Dracula Movie Versions
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Dracula has been one of the most popular characters in horror films for over fifty years. In the original novel, Dracula, Bram Stoker creates a number of interesting characters, including the infamous vampire Dracula. However, since the novel's creation in 1897, a number of films have been made that claim to be based on the novel, and countless others contain the now familiar vampire. There has not been, among all these films, a single one that adheres faithfully to the plot and the characters created by Bram Stoker. The main reasons for the changes in the story are the tastes, expectations, and morals of the audiences for whom the films are intended. Some of the most striking differences are the roles of women in the story, the sexuality of Dracula himself, and the changes in the relationships between Dracula and the main characters. All these aspects of the story have been altered in each of the film versions to make them as popular as possible, and most of these films have been very successful. The most notable movie versions of Bram Stoker's novel have been Nosferatu, a silent movie from 1922; Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi in 1931; The Horror of Dracula, made in 1958 and featuring Christopher Lee; and another film entitled Dracula, starring Frank Langella, made in 1979. All of these movies contain different levels of sex and violence as dictated by the standards of the times in which they were made, but none follows the story line o
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ictim, opens her window and stretches out on her bed to await Dracula's arrival. Sexual references no longer needed to be concealed in subtle symbolism by this time. In fact, the posters proclaimed Dracula to be "the terrifying lover who died yet lived!" (Glut 158). However, Christopher Lee's character is colder and less romantic than Lugosi's. Bela Lugosi's Dracula was a strange and mysterious man, much subtler than the calculating evil character created by Lee. In 1958, with horror and science fiction films being mass produced, audiences were not frightened by the subtleties that terrified audiences in 1931.
The most recent version with Frank Langella portrays the count as an irresistible romantic figure who is filled with passion when he attacks. The movie could contain much more obvious sexuality than the others could because, previously, there had been no rating system and films had to be acceptable viewing for all audiences. This movie, rated "R", recreated some of the most sexual scenes from the book. What could easily be called the most perverse scene in the novel was recreated very vividly in this film, and it is described here by Mina in Bram Stoker's original text: [Dracula] pulled open his shirt, and with his long s
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Approximate Word count = 3171
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)
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