Inspired by Bram Stoker's novel of the same name, Tod 'Freaks' Browning helmed this 1931 film which starred Bela Lugosi as the titular Dracula. A lawyer called Renfield makes his way to visit Dracula in his castle in Transylvania, ignoring warnings from the locals that the castle is haunted. Of course, Dracula and his three wives are all vampires and they feast upon Renfield who turns vampire himself and feasts upon the crew of the boat Vesta. Finally arriving in Britain, no one but Renfield is left of the crew. He is sent to a sanitorium run by a Dr Seward. A friend of Dr Seward's daughter Mina - called Lucy gets feasted on after a night to the theatre and has so much blood drained from her by Dracula that she dies. Meanwhile good old Professor Van Helsing does an analysis of Renfield's blood and comes closer to the conclusion that he is dealing with vampirism. Mina is assaulted a couple of times by Dracula. She hears of a woman clad in white luring children to their death and figures out this is a reanimated vampire Lucy. Van Helsing arrives to sort things out - Dracula no longer pretends to be a normal guy and he claims Mina as his. Van Helsing must use his wits to defeat Dracula and save Mina. Browning''s adaptation set the tone for all of the copy cat films that followed in its wake, defining the figure of Count Dracula - a debonair, suave but deadly gentleman. Vampires are sexy and the violence in a lot of Dracula films has been heavily eroticised. Bela Lugosi, in his iconic role set the tone for the vampire film genre. His character is both disgracefully depraved and could charm your socks off. The film still stands up to scrutiny 85 years later and Dracula is still a constant source of inspiration for today's film makers.
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!
