10 Horror Movie Villains Who Were Recruited For Evil
3. Dracula - Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
When you return home to find that your wife has committed suicide after your enemies falsely reported your death, you’re not going to be in the best state of mind.
In Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), this is part of the reason why Vlad the Impaler (Gary Oldman) surrendered himself to evil and became Dracula, the most infamous vampire known to man. The other is that his family's priest (Sir Anthony Hopkins) explained to him that his wife, Elisabeta’s (Winona Ryder) soul is damned because she killed herself.
Falling into despair before embracing the dark side, Vlad turned his back on God and desecrated the chapel in his family’s castle, drinking blood directly from the chapel's cross, thus transforming himself into the legendary bloodsucker.
Swearing to walk the Earth eternally in his bid to avenge Elisabeta, Dracula has been the undead for more than four centuries by the time that he engages the services of solicitor, Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves).
Evil though he may be, Dracula's thirst for revenge is a means to an end. Throughout the film, it is implied that he was aware that his beloved would be reincarnated. Therefore, when he lights upon Harker's fiancée, Mina Murray (Winona Ryder), who closely resembles Elisabeta, he sees his chance to restore his broken heart, even if he must transform Mina into the undead to do it.
An unusual, yet classic love story or a tale of evil selfishly claiming what it has always wanted? You choose.