
, who, like Lugosi before him, would go on to perform the role on the big screen. The same Gorey sets and costumes were used for a U.S. touring version of the play starring Jeremy Brett
Jeremy Brett
Jeremy Brett , born Peter Jeremy William Huggins, was an English actor, most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in four Granada TV series.-Early life:...
. The Deane-Balderston lines were altered somewhat and played for a more comedic effect.
A musical, featuring classic monsters I'm Sorry the Bridge Is Out, You'll Have to Spend the Night with book, music and lyrics by Sheldon Allman
Sheldon Allman
Sheldon Allman was a Jewish American-born Canadian raised actor, singer, and songwriter.He began his singing career with the Royal National Guard during his World War II service with the RCAF...
and Bobby Pickett;
Dracula: Sabbat an Off-Off Broadway rendition, by Leon Katz
Leon Katz
Leon Katz is professor emeritus of drama at Yale University. He is a playwright, dramaturg, and scholar.-Scholarship:As a scholar, Katz is primarily known for his interviews with Alice B. Toklas, the companion of Gertrude Stein, over four months in 1952-53...
, premiered 1970;
Dracula, the Vampire Play by Tim Kelly
Tim Kelly (playwright)
-Biography:Kelly was born in Saugus, Massachusetts in 1937. His first stage play was Widow's Walk, published in the 1960s. At the same time, three of his plays opened: A Darker Flower at New York's Pocket Theatre, The Trunk and All That Jazz at Boston's Image Theatre, and Die Blum in Germany.He...
; various others following similar staging, such as The Passion of Dracula by Bob Hall & David Richmond, Count Dracula, Countess Dracula, etc.;
Undead, Dreams of Darkness mixing Stoker's characters and situations with those from Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Sheridan Le Fanu
Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era....
's Carmilla
Carmilla
Carmilla is a Gothic novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. First published in 1872, it tells the story of a young woman's susceptibility to the attentions of a female vampire named Carmilla...
, in a modern setting, written & directed by David M. Nevarrez in New York in 1998. The last sighting on Broadway was from the adapted version by composer Frank Wildhorn
Frank Wildhorn
Frank Wildhorn is an American composer known for both his musicals and popular songs. He is most known for his musical Jekyll & Hyde, which ran four years on Broadway, and for writing the #1 International Hit song "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?" for Whitney Houston.-Early years:Wildhorn was born in...
, Dracula, the Musical in 2004.
The opera by Hector Fabio Torres Cardona was believed to be the first Dracula opera. However, in October 2004 an operatic version of Dracula premiered at the Lancaster Opera House, by the composer Paul Ziemba. Gary Sage as Dracula. The score includes a waltz, a polonaise, a mazurka, several romantic arias, a lively gypsy number, plus music to accompany several specially choreographed ballets. Here is how Paul describes the score, "In all the music, melodic themes are distinct and often strongly developed depending upon scene, setting, story, and of course, the characters."
In 1996 playwright Steven Dietz
Steven Dietz
Steven Dietz is an American playwright whose work is largely performed regionally, i.e. outside of New York City...
published an adaption of Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
In 2006, Dracula - Entre l'amour et la mort
Dracula - Entre l'amour et la mort
Dracula – Entre l'amour et la mort is a Québécois musical created by Bruno Pelletier. Lyrics are written by Roger Tabra; music is by Simon Leclerc; the original concept is credited to Bruno Pelletier and Richard Ouzounian.The musical ran in Quebec from January 13, 2006, to December 16, 2006.The...
, a French Canadian musical starring Bruno Pelletier
Bruno Pelletier
Bruno Pelletier , is a francophone Quebecer singer.-Life:Pelletier was born in Charlesbourg, a suburb of Quebec City. In 1983 Pelletier performed in the bands Amanite and Sneak Preview, which sang in English. He later started a group called Pëll, singing in French. At 23 years old, he moved to...
premiered in Quebec, Canada.
In 2010 a new musical version entitled The Blood of Dracula premiered in Scotland, UK. It ran from 13–16 January at the Denny Civic Theatre in Dumbarton. It has a Book & Lyrics by Joseph Traynor and Music by Kevin Taylor.
The Sequel to "The Blood of Dracula" entitled "Dracula: Resurrection" is already underway. Re-uniting a lot of the original cast, it features another excellent score by Kevin Taylor. It will premiere at the Denny Civic Theatre, Dumbarton the last week of March 2010
Radio
In 1938, Orson WellesOrson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
and John Houseman
John Houseman
John Houseman was a Romanian-born British-American actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane...
chose Dracula to be the inaugural episode of the new radio show featuring their Broadway production company, The Mercury Theatre on the Air
Mercury Theatre
The Mercury Theatre was a theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and John Houseman. After a string of live theatrical productions, in 1938 the Mercury Theatre progressed into their best-known period as The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series that included one of the...
. The adaptation was largely faithful to the book, although condensed to fit in the show's hour-long format and with a different ending. Welles was the voice of both Dracula and "Arthur Seward," a pastiche character combining two of Lucy's suitors. The music was composed by Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
.
Novels
Like Frankenstein, Dracula has inspired many literary tributes or parodies, including Stephen KingStephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's Salem's Lot, Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Kim Newman is an English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's Dracula at the age of eleven—and alternate fictional versions of history...
's Anno Dracula, Fred Saberhagen
Fred Saberhagen
Fred Thomas Saberhagen was an American science fiction and fantasy author most famous for his Berserker series of science fiction short stories and S.F...
's The Dracula Tape, Wendy Swanscombe's erotic
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
parody Vamp
Vamp (film)
-Plot:Two college students, Keith and AJ, want to hire a stripper for their college initiation party, so they go to a dark, seedy part of town to look for a good candidate. They visit a nightclub in a barren, desolate, no-mans land section where the police rarely patrol...
, Dan Simmons
Dan Simmons
Dan Simmons is an American author most widely known for his Hugo Award-winning science fiction series, known as the Hyperion Cantos, and for his Locus-winning Ilium/Olympos cycle....
's Children of the Night, and Robin Spriggs
Robin Spriggs
Robin Spriggs is an American writer, actor, and poet. Known primarily as a dark fabulist, he is the author of the critically acclaimed Diary of a Gentleman Diabolist and Wondrous Strange: Tales of the Uncanny; the co-author of The Dracula Poems: A Poetic Encounter with the Lord of Vampires; and...
's The Dracula Poems: A Poetic Encounter with the Lord of Vampires. Loren D. Estleman
Loren D. Estleman
Loren D. Estleman is an American writer of detective and Western fiction. He writes with a manual typewriter....
's novel The Case of the Sanguinary Count pits Dracula against that equally venerable Victorian-era character Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
- written as though Dracula fought with Holmes when he was not being tracked by Van Helsing's men-, as does Fred Saberhagen
Fred Saberhagen
Fred Thomas Saberhagen was an American science fiction and fantasy author most famous for his Berserker series of science fiction short stories and S.F...
's The Holmes-Dracula File. In Jim Butcher
Jim Butcher
Jim Butcher is a New York Times Best Selling author most known for his contemporary fantasy book series The Dresden Files. He also wrote the Codex Alera series. Butcher grew up as the only son of his parents, and has two older sisters. He currently lives in Independence with his wife, Shannon K...
's novel Grave Peril, Dracula is mentioned (under the name "Drakul") by the character Harry Dresden as being "still in eastern Europe when we last checked". Caitlín R. Kiernan
Caitlin R. Kiernan
Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan is the author of many science fiction and dark fantasy works, including seven novels, many comic books, more than one hundred published short stories, novellas, and vignettes, and numerous scientific papers.- Overview :Born in Dublin, Ireland, she moved to the United States...
's short fiction has drawn upon Dracula a number of times — most notably in "Emptiness Spoke Eloquent" (which follows the lonely life of Mina Harker after the vampire's death), "The Drowned Geologist", and "Stoker's Mistess."
In The Diaries of the Family Dracula, a trilogy by Jeanne Kalogridis
Jeanne Kalogridis
Jeanne Kalogridis , also known by the pseudonym J.M. Dillard is an Greek-American writer of historical and horror fiction.She was born in Florida and studied at the University of South Florida, earning first a BA in Russian and then an MA in Linguistics...
, Vlad's relationship with his mortal descendants is explored, as are the specific terms of his vampiric curse and his pact with the Romanian peasants who serve him. The novels are written in epistolary form, and the story is intertwined with that of Stoker's novel, expanding on minor characters and details from the Dracula mythos.
Elizabeth Kostova
Elizabeth Kostova
Elizabeth Johnson Kostova is an American author best known for her debut novel The Historian.-Early life:Elizabeth Z. Johnson was born in New London, Connecticut and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee where she graduated from the Webb School of Knoxville...
's 2005 novel The Historian
The Historian
The Historian interweaves the history and folklore of Vlad Ţepeş, a 15th-century prince of Wallachia known as "Vlad the Impaler", and his fictional equivalent Count Dracula together with the story of Paul, a professor; his 16-year-old daughter; and their quest for Vlad's tomb...
follows several historians, whose research has led them too close to Dracula, as they hunt the vampire across Europe.
Meg Cabot
Meg Cabot
Meg Cabot is anAmerican author of romantic and paranormal fiction for teens and adults and used to write under several pen names, but now writes exclusively under her real name, Meg Cabot...
's 2010 novel Insatiable has a main character named Meena Harper who has a relationship with Dracula's son, Lucien.
Kelly Jacobs
Kelly Jacobs
Kelly Jacobs is an American writer of paranormal and gay romance. Known for The Dead Heart and other works of romantic fiction concerning gay male characters.- Personal life :...
's 2011 novel "The Diary of Drakula, volume one," expands heavily on the Dracula character, blending the fictional Count with his inspiration, the real life Viovode of Wallachia, Vlad the Impaler, in a biography. The novel is the first part of a two part series which is written in the same style as the original by Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
, as a collection of diary entries, letters and various documents.
Although the novel has non-historical elements for entertainment value, most of the events depicted therein have a real historical basis, such as the fall of constantinople
Fall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...
and the night attack of 1462.
In the book series Vampire Hunter D
Vampire Hunter D
is a series of Japanese novels written by Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano since 1983.To date, twenty-two novels have been published in the main series, with some novels comprising as many as four volumes...
which takes place ten thousand years in the future, D's adversary Count Magnus discovers that D is the son of Dracula, the Sacred Ancestor. D also nearly states this during a psychological attack in the second volume, Raiser of Gales.
Freda Warrington
Freda Warrington
Freda Warrington is a British author, known for her epic fantasy, vampire and supernatural novels.Her earliest novels, the Blackbird series, were written and published when she was just finishing her teen years; in the intervening years she has seen numerous stand-alone novels and a trilogy published...
's Dracula the Undead
Dracula the Undead (book)
Dracula the Undead is a sequel written to Bram Stoker's classic novel by Freda Warrington. The book was commissioned by Penguin books as a sequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula for the centenary of the latter's first publication. It takes place 7 years after the original...
is an unofficial sequel to Dracula.
A great-grandnephew of Bram Stoker, Dacre Stoker, and screenwriter Ian Holt have written a sequel to Dracula titled Dracula the Un-dead
Dracula the Un-dead
Dracula the Un-dead is a sequel to Bram Stoker's classic novel Dracula. The book was written by Bram Stoker's great grand-nephew Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt...
(Stoker's original title), which reveals that Dracula was not actually the true villain but sought to eliminate the more dangerous Elizabeth Bathory. Dacre Stoker claims that parts of the work are based on excised material from the original novel and Stoker's notes. In North America, the book was published by E.P. Dutton. Director Ernest Dickerson
Ernest Dickerson
Ernest Roscoe Dickerson A.S.C. is an American film and television director and cinematographer. He directed generally urban films sometimes with supernatural stories like Juice, Tales from the Crypt Presents Demon Knight, Bones and Never Die Alone...
was supposed to have begun shooting a film based on the book in 2007; later delayed to June 2009. As of summer 2011, imdb.com still lists this project as "in development."
Short Stories
- Shepard, Leslie. 1977. The Dracula book of great vampire stories. Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press. ISBN: 0806505656. Edited with an introduction by Leslie Shepard: Le Fanu, S. Carmilla.--De Maupassant, G. The horla.--Count Stenbock. The sad story of a vampire.--Braddon, M. E. Good Lady Ducayne.--Loring, F. G. The tomb of Sarah.--Crawford, F. M. For the blood is the life.--Benson, E. F. The room in the tower.--Blackwood, A. The transfer.--Stoker, B. Dracula's guest.--Neruda, J. The vampire.--Benson, E. F. Mrs. Amworth.--Roman, V. Four wooden stakes.--Hartmann, F. An authenticated vampire story.
- Michael SimsMichael SimsMichael Sims is a noted American nonfiction writer, author most recently of The Story of Charlotte's Web . His other nonfiction books include In the Womb: Animals , Apollo’s Fire , Adam's Navel , and Darwin's Orchestra...
. 2010. Dracula's Guest: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories. Walker & Co. ISBN: 0802719716. 480 pages. Michael Sims brings together the very best vampire stories of the Victorian era—from England, America, France, Germany, Transylvania, and even Japan—into a unique collection that highlights their cultural variety. Beginning with the supposedly true accounts that captivated Byron and Shelley, the stories range from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Oval Portrait" and Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla" to Guy de Maupassant's "The Horla" and Mary Elizabeth Braddon's "Good Lady Ducayne." Sims also includes a nineteenth-century travel tour of Transylvanian superstitions, and rounds out the collection with Stoker's own "Dracula's Guest"— a chapter omitted from his landmark novel.
Dance
Dracula has become a popular theme for balletic adaptations.The most successful and notable, to date is by Michael Pink and Christopher Gable
Christopher Gable
Christopher Gable, CBE was an English ballet dancer, choreographer, and actor.Born in London, Gable studied at the Royal Ballet School, joining the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet in 1957...
. Premiered in 1997, to commemorate the centenary publication of the novel, it was created for the Northern Ballet Theatre
Northern Ballet Theatre
Northern Ballet, formerly Northern Ballet Theatre, is a dance company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a strong repertoire in theatrical dance productions where the emphasis is on story telling as well as classical ballet...
in the United Kingdom. The production stays as faithful to the book as possible in non verbal theatre. Original music was composed by Philip Feeney, the Naxos
Naxos Records
Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
recording of the score has remained a top seller. Sets and costumes were designed by Lez Brotherston, whose career as a designer for dance began with NBT. Lighting was by Paul Pyant
Paul Pyant
Paul Pyant is a British lighting designer, whose designs have been featured in the West End, on Broadway and in opera houses around the world.-Life and career:...
. The production has been seen throughout the world, most companies presenting the work more than once during the last decade. It is the lure of the novel that makes this as popular in the dance world as the film industry. This same production team is responsible for many successful adaptations of popular novels.
Another ballet based on Dracula was created by choreographer David Nixon
David Nixon (choreographer)
David Nixon OBE is a dance choreographer. Born in Chatham, Ontario, Nixon trained at the National Ballet School of Canada and danced with the National Ballet of Canada. He joined the Deutsche Oper Ballet, in Berlin, in 1985 as a principal dancer where he won the Critics Award for Best Male...
and has become popular at Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
among many companies in the US and England.
Comics
Dracula has been a recurring character in many comic bookComic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s, most notably, the Marvel comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
version of Dracula
Dracula (Marvel Comics)
Dracula is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. He is based on the vampire Count Dracula from the novel of the same name by author Bram Stoker, and is also influenced by Universal Studios' version of the character.-Publication history:A...
featured in Tomb of Dracula
Tomb of Dracula
The Tomb of Dracula is a horror comic book series published by Marvel Comics from April 1972 to August 1979. The 70-issue series featured a group of vampire hunters who fought Count Dracula and other supernatural menaces...
written primarily by Marv Wolfman
Marv Wolfman
Marvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.-1960s:...
(following two issues each by Gerry Conway
Gerry Conway
Gerard F. "Gerry" Conway is an American writer of comic books and television shows. He is known for co-creating the Marvel Comics vigilante The Punisher and scripting the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man...
, Archie Goodwin
Archie Goodwin (comics)
Archie Goodwin was an American comic book writer, editor, and artist. He worked on a number of comic strips in addition to comic books, and is best known for his Warren and Marvel Comics work...
and Gardner Fox
Gardner Fox
Gardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer best known for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic-book historians estimate that he wrote over 4,000 comics stories....
) and drawn by Gene Colan
Gene Colan
Eugene Jules "Gene" Colan was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series, Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series...
for Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
in the 1970s. They concurrently published Dracula Lives (1973–1975) in their black-and-white magazine line under the Curtis
Curtis Magazines
Curtis Magazines was an imprint of Marvel Comics that existed from 1971 to 1980. The imprint published black-and-white magazines that did not carry the Comics Code Authority seal. Initially, page counts varied between 68,76, and 84 pages....
imprint, thirteen issues followed by a separately numbered all-reprint annual. After the color comic ended with #70 (August 1979), the company utilized the exact title for another black-and white magazine (#1, October 1979), which was cancelled as of its sixth issue (August 1980). Their version of the character would continue to be a presence in the Marvel Universe for many years thereafter, as recently as the 2006 X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
crossover X-Men: Apocalypse vs. Dracula
X-Men: Apocalypse vs. Dracula
X-Men: Apocalypse vs. Dracula was a four-issue comic book limited series published in 2006 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Frank Tieri and drawn by Clayton Henry.-Plot summary:...
(prior to that, Dell Comics
Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium...
had produced a superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
version of Dracula). Wolfman and Colan reteamed for a three-issue Dracula miniseries comic in 1998, titled The Curse of Dracula, this time for Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
. Although briefly killed in a recent storyline, Dracula was resurrected by the X-Men to help them defeat his son, Xarus, when he attempted to bring the vampires of the world together to turn the X-Men and other remaining mutants.
In 2003, Dracula was re-invented as the globe-trotting "Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
of vampires" in the Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
series Sword of Dracula
Sword of Dracula
Sword of Dracula is a horror comic book published by several publishers, including Image Comics , IDW Publishing, and Digital Webbing. The series focuses on a group of UN connected commandos called the Polidorium. The series is created by writer Jason Henderson and includes a round-robin group of...
. Dracula was used as a villain in the webcomic
Webcomic
Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
, Clan of the Cats in 2004. In 2005, Dracula faced off against King Arthur in the Silent Devil Productions series Dracula vs. King Arthur. One of the Elseworlds
Elseworlds
Elseworlds is the publication imprint for a group of comic books produced by DC Comics that take place outside the company's canon. According to its tagline: "In Elseworlds, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places — some that have existed, and others...
book by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
is Batman & Dracula: Red Rain, which features the caped crusader fighting Dracula, who has come to Gotham City
Gotham City
Gotham City is a fictional U.S. city appearing in DC Comics, best known as the home of Batman. Batman's place of residence was first identified as Gotham City in Batman #4 . Gotham City is strongly inspired by Trenton, Ontario's history, location, atmosphere, and various architectural styles...
, forcing Batman to become a vampire himself to stop his foe. Dracula has also been featured in the webcomic Dr. McNinja. The novel, and "Dracula's Guest" are being adapted into comic form by Leah Moore
Leah Moore
Leah Moore is an English comic book writer. She is the daughter of Alan Moore and Phyllis Moore, and is married to John Reppion. She has worked with both Alan and John on the comic Albion. She has also written for other comics and publications including Tom Strong and The End Is Nigh...
and John Reppion
John Reppion
John Mark Reppion is a British writer. He is married to Leah Moore, the daughter of Alan Moore, and he has worked with both on the comic Albion.-Biography:...
, for Dynamite Entertainment
Dynamite Entertainment
Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book company that primarily publishes licensed franchises of adaptations of other media. These include adaptations of film properties such as Army of Darkness, Terminator and RoboCop, literary properties such as Zorro, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Alice in...
, as a five-issue limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
, The Complete Dracula. Victor Gischler
Victor Gischler
Victor Gischler is an American author of hard-boiled crime fiction.-Biography:Gischler's debut novel Gun Monkeys was nominated for the Edgar Award, and his novel Shotgun Opera was an Anthony Award finalist. His work has been translated into Italian, French, Spanish and Japanese. He earned a Ph.D....
wrote, Giuseppe Camuncoli pencilled and Marko Djurdjervic created the cover of the Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
published Death of Dracula.
In 2010 noted graphic novelist Andy Fish
Andy Fish
Andy Fish is an American artist, writer, graphic novelist and cartoonist.Born in Massachusetts, Fish attended both the School of Visual Arts in New York City and Rhode Island School of Design where he continues to do portfolio reviews there for prospective students.He has produced a series of art...
known for his usually dark stories peppered with elements of gallows humor began a 500 page adaption and sequel to the original novel called DRACULA THE DEAD TRAVEL FAST re-setting the novel in the 1930s and introducing the unrest leading up to World War II. The book is notable in that it was one of the first non-mainstream graphic novels released digitally and traditionally at the same time via both the Kindle and Nook stores and comic shops worldwide.
Games
Vlad Tepes is one of the more mysterious elder vampires in Vampire: The MasqueradeVampire: The Masquerade
Vampire: The Masquerade is a role-playing game. Created by Mark Rein·Hagen, it was the first of White Wolf Game Studio's World of Darkness role-playing games, based on the Storyteller System and centered around vampires in a modern gothic-punk world....
. An Autarkis of the Tzimisce
Tzimisce
The Tzimisce are a clan of vampires in White Wolf Game Studio's books and role-playing games Vampire: The Masquerade and Vampire: The Dark Ages....
Clan
Clan (World of Darkness)
In White Wolf Game Studio's role-playing games about vampires, a clan is a group of vampires joined by blood relations...
, he has been present at many of the major events in the World of Darkness
World of Darkness
"World of Darkness" is the name given to three related but distinct fictional universes created as settings for supernatural horror themed role-playing games. It is also the name of roleplaying games in the second and third settings...
, serving the Camarilla, Sabbat and Inconnu at various times throughout his existence. In Vampire: the Requiem
Vampire: The Requiem
Vampire: The Requiem is a role-playing game published by White Wolf, set in the World of Darkness, and the successor to the Vampire: The Masquerade line. It was first released in August 2004, together with a new core rule book for the World of Darkness...
, Dracula is the historical Vlad Tepes and a legendary figure among vampires. His clan is not known, as he, and his followers, claim that he was cursed by God himself for his atrocities. The Ordo Dracul claims that they follow his teachings about overcoming the curse of vampirism. The games draw much from the novel Dracula and vampire myths in general.
In the Dungeons and Dragons setting, Ravenloft
Ravenloft
Ravenloft is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. It is an alternate time-space existence known as a pocket dimension called the Demiplane of Dread, which consists of a collection of land pieces called domains brought together by a mysterious force known only as "The Dark...
, the villain of the adventure is Count Strahd von Zarovich who is a tribute to the Count and his castle which houses many diabolical items and quest. The entire adventure is filled with Gothic horror centering all around the Count who is the Master of the Castle and anything that happens in Barovia
Barovia
Barovia is the oldest domain in Ravenloft.It was formed from a part of the ancestral lands of Strahd von Zarovich at the time when he murdered his brother Sergei to win the hand of the beautiful Tatyana in the year 351 of the Barovian Calendar....
happens because he wills it to. Adaptations of Strahd's appearance come from descriptions of the traditional Dracula.
In Warhammer Fantasy Battles there is a long dynasty of titled vampires in the Empire
Empire
The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....
who rose up against the mortal Emperor and started the Undead wars. The von Carstein Trilogy (Inheritance, Dominion and Retribution) as novelised by Steven Savile
Steven Savile
Steven Savile is a British fantasy, horror and thriller writer, and editor living in Stockholm, Sweden...
fictionalises the lives of the most infamous these Vampires, Vlad Von Carstein and his gets, Konrad and Mannfred. Vlad himself draws on Dracula stereotype.
In Dracula's Riddle, an online riddle game, Dracula is the evil Count who has put a curse on the world, slowly turning it into his dark realm. As he is vanquished in the first game, his curse lives on to possess his slayer who serves as the evil power in the sequel, Dracula's Riddle 2.
In Melty Blood
Melty Blood
, is a visual novel and fighting game, co-developed by dōjin circles Type-Moon and French-Bread, originally released at Comiket on December 2002...
, a visual novel
Visual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
/fighting game
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
based on Tsukihime
Tsukihime
is a Japanese eroge dōjin visual novel game created by Type-Moon, who first released it at the Winter Comiket in December 2000. It was adapted in 2003 into an anime series, Shingetsutan Tsukihime, produced by J.C.Staff and Geneon, and a manga series, which has been serialized since 2004 in...
, the phenomena TATARI, aka "The Night of Wallachia"'s first and most commonly recognized form was the incarnation of the first fear it manifested: Count Dracula.
Video games
In most videogames of the CastlevaniaCastlevania
Castlevania, known as in Japan, is a video game series created and developed by Konami. The series debuted in Japan on September 26, 1986, with the release of for the Family Computer Disk System , followed by an alternate version for the MSX 2 platform on October 30...
series (known as "Akumajo Dracula" (Devil's Castle Dracula) in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
), Count Vlad Tepes Dracula
Dracula (Castlevania)
, whose real name is Mathias Cronqvist , is a fictional character from the multi-platform Castlevania video game series...
, as he is known in the series, is the ultimate source of evil that the protagonists must confront, after adventuring through Dracula's castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
. The other aspect in relations to the Count is his son, Adrian Farenheights Tepes, commonly known as "Alucard
Alucard (Castlevania)
, better known as is a fictional character in Konami's Castlevania series of video games. His first appearance in the series was in the 1990 Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, but he is best known for his role in the critically acclaimed Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, released in 1997.His...
", who has dedicated his life to ensure the survival of the human race and the preventing of his father's tyranny. It is often said by both fans and Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
that the Castlevania timeline is meant to exist in the same universe as the Bram Stoker novel. This is evidenced in Castlevania:Bloodlines, as one of the protagonists is a relative of Quincy Morris. Aside from Alucard, Dracula's major enemies come from the Belmont clan, which includes the Belmont, Belnades, Graves, Morris, LeCarde, and Schneider families. In the series, Dracula's origin is revealed to be as Mathias Cronqvist, a fictional 11th-century tactician and alchemist. His origins were revised in the 2010 reboot Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.
In the first Castlevania game in 1986, Dracula turns into a large bat-like creature, in 1992 he does this again, in Bram Stoker's Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
. These may have inspired the forms he takes in Van Helsing
Van Helsing (film)
Van Helsing is a 2004 American action horror film directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as vigilante monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale...
, Blade: Trinity
Blade: Trinity
Blade: Trinity is a 2004 American superhero vampire action film, written and directed by David S. Goyer, who also wrote the screenplays to the first two Blade films...
, and many of the later Castlevania games.
Now-defunct software company CRL
CRL Group PLC
CRL Group plc is a defunct British video game development and publishing company. Originally CRL stood for "Computer Rentals Ltd.". It was based in King's Yard, London and run by Clem Chambers....
produced a series of games in the 1980s featuring classic horror classics including Dracula. These were the first game titles in the UK to receive BBFC
British Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification , originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom...
certification (they were rated "15"), normally reserved for films and videos. There were two adventure games, Dracula: Resurrection and The Last Sanctuary. Both took place after the novels end and continued Jon and Mina's fight against the Count.
Count Dracula appears in Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
's Kings Quest II which was released in 1985. The hero of the game, King Graham has to defeat Dracula by driving a stake through his heart.
Dracula: Resurrection
Dracula - Resurrection
Dracula: Resurrection is a 1999 point-and-click horror adventure video game based on the characters from Bram Stoker's Dracula. It was developed for PC and PlayStation by Index+, Canal+ Multimedia and France Telecom Multimedia and published by Microïds....
, Dracula: The Last Sanctuary and Dracula 3 - The Path of the Dragon
Dracula 3 - The Path of the Dragon
Dracula 3: The Path of the Dragon is a 2008 horror adventure video game based on the characters from Bram Stoker's Dracula. It was developed for PC by Kheops Studio and published by Microïds. In 2010 an adapted version was released for Apple iPhone....
form a series of adventure games. They were published in 1999, 2000 and 2008, respectively.
In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a single-player action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks and the Take-Two Interactive subsidiary 2K Games...
, The Count of Skingrad is a vampire not unlike Transylvania's Count, Dracula.
In Namco
Namco
is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
's Vampire Night
Vampire Night
Vampire Night is a light gun game produced by Sega, Wow Entertainment, distributed through Namco and released in 2000 for video game arcades. It was later ported to PlayStation 2 in November 2001.- Plot :...
, The Count of Auguste is a vampire, a reference to Count Dracula.
Dracula: Origin is a 2008 PC point-and-click adventure
Graphic adventure game
A graphic adventure game is a form of adventure game. They are distinct from text adventures. Whereas a player must actively observe using commands such as "look" in a text-based adventure, graphic adventures revolutionized gameplay by making use of natural human perception...
developed by Ascaron Entertainment
Ascaron
Ascaron Entertainment was a video game developer based in Germany. Founded as Ascon and later renamed in October 1996 due to the possible confusion with the Swiss company Ascom AG, the company produced titles primarily for the PC until it was made insolvent in 2009.-Background and history:Ascaron...
, in which the player assumes the role of Abraham Van Helsing in a storyline based on the original novel.A sequel is currently in production, called Dracula: Origin 2. This time, the player will assume the role of Dracula himself as he tries to regain power after his defeat at the hands of Van Helsing during the end of the first game.
In Popcap Games "Bookworm Adventures Deluxe",Dracula is the Boss for Dracula's castle.
A character similar to Dracula, named The Count, appears as a boss in the PlayStation game "Medievil 2".
Anime and manga
In 1980, Toei AnimationToei Animation
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...
produced the TV anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
movie Yami no Teiô Kyûketsuki Dracula, based upon Marv Wolfman
Marv Wolfman
Marvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.-1960s:...
and Gene Colan
Gene Colan
Eugene Jules "Gene" Colan was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series, Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series...
's Tomb of Dracula
Tomb of Dracula
The Tomb of Dracula is a horror comic book series published by Marvel Comics from April 1972 to August 1979. The 70-issue series featured a group of vampire hunters who fought Count Dracula and other supernatural menaces...
comic from Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. It was released on cable TV in North America by Harmony Gold
Harmony Gold
Harmony Gold may refer to:* Harmony Gold , a South African gold mining company* Harmony Gold USA, an American television producer and distributor...
under the title Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned.
In the Manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and Anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series Hellsing
Hellsing
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano. It first premiered in Young King Ours in 1997 and ended in September 2008. The individual chapters are collected and published in tankōbon volumes by Shōnen Gahosha. As of March 2009 all chapters have been released in 10 volumes in...
, the vampire Alucard
Alucard (Hellsing)
is a fictional characterin the Hellsing manga and anime series created by Kouta Hirano. A powerful vampire, Alucard works with the Hellsing Organization against other vampires and evil forces. He fights with ferocity and often extreme cruelty, rarely killing until his target has been disabled and...
is actually Dracula himself, becoming the servant to the Hellsing family
Integra Hellsing
, more commonly, Integra Hellsing, is one of the main characters from the anime and manga series Hellsing. In both the TV series and OVA series, her Japanese voice is provided by Yoshiko Sakakibara and Kaori Mizuhashi , while her English voice in both is done by Victoria Harwood and Tricia Dickson...
rather than being destroyed outright. He hunts and kills other vampires, armed with two specially-made pistols that are too heavy to be effectively carried by humans. In later chapters of Hellsing, Alucard, dressed in armor, summons an army of the undead. Some members of this army are holding flags, recognized by Enrico Maxwell
Enrico Maxwell
is a character from the manga and anime series Hellsing. In the TV series, he is voiced by Hideyuki Tanaka. In the OVA series, he's voiced by Show Hayami and his younger version Risa Hayamizu, and in both TV and OVA versions, his English voice is JB Blanc....
as those from Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
, and with later admittance from Alucard himself, it is confirmed that he is Vlad Tepes. (Note that Vlad Dracula the Impaler is believed to be the inspiration of Bram Stoker's character Dracula, and, in Hellsing, seem to be considered the same person.)
In an anime and manga series, Shaman King
Shaman King
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Takei. Shaman King follows the adventures of Yoh Asakura as he attempts to hone his shaman skills to become the Shaman King in the Shaman tournament....
a man named Boris Tepes Dracula is a descendant of Vlad Tepes Dracula the Impaler, revealing all of history and joining forces with Hao Asakura to get revenge on Humanity, he is ultimately defeated by Ryu.but was killed by the X-Laws
X-Laws
The X-Laws are the primary group of antiheroes in the anime and manga series Shaman King. Like Yoh and the other protagonists of the story, they oppose Hao Asakura. However, their methods are far more ruthless and harsh. With the exception of the members of X-I, all current X-Laws are ex-military...
Dracula also appears in the novel series Vampire Hunter D
Vampire Hunter D
is a series of Japanese novels written by Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano since 1983.To date, twenty-two novels have been published in the main series, with some novels comprising as many as four volumes...
. In this adaptation, Dracula is seen as a vampire god-king who deals out both life and death. Dracula does not appear in the Vampire Hunter D anime adaptations, however he is referenced. The main protagonist of the series, referred to simply as "D", is a vampire hunter who slays creatures of the night for a bounty. It is implied that D is the offspring of Dracula and a human woman, and is referenced at least twice in the novel series and adaptations by the parasitic organism living in D's left hand, though Dracula's name is never explicitly stated. This can be later taken as fact within the Vampire Hunter D series as it is stated directly by Count Magnus Lee in the anime adaptation, though he did not know until moments before his death that the vampire who had sired D was Dracula himself, though D never confirms it, and Lee's daughter, who in the novel is the one to make the connection and ask D about it. In the second novel, Raiser of Gales D himself is very nearly brought to say the name of his father while in a psychic trap set by an enemy. In the film adaptation of the third Vampire Hunter D novel Demon Deathchase which was released under the title Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust, Dracula is referred to simply as The Vampire King.
The author of Vampire Hunter D, Hideyuki Kikuchi also wrote a novel that presents Dracula himself appearing in Japan sometime before the events of Bram Stoker's novel called Meiji Dorakyuu Den. The book was released in the United States as Dark Wars: the Tale of Meiji Dracula and featured Dracula facing off with several citizens of Japan, who ultimately drive him away from Japan, presumably back to Romania, where he then lives out the events of Bram Stoker's novel.
In the Digimon
Digimon
, short for , is a Japanese media franchise encompassing digital toys, anime, manga and video games. The franchise's eponymous creatures are monsters of various forms living in a "Digital World", a parallel universe that originated from Earth's various communication networks.-Conception and...
series there is a digimon called Dracmon who is a little vampiric imp who goes around causing mischief going as far as to do things without fear of danger. He then digvolves into a digimon called Sangloupmon who is a vampiric wolf (a possible reference to Dracula taking a wolf's shape at one point). Then he next becomes Matadormon who is a vampiric matador (bull fighter). His fully evolved form is GranDracmon whose name comes from Gran which is short for Grand and Drac short for Dracula. He is designed after a demonic version of Dracula. In the Digimon mythos he is said to be a major source of evil within the Digital World
Digital World
The Digital World is a fictional universe featured in the Digimon media franchise. In Digimon anime, manga, video games, and other related merchandise, the Digital World is a parallel universe to Earth that was made from computer data originating in Earth's communication...
. There is another Digimon called Myotismon
Myotismon
Myotismon is a fictional character from the Digimon franchise. He is the third major villain in the first season, and the main antagonist of the second season of the anime series.-Appearance and characteristics:...
whose design is that of a vampire and whose English name (the original being Vamdemon) is that of a bat. His digivolved forms VenomMyotismon and MaloMyotismon are designed after a satanic version of a vampire and a Chinese demon version vampire respectively. A Myotismon and his subsequent Digivolved forms serve as major villains in the Digimon Adventure
Digimon Adventure
is a Japanese animated television series created in 1999 by Toei Animation based on the Digimon virtual pet made by Bandai. It is the first series of the Digimon anime "metaseries"...
anime series and saga. His most powerful form was the main villain of Digimon Adventure 02
Digimon Adventure 02
, also commonly referred as Digimon Zero Two, is the direct sequel to the previous series and takes place three years after the original series. With most of the original characters now in junior high school, the Digital World was supposedly secure and peaceful. However, a new evil has appeared in...
. A Myotismon named Lord Vamde starts of as a quaternary villain but becomes something akin to a tertiary villain in the Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01
Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01
was the first and longest-running Digimon manga, printed in the pages of V-Jump magazine. Starting on November 21, 1998, it ran to fifty-eight chapters and ended on August 21, 2003. This manga introduces the character of Taichi - although he is not the same Taichi that features in the Digimon...
manga. A Myotismon is the main Boss in the second level of the game based on the anime series Digimon Data Squad, Digimon World Data Squad.
The manga "Endo Beast" written by Riko Takahashi features a character named "Dracula" living as a commoner with the name Daniel Illiescu. He is a wealthy businessman living in the fictional world of Kanaeda, instead of a castle Daniel resides inside a large chateau with a rich view of the countryside. He plays a key role in the manga sporting a dual personality as the kind, generous Daniel during the day time, and at night turning into the evil, blood-thirsty Dracula.
The manga Dance in the Vampire Bund
Dance in the Vampire Bund
is a supernatural romance manga written and illustrated by . The manga series is serialized in Media Factory's seinen manga magazine Comic Flapper, and is licensed for an English-language release by Seven Seas Entertainment....
by Nozomu Tamaki
Nozomu Tamaki
is a Japanese manga artist whose Dance in the Vampire Bund was licensed in English by Seven Seas Entertainment and adapted into a 12 episodes anime series by the studio Shaft.-Works:*Femme Kabuki...
features one Mina Tepes as the female protagonist and ruler of the vampire world. It is more or less certain that she is a descendant of who we would call the original Dracula, i.e. Vlad Tepes, although the vampires have had to emigrate east to escape persecution in Europe. As Princess-ruler of all vampires, she publicly bought an island off the coast of Tokyo and declared it to be a home for her subjects, the vampire race. The manga deals in part with her efforts to ease the tensions between the newly-revealed vampire race and the humans who have to live alongside them.
Television
- In the Season 4Supernatural (season 4)Season four of Supernatural, an American television series, began airing on September 18, 2008. This is the third season to air on the CW television network...
episode "Monster Movie" of the television series SupernaturalSupernatural (TV series)Supernatural is an American supernatural and horror television series created by Eric Kripke, which debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the brothers as they...
, a shape-shifter being hunted by SamSam WinchesterSamuel "Sam" Winchester is a fictional character and one of the two main protagonists of The CW Television Network's Supernatural along with his older brother Dean. He is portrayed by Jared Padalecki.-Background:...
and DeanDean WinchesterDean Winchester is a fictional character from The CW Television Network's Supernatural, portrayed by Jensen Ackles. He hunts demons, spirits and other supernatural creatures with his younger brother Sam.-Background:...
hides under the guise of Count Dracula, and considers Dean Jonathan Harker, and a girl he met and fell in love with to be Mina. - In the Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
story The ChaseThe Chase (Doctor Who)The Chase is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 22 May to 26 June 1965. The story is set on multiple locations including the Mary Celeste, the Empire State Building, and the planet Aridius...
, the DoctorDoctor (Doctor Who)The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
, his companions and the Daleks came across Dracula and Frankenstein's monster although later were shown to be robots. - Dracula appeared in the commercials for Energizer in 1993. He emerges from his casket to get the battery off the Energizer BunnyEnergizer BunnyThe Energizer Bunny is the marketing icon and mascot of Energizer batteries in North America. It is a pink toy rabbit wearing sunglasses and blue and white striped sandals that beats a bass drum bearing the Energizer logo. It is a parody of the preexistent Duracell Bunny, still seen in Europe and...
only to be locked out of his castle when the wind blows the front door closed. When he gets his spare key, the sun comes up and Dracula is vanquished. - Dracula has also appeared as a villain in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in an episode called "Buffy vs. Dracula." Dracula admits to Buffy SummersBuffy SummersBuffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...
that he is intrigued and charmed by her legacy as she is of him. He also clarifies the origin of her powers, regardless of his attempt to lure her to evil. Buffy, having "seen his movies," waits after first killing him, noting that he "always comes back." He reappears in the canon post-finale comics Tales of the Vampires: Antique, and later the Season EightBuffy the Vampire Slayer Season EightBuffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight is a comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics. The series serves as a canonical continuation of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and follows the events of that show's final televised season. It is produced by Joss Whedon, who wrote the...
story "Wolves at the GateWolves at the Gate"Wolves at the Gate" is the third story arc that spreads from the twelfth to the fifteenth issue of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight series of comic books, a continuation of the television series of the same name. It is written by Drew Goddard....
" (both written by Drew GoddardDrew GoddardDrew Goddard is an American film and television screenwriter and producer best known for his collaborations with Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams .Goddard joined the crew of Lost as a freelance writer for the first season in 2004...
.) Outside the canon, Dracula appears in Spike vs. DraculaSpike vs Dracula (Angel comic)Spike vs Dracula is a comic book limited series based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel television series. Initially printed between February and June 2006 as five separate issues, the series was collected as a trade paperback in September 2006...
, which reveals that Dracula has connections to the gypsy clan that cursed Angel with a soul. As established by his appearance in "Buffy vs. Dracula," he is an acquaintance of Anya JenkinsAnya JenkinsAnya is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She also appears in the comic book series based on the television show. Portrayed by Emma Caulfield, the character appears as a guest star in the third and fourth seasons of the show before...
, and Spike claims he is a sell-out of the vampire world, fond of magic and Hollywood. The vampire popularized by Bram StokerBram StokerAbraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
in the Dracula novel is also used as a basis for the ideas in the show, primarily the methods in which vampires are killed. - The enormous house in the NickelodeonNickelodeon (TV channel)Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
game showGame showA game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
Finders Keepers occasionally featured a room entitled "Dracula's Den," which was constructed to resemble a room in a castleCastleA castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
with windows with boards nailed across them (presumably to keep out the sunlight), cobwebCobweb-Animals:* Cobweb or spider web, silken web made by spiders* Cobweb spider or tangle web spider, any of the many spiders in the family Theridiidae* Cobwebbing, a pattern of fine lines on the face of a horse, zebra or other equid: see horse Primitive markings...
s, batBatBats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s, and a Gothic-style chair and roll-top desk. The room also featured a full-sized coffinCoffinA coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...
, in which a cast or crew member usually hid dressed as a mummyMummyA mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
or as Dracula himself. - The cartoon series Aqua Teen Hunger ForceAqua Teen Hunger ForceAqua Teen Hunger Force , retitled Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 in 2011, is an American animated television series on Cartoon Network late night programing block, Adult Swim, as well as Teletoon's Teletoon at Night block and later G4 Canada's ADd block in Canada...
features a recurring television program called Assisted Living Dracula which features an elderly Dracula's life in a retirement home. In one episode, the real Dracula visits MC Pee Pants in his latest incarnation as an old man named Little Brittle and bites him. MC Pee Pants leaves the hospital as a newly-made vampire, only to die from exposure to sunlight. Dracula suffers the same fate. - In the television series The MunstersThe MunstersThe Munsters is a 1960s American family television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era,...
, the character of "Grandpa" Sam Dracula, a vampire, clearly identifies himself as being the Count Dracula at one point. Though assuming he is Dracula, he has found a way to sustain himself without blood and is no longer vulnerable to sunlight. He is portrayed as a friendlier mad scientist-type. He still retains his abilities to turn into a wolf or a bat. Instead of the quasi-Eastern European accent usually associated with Dracula, Grandpa Munster speaks with a Brooklyn accent. - Gilligan's IslandGilligan's IslandGilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
had an episode titled, "Up At Bat," in which Gilligan is obsessed with the idea that, after being bitten by a bat, he's actually turning into a vampire. The dream sequence in the episode portrays Bob Denver as Dracula. - In 2006, a successful UK children's comedyComedyComedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
, Young DraculaYoung DraculaYoung Dracula is a British children's fantasy television series airing on CBBC, loosely based on Young Dracula AND Young Monsters, a children's book by Michael Lawrence. Directed by Joss Agnew, the first series was broadcast in 2006, and the second series, which started in late 2007, concluded in...
, started on CBBCCBBCCBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...
, featuring the Count and his two young children, Vladimir and Ingrid, trying to live discreetly in rural WalesWalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. - At the end of the holiday TV special The Halloween That Almost Wasn'tThe Halloween That Almost Wasn'tThe Halloween That Almost Wasn't is a 1979 telefilm which aired regularly on the Disney Channel until the late 1990s. It revolves around Dracula trying to save Halloween from the Witch who threatens it. It won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement - Children's Program" and was...
, Count Dracula (Judd HirschJudd HirschJudd Hirsch is an American actor most known for playing Alex Rieger on the television comedy series Taxi, John Lacey on the NBC series Dear John, and Alan Eppes on the CBS series Numb3rs.-Early life and education:...
) gets into a disco suit similar to Tony Manero from Saturday Night FeverSaturday Night FeverSaturday Night Fever is a 1977 drama film directed by John Badham and starring: John Travolta as Tony Manero, an immature young man whose weekends are spent visiting a local Brooklyn discothèque; Karen Lynn Gorney as his dance partner and eventual friend; and Donna Pescow as Tony's former dance...
after the witch (Mariette HartleyMariette HartleyMary Loretta "Mariette" Hartley is an American character actress.-Personal life:Hartley was born in Weston, Connecticut, the daughter of Mary Ickes “Polly” , a manager and saleswoman, and Paul Hembree Hartley, an account executive. Her maternal grandfather was psychologist John B...
) transformed into a realistic person resembling Stephanie Mangano from the 1977 disco film of the same name. - In several episodes of the TV show ScrubsScrubs (TV series)Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
, the main character J.D. makes references to a movie he is writing called Dr. Acula, the story of a "vampire doctor." - In the show The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Dracula (voiced by Phil LaMarrPhil LaMarrPhillip "Phil" LaMarr is an American actor, comedian and voice actor. One of the original cast members on the sketch comedy series MADtv, he is also known for his small, but memorable role as Marvin in Pulp Fiction...
) is portrayed as an African-American man who tends to speak in third person. He lives in a retirement home and really gets angry when he is referred to being "old." This version more closely resembles BlaculaBlaculaBlacula is a 1972 American horror film produced for American International Pictures. It was directed by William Crain and stars William Marshall in the title role about an 18th century African prince named Mamuwalde, who is both turned into a vampire and locked inside a coffin by Count Dracula... - Dracula appeared in the self-titled 1990 syndicated series Dracula: The SeriesDracula: The SeriesDracula: The Series was a short-lived syndicated series about Count Dracula and his struggles with Gustav Van Helsing, as well as Gustav's young nephews — Maximilian and Christopher Townsend. They were also aided by a schoolgirl, Sophie Metternich...
. The series lasted only 21 episodes and featured the adventures of Gustav Van Helsing and family versus vampire/business tycoon Alexander Lucard. - Count Dracula made two appearances in the live-action superhero show SuperboySuperboy (TV series)Superboy is a half-hour live-action television series based on the fictional DC Comics comic book character Kal-El's early years as Superboy. The show ran from 1988–1992 in syndication...
. - A mysterious vampire called Dracula appears in the BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian telenovelaTelenovelaA telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...
Os Mutantes: Caminhos do CoraçãoOs Mutantes: Caminhos do CoraçãoOs Mutantes: Caminhos do Coração is a Brazilian telenovela originally aired on Rede Record.-Plot:...
. In fact, he is a mutant vampire created by mixing his DNA with vampire batVampire batVampire bats are bats whose food source is blood, a dietary trait called hematophagy. There are three bat species that feed solely on blood: the Common Vampire Bat , the Hairy-legged Vampire Bat , and the White-winged Vampire Bat .All three species are native to the Americas, ranging from Mexico to...
DNA. Unlike in the novel, this Dracula is neither invincible nor undead, but he does possess superhuman strength and the ability to fly, and he also transforms some female characters into his vampire brides. His lieutenant is a ghoulish vampire called Bram, in homage to the original author. His archnemesis is psychokinetic (and psychotic as well) vampire hunter Christiano Pena, who is bent on destroying Dracula, even if he has to kill innocents to do so. - In the episode of The Brady BunchThe Brady BunchThe Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
"Two Petes in a Pod," Peter dresses up like Dracula for a costume party. - In the Sid and Marty KrofftSid and Marty KrofftSid Krofft and Marty Krofft , are a sibling team of television producers who were influential in children's television and variety show programs in the USA, particularly throughout the 1970s and early 1980s....
series LidsvilleLidsvilleLidsville was Sid and Marty Krofft's third television show following H.R. Pufnstuf and The Bugaloos . As did its predecessors, the series combined two types of characters: conventional actors in makeup filmed alongside performers in full mascot costumes, whose voices were dubbed in post-production...
, one of the Evil HooDoo's Bad Hat Gang was Bela the Vampire Hat, a bat-eared top hat with a fanged cowl. - An episode of the British TV series DemonsDemons (TV series)Demons is a pilot episode of a proposed drama series, initially competing to run as part of the CBS primetime schedule during Fall 2007. Demons was created by Barbara Hall, who also created Joan of Arcadia. The pilot starred Ron Eldard and Harold Perrineau. The pilot was not picked up by the network....
called "Suckers" tells the future story of Mina and Quincy. - In a skit of Attack of the Show, Dracula reviews the 2008 film, TwilightTwilight (2008 film)Twilight is a 2008 American romantic vampire film based on Stephenie Meyer's popular novel of the same name. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke, the film stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. It is the first film in The Twilight Saga film series...
, criticizing how Edward CullenEdward CullenEdward Cullen is one of the main characters of the Twilight book series and film.Edward Cullen is also the name of:*Ed Cullen , features writer for the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate...
isn't a true Vampire. - Episode 50 of The Murdoch Mysteries concerns vampire-like attacks at the time of the first publication of Stoker's book.
Cartoons
Dracula has even been adapted for children's literature and entertainment, serving as the basis for several vampire cartoon characters over the years, although in the interest of creating child-friendly characters, the vampiric nature of the character is often understated or not referenced at all.- Dracula (or at least his portrayal by Bela Lugosi) is the basis for the Muppet character named Count von CountCount von CountCount von Count, often known simply as "The Count", is one of the Muppet characters on Sesame Street, performed by Jerry Nelson. The Count is a vampire modeled after Bela Lugosi's interpretation of Count Dracula.-Description:...
on Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
. - He was a recurring skit character (portrayed by Morgan FreemanMorgan FreemanMorgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
) on The Electric CompanyThe Electric CompanyThe Electric Company is an educational American children's television series that was produced by the Children's Television Workshop for PBS in the United States. PBS broadcast 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons from October 25, 1971 to April 15, 1977...
. He is more similar in appearance to BlaculaBlaculaBlacula is a 1972 American horror film produced for American International Pictures. It was directed by William Crain and stars William Marshall in the title role about an 18th century African prince named Mamuwalde, who is both turned into a vampire and locked inside a coffin by Count Dracula...
. - Cartoon vampires based upon Dracula also include:
- Cosgrove Hall's Count DuckulaCount DuckulaCount Duckula is a British animated television series created by British studio Cosgrove Hall, and a spin-off from DangerMouse, a show in which the Count Duckula character was a recurring villain. The series first aired on September 6, 1988 and was produced by Thames Television for 3 seasons and...
. - FilmationFilmationFilmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live action programming for television during the latter half of the 20th century. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1963...
's Quacula. Not to be confused with the above character. - Count Chocula, the animated mascot of the breakfast cerealBreakfast cerealA breakfast cereal is a food made from processed grains that is often, but not always, eaten with the first meal of the day. It is often eaten cold, usually mixed with milk , water, or yogurt, and sometimes fruit but sometimes eaten dry. Some cereals, such as oatmeal, may be served hot as porridge...
of the same name. - Dingbat, the Vampire Dog (Frank WelkerFrank WelkerFranklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
) from the "Dingbat and the Creeps" segment of Heathcliff and Dingbat was also a parody of Dracula. - In the Hanna-BarberaHanna-BarberaHanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
cartoon series Gravedale HighGravedale HighGravedale High is an animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera for NBC Productions...
, a cool teenage vampire named Vinnie Stoker is suggested to be Dracula's son. - In the Monster Tails animated segment on the live-action show Wake, Rattle, and RollWake, Rattle, and RollWake, Rattle, and Roll is a live-action/animated television show produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and Four Point Entertainment that premiered in the fall of 1990. The show's title was inspired by the song "Shake, Rattle and Roll"...
, also from Hanna-Barbera, Dracula's cat Catula (voiced by Charlie Adler) is loosely based on his master. - In the segment called "Mini-Monsters" on the Rankin-Bass cartoon series The Comic StripThe Comic StripThe Comic Strip is a group of British comedians, known for their television series The Comic Strip Presents.... The core members are Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson and Jennifer Saunders, with frequent appearances by Keith Allen, Robbie Coltrane and...
, Draky is Dracula's son. - A similar character named Count Drakeula appeared in an episode of Disney's DuckTalesDuckTalesDuckTales is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. Based on Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge comic book series, it premiered on September 18, 1987 and ended on November 28, 1990 with a total of four seasons and 100 episodes...
. - "Drac" was one of the main characters of the FilmationFilmationFilmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live action programming for television during the latter half of the 20th century. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1963...
animated series The Groovie Goolies.
- Cosgrove Hall's Count Duckula
- Dracula was parodied on Codename: Kids Next DoorCodename: Kids Next DoorCodename: Kids Next Door, also known as Kids Next Door or by its acronym KND, is an American animated television series created by Tom Warburton and produced by Curious Pictures in Santa Monica, California.. The series debuted on Cartoon Network on December 6, 2002 and aired its final episode on...
as the villain named Count Spankulot (voiced by Daran NorrisDaran NorrisDaran Morrison Nordland , usually credited as Daran Norris, is an American film and television actor and voice artist. Since 1977 he has participated in more than 400 films, video games, and television projects. He is best known as Gordy from Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, the voice of...
). Instead of sucking blood, he spanks naughty children. He can turn people into vampires by spanking them with one of his gloves off and can only be turned back to normal if he himself is spanked. His home is never seen in the series. He can fly without changing into a bat. - In a few episodes of The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, Count Dracula is seen attending meetings of the SpringfieldSpringfield (The Simpsons)Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...
Republican PartyRepublican Party (United States)The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, usually drinking blood (or some red liquid) from a goblet, and seated alongside such characters as Montgomery BurnsMontgomery BurnsCharles Montgomery "Monty" Burns, usually referred to as Mr. Burns, is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons, who is voiced by Harry Shearer and previously Christopher Collins. Burns is the evil owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and is Homer...
, Krusty the Clown, and Julius HibbertJulius HibbertDr. Julius M. Hibbert, usually referred to as Dr. Hibbert, is a recurring character on the animated series The Simpsons. His speaking voice is provided by Harry Shearer and his singing voice was by Thurl Ravenscroft, and he first appeared in the episode "Bart the Daredevil". Dr...
. In Treehouse of Horror XXITreehouse of Horror XXI"Treehouse of Horror XXI" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons twenty-second season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 7, 2010...
in the vampire section of town different vampires from popular culture are present, including Dracula from the 1992 film. - In the 1980s there was a cartoon about Dracula's family called Little DraculaLittle DraculaLittle Dracula is a British series of children's books and an American animated television series that originally aired on FOX. Little Dracula revolves around a green-skinned, child vampire who aspires to be like his father, Big Dracula, yet also enjoys rock 'n roll and surfing...
. The title character's voice was done by Edan GrossEdan GrossEdan Gross is a former child actor. He appeared in many guest spots on many popular television programs in the 1980s and 1990s including Cheers, Murphy Brown, The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, Newhart, Highway to Heaven, Married… with Children, Northern Exposure, and Herman's Head...
. - Dracula appeared in the stop-motion animation movie Mad Monster Party.
- Hanna-BarberaHanna-BarberaHanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
's 2 animated TV movies Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul SchoolScooby-Doo and the Ghoul SchoolScooby-Doo and the Ghoul School is a 1988 TV-movie produced for syndication by Hanna-Barbera as part of the Superstars 10 film package.-Plot:...
(1988) and Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant WerewolfScooby-Doo and the Reluctant WerewolfScooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf is a 1988 animated movie for television produced by Hanna-Barbera. It was the last to air as part of the Superstars 10 series...
(1989) feature two rather different versions of Dracula. - Dracula appeared as the titular and main antgonist in a direct to video movie The Batman vs. DraculaThe Batman vs. DraculaThe Batman vs. Dracula is a 2005 direct-to-video animated movie based on The Batman television series. It has a much darker tone than the show, and features Vicki Vale...
(2005). He had been killed in the past, but was accidentally revived by the PenguinPenguin (comics)Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot III is a DC Comics supervillain and one of Batman's oldest, most persistent enemies. The Penguin was introduced by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, making his debut in Detective Comics #58 .The Penguin is a short, rotund man known for his love of birds and his...
. In this media adaption, Dracula is depicted as one of the stronger supervillains that BatmanBatmanBatman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
had to fight, being able to fly, and possess great super speed and strength. - The Super Mario Bros. Super Show featured an episode titled "Count Koopula," which, as the title suggests, featured Bowser as a vampire who sucked on tomato sauce. Dracula himself appeared in a live-action segment of the series. Also, the CastleVania version of Dracula was a semi-regular antagonist on Captain N: The Game MasterCaptain N: The Game MasterCaptain N: The Game Master was an American animated television series that aired on television from 1989 to 1991 as part of the Saturday morning cartoon lineup on NBC. The show incorporated elements from many of the most popular Nintendo games of the time...
, albeit always referred to as The Count. - Dracula (Dan CastellanetaDan CastellanetaDaniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble,...
) prominently appeared on AnimaniacsAnimaniacsSteven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
in a Yakko, Wakko and Dot segment titled "Draculee, Draculaa." He was even in the intro of the series. - In the 1980 Hanna Barbera cartoon, Drak PackDrak PackDrak Pack was an animated television series. It aired in the United States on CBS Saturday Morning between September 6, 1980 and September 12, 1982. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera's Australian subsidiary, listed in the credits as "Hanna-Barbera Pty. Ltd"...
, Count Dracula is a good guy (reformed from evil) who is the "official" leader of the team. Drak, Jr. is his great, great + nephew. - Dracula appears in the Robot ChickenRobot ChickenRobot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...
episode "Tubba-Bubba's Now Hubba-Hubba" voiced by Mocean Melvin. In a three-part segment that parodies 2424 (TV series)24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
, Dracula was shown sleeping in his casket. In the third part, Dracula emerges to help combat a terrorist threat on a plane after interrogating the suspects. After taking out the terrorists and dropping the bomb on Van Helsing's house, Dracula calls his boss to inform them that the bomb is no more, yet the passengers are dead. When the flight attendant tells Dracula that she and the passengers aren't dead, Dracula turns his attention toward them. - The character "Count Blah" from the fictional "Sweetknuckle Junction" from Greg the BunnyGreg the BunnyGreg the Bunny is an American television sitcom that originally aired on Fox TV in 2002. It starred Seth Green and a hand puppet named Greg the Bunny, originally invented by the team of Sean S. Baker, Spencer Chinoy and Dan Milano. Milano and Chinoy wrote and co-produced the Fox show. In the show,...
was a spoof of Dracula but more accurately as spoof of Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
s Count Von Count, who, Blah said, was actually from Brooklyn. - Count Dracula appears as a villain on Super FriendsSuper FriendsSuper Friends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes, which ran from 1973 to 1986 on ABC as part of its Saturday morning cartoon lineup...
in an episode entitled "Attack of the Vampire", originally released on October 14, 1978. In the episode, Dracula arises and tries to turn the whole Earth's population into vampires. The Super Friends battle Dracula, who transforms SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
and the Wonder TwinsWonder TwinsThe Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna, are fictional extraterrestrial comic book superheroes published by DC Comics. Their first comic book appearance was in Super Friends #7 , by E. Nelson Bridwell and Ramona Fradon...
into vampires. Instead of biting them, Dracula uses intense beams from his eyes to transform his victims into vampires. - Dracula appeared as the narrator in an episode of Attack of the Killer TomatoesAttack of the Killer TomatoesAttack of the Killer Tomatoes is a 1978 comedy film directed by John De Bello and starring David Miller. The film is a spoof of B movies. Made on a budget of less than US$100,000, the story involves tomatoes becoming sentient by unknown means and revolting against humanity. Writing credits were...
.
Others
The General MillsGeneral Mills
General Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green...
cereal mascot Count Chocula is a vampire who craves Count Chocula cereal rather than blood. His title of count is an allusion to that of Count Dracula's.
The association of the book with the Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
fishing village of Whitby
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...
has led to the staging of the twice-yearly Whitby Gothic Weekend
Whitby Gothic Weekend
Whitby Gothic Weekend, often abbreviated to WGW or simply referred to by attendees as Whitby, is a twice-yearly festival for goths, in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England, organised by Jo Hampshire who runs Top Mum Promotions.-Event history:...
, an event that sees the town visited by Goth
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
s from all over Britain and occasionally from other parts of the world. In addition, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on selected inland waterways....
runs a fundraising bungee jump
Bungee jumping
Bungee jumping is an activity that involves jumping from a tall structure while connected to a large elastic cord. The tall structure is usually a fixed object, such as a building, bridge or crane; but it is also possible to jump from a movable object, such as a hot-air-balloon or helicopter, that...
event in the town every April named the Dracula Drop.
Mad Magazine
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
has published countless spoofs of Dracula. In one, appearing in the Mad Summer Special 1983, on the inside front cover, a cartoon sequence drawn by Sergio Aragonés
Sergio Aragonés
Sergio Aragonés Domenech is a cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to Mad Magazine and creator of the comic book Groo the Wanderer....
shows Dracula attacking a hippie who has taken LSD; Drac staggers away, seeing colorful hallucination
Hallucination
A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
s including blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
, bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s and such.
Dracula appears at the end of Tom Lehrer
Tom Lehrer
Thomas Andrew "Tom" Lehrer is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, mathematician and polymath. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater...
's song "L-Y" from The Electric Company
The Electric Company
The Electric Company is an educational American children's television series that was produced by the Children's Television Workshop for PBS in the United States. PBS broadcast 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons from October 25, 1971 to April 15, 1977...
;
"You enter a very dark room, and standing there in the gloom...is DRACULA! Now how do you say goodbye?/Immediately, Immediately, Immediate L-Y! Bye-Bye!"
In the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Nicholas Stoller and starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis and Russell Brand...
, Composer Peter Bretter (Jason Segel
Jason Segel
Jason Jordan Segel is an American television and film actor, screenwriter, composer, puppeteer and musician, known for his work with producer Judd Apatow on the short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, the films Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, I Love You, Man,...
) in a subplot, finishes his Dracula rock opera titled "A Taste For Love."
Russian authors Andrey Shary
Andrey Shary
Andrey Shary is a Russian journalist and author.He studied journalism at the State Institute of International Relations in Moscow, graduating in 1987. Shary worked for the Soviet daily Pravda from 1987–1990, and then moved to the weekly Rossiya . In 1992 he began cooperation with Radio Svoboda,...
and Vladimir Vedrashko in 2009 published a book "Sign D: Dracula in Books and on the Screen" devoted in particular to Dracula image' implications in Soviet and Russian popular and mass culture.
The American heavy metal band Iced Earth
Iced Earth
Iced Earth is an American heavy metal band from Tampa, Florida. Originally formed under the name "Purgatory" in 1984, Iced Earth has released a total of ten studio albums, one live album, three EP's, two compilations and boxsets...
wrote a song entitled "Dracula" on their 2001 album Horror Show
Horror Show
-Limited Edition:The Initial Pressing was presented in a standard 2-CD jewel case with no reference to the tracks on the bonus disc except for a sticker on the front.-Disc one:-Disc two:- Personnel :...
.
Tourism
There are several locations associated with Dracula and Bram Stoker related tourism in Ireland, Britain, and Romania.External links
- Dracula at the Buffyverse WikiWikiaWikia is a free web hosting service for wikis . It is normally free of charge for readers and editors, deriving most of its income from advertising, and publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses. Wikia hosts several hundred thousand wikis using the open-source wiki software MediaWiki...
- Bram Stoker Online Full text, PDF and audio versions of Dracula.