Dracula: 10 References And Easter Eggs You May Have Missed

10. Dracula's Classic Castle

The new series's first episode, The Rules Of The Beast, begins in pretty standard Dracula fashion: with English lawyer Jonathan Harker travelling into the wilds of Transylvania and the remote, gothic Castle Dracula where his unsettling host assures him that he doesn't drink... blood (one of the classic lines from the book, recycled here in a way that suggests that Dracula might not like wine but is certainly partial to ham).

Eagle-eyed viewers who are also fans of classic German expressionist silent cinema may have found that towering fortress a little familiar, though.

The medieval clifftop castle which served as the location for the exteriors of Castle Dracula was Orava Castle in the north of Slovakia. It's a site that has been used as a filming location once before, way back in 1922, when it was used to play Count Orlok's castle in the film Nosferatu.

The first screen version of Dracula (albeit an unlicensed version, hence the Count's different name), Nosferatu remains arguably the best and most influential adaptation, adding several elements popular in later versions like the vampire being killed by sunlight. So it's nice to see the latest adaptation paying tribute back to that very first one.