Dracula (1979) Director: John Badham Dracula: Frank Langella Now this is how to get Dracula wrong. John Badham’s feminist (well, feminist-for-1979) deconstruction of the stage play and Stoker’s novel creates a gothic fantasy in which “Lucy Seward” (Kate Nelligan, actually playing Mina) yearns for the liberating touch of Frank Langella’s catlike, genteel Dracula. And if you […]
The Return of Dracula (1958) Director: Paul Landres Dracula: Francis Lederer The other 1958 Dracula movie begins with a team of Romanian (or Hungarian) vampire hunters closing in on Dracula’s tomb — only to discover he has escaped! Taking the identity papers (and life) of artist Bellac (or Belak, if his name is supposed to […]
In my recent piece on the necessity of kicking out incorrigibly disruptive players, I briefly mentioned geek culture’s fear of ostracizing behavior. JS3’s comment on the post has me wanting to consider that in a little more depth. The idea that geeks don’t separate themselves from fellow members of the sub-culture due to their own […]
Dracula’s Daughter (1936) Director: Lambert Hillyer Daughter: Gloria Holden This weird, weird movie begins in the cellars of Carfax Abbey as a direct sequel to the 1931 Browning/Lugosi Dracula. Well, actually, it began as a bit of dirty pool by MGM mogul David O. Selznick, who bought the rights to the short story “Dracula’s Guest” […]
Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) Directors: Roy Ward Baker, Chang Cheh (uncredited) Draculas: John Forbes-Robertson, Sheng Chan (possessed) In 1973, both Hammer Films and the Hong Kong action studio Shaw Brothers were desperate. Enter the Dragon, released that year by rival studio Golden Harvest, had made kung-fu fighting a global filmic fad. Meanwhile, […]
Blade: Trinity (2004) Director: David S. Goyer Dracula: Dominic Purcell Well, they can’t all be gems. Aside from the midriffs of the “Night Stalkers” (there aren’t enough air quotes in the world) Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel, and the bumping score by Ramin Djawadi and The RZA, there’s not a lot to say for this […]
Count Dracula (1977) Director: Philip Saville Dracula: Louis Jourdan Generally (and correctly) hailed as the most textually accurate of the major Dracula adaptations, this BBC TV production has the advantage of time (three TV episodes, 160 minutes) to stretch out in. Every character has a recognizable motive and occasionally even an arc, and the human […]
Dracula (1938) Director: Orson Welles Dracula: Orson Welles This premiere performance of Welles’ Mercury Theatre on the Air came about thanks to a re-release of the Browning/Lugosi Dracula in 1938. Seeing a seven-year-old film smash box office records, Welles rushed into writer John Houseman’s hotel room with only three days to go before their debut and […]
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