10 Lost Horror Movies You Can't Watch
4. Dracula's Death
Before Dracula, and even before Nosferatu, there was the Austro-Hungarian film Dracula’s Death that can proudly claim the title of first vampire film, and first Dracula film in 1921. It was the last film made by forgotten film actor Karoly Lajthay, however, it was one of the early works of Casablanca and Alraune director Michael Curtiz, under the name Mihaly Kertesz.
Apparently, although it is the name ‘Dracula’ in the title, Dracula’s Death has almost nothing to do with Bram Stoker’s original novel. Dracula’s Death tells the story of a woman in an insane asylum who has delusions that one of the inmates is Count Dracula, and that he appears to her in her dreams as she sleeps.
What’s very interesting to note is that out of the few stills that have
survived from this movie, Paul Askonas’ Count Dracula closely resembles that of
the iconic look of Bela Lugosi’ Count Dracula: thin, pale, slicked black hair
with a cloak around his shoulders. However, its
rumored that Dracula’s Death may not be the first Dracula movie either, as a
Dracula movie was reported to have been made in Russia in 1920 that was also
lost as well.