10 Great Horror Movies Made In Really Weird Ways
8. English & Spanish Versions Were Shot Simultaneously - Dracula (1931)
While you're almost certainly aware of 1931's Bela Lugosi-starring English-language Dracula movie, did you know that it was shot concurrently with a Spanish version?
In an attempt to break into the international market, Universal commissioned a Spanish-language adaptation, starring Carlos Villar as "Conde Drácula."
More to the point, while the English version was shot on the Universal Studios Lot during the day, the Spanish equivalent used the same sets to shoot the same scenes at night.
Director George Melford studied the footage shot for the English film and used it as the visual basis for his Spanish one, even though Melford's adaptation was ultimately quite different.
Beyond many dialogue changes and rearranged scenes, the Spanish Dracula is almost 30 minutes longer.
Due to its commercial underperformance, however, Universal decided to instead dub films for other languages, and though the Spanish film was considered lost for decades, a full print was eventually discovered and released on VHS in 1992.
Some critics have praised the Spanish film for its more explicit tone and expanded length, while appreciating that Lugosi's performance as Dracula is superior to Villar's.
All the same, that's one hell of a weird way to make a horror movie - or two horror movies, in fact.