Between the 1920s and the 1980s it was hard to find a vampire in popular culture that wasn’t inspired in some way be Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The United States and the United Kingdom dominated the vampire movie market and immediately took their cues from that story. Some adapted their own story but all seemed to write their story based on the antagonist that Stoker created. Here are my pics for the top Dracula adaptations.
Nosferatu
The story of Nosferatu contains the main characters of Stoker’s novel while eliminating supporting characters and changing other elements of the story. Stoker’s estate sued for copyright infringement. Even though Stoker’s estate won the lawsuit they couldn’t succeed in having all the copies of the film since copies had already been distributed worldwide. The story is very, very similar so if you’re familiar with the Dracula story than you’ll most likely enjoy Nosferatu.
Dracula (1932)
To most horror fans this is the first vampire film they think of when Dracula is mentioned and the image of Bela Lugosi appears to them. This is also the film that rought Lugosi into the spotlight and elevated him to horror icon status. The role of Dracula was meant to be played by Lon Chaney Sr. who was under contract at Universal at the time but he succumbed to throat cancer before the project started filming.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Francis Ford Coppola directed this adaptation of the classic Bram Stoker novel. Coppola set out to direct the most accurate interpretation of the novel bu unfortunately fell short. The film is visually stunning and Gary Oldman puts on a phenomenal performance as the notorious Count. However, the poor performances of Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder as Jonathan and Mina Harker hampered the film considerably. Who thought it was a good idea to not speak with a foreign accent on this film?
Christopher Lee portrays the Count and Jesus Franco directs this adaptation. There were substantial liberties taken with the plot on this one but the point was to capture the spirit of the original Dracula story. Lee does a superb job with his portrayal of Count Dracula and comes very close to topping Bela Lugosi. Lee also very closely resembles the Dracula the way he was described in the original novel and if you watch closely it seems that he grows younger as the movie progresses. The DVD also has an audio book of the novel with Lee doing the reading.
Count Dracula (BBC Television, 1977)
In my opinion this is the best and most faithful adaptation of the original story. It lacks the campiness and liberties taken with other pop culture interpretations of Dracula. You won’t find a better or more faithful version anywhere.
This isn’t the last you will hear from the Dracula franchise. There was the atrocious Dracula 2000 and Dracula 3000 along with Van Helsing in the 2000’s. Vampires are popular again so we may see a new version of the Dracula tale sooner or later. Imdb.com says another is in development but you can only find out details if you have a premium membership. Frankly, I’m not that interested in finding out just yet. Plus, Hammer Studios has started up again so who knows what they will be up to. For now, check out some of the classics!
