Tag Archives: Dracula

Halloween

‘Salem’s Lot

Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot is a modern-day vampire story set not in a gothic castle, a faraway land or a big city but a small town in Maine known formally as Jerusalem’s Lot or simply Salem’s Lot. King set his story purposefully in a small town to illustrate how corruption big and small leads people to ignore when things go bad. Salem’s Lot was King’s homage to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and the vampire Barlow bears some resemblance to him as he is obviously from central Europe, and his physical features are similar. Barlow like Dracula highly intelligent and has thought through everything he is going to do. And he manages to stay ahead of those trying to thwart him using his familiar Straker. The town has layers of corruption that has allowed its inhabitants to turn a blind eye and avert noticing something is out of place. It is exactly the right place, a dying town, that Barlow and Straker come to and wipe out nearly the 1,319 souls that inhabit it.

[Spoiler Alert! If you have not read this story, do not read!]

The old Marsten House, shuttered after a terrible murder-suicide decades ago, is not unlike a castle perched to look out at the town below. It is considered cursed and haunted. A young boy named Ben Mears enters the house on a dare and sees the ghost of Hubie Marsten hanging from a rafter. He returns years later as a published writer wanting to face his fears about the house. The house is still there but it has new owners through a very curious real estate transaction with the town’s realtor Larry Crockett. Crockett is offered a piece of property worth four million dollars for the house and a store. Crockett is sure there is a catch, but all the paperwork checks out. So, he buys the properties, gets the land, and hands them the keys to the house and store. And nowhere does the names Barlow nor Straker appear on the official sale. Since the sale is no doubt questionable, he keeps quiet about it. And he blackmails a worker who saw kid’s clothes in the Marsten House basement that likely came from the missing kid.

King sets up a small town that looks like any other town except for its many warts. Everyone is going about their day and then suddenly the horror starts to ratchet up. First a young boy named Ralphie Glick is abducted and never found again. He is an offering by the familiar, Richard Straker, in a midnight satanic ritual in a cemetery. This is important because there already is an evil entity there and needs to be appeased. His death and sacrifice are tied up with the Marsten House, where Barlow will reside, and where Hubie Marsten once corresponded with Barlow (then called Breichen). Danny Glick collapses at home and is taken to the hospital, where he dies of pernicious anemia. He is Barlow’s first victim and rises after the funeral to bite Mike Ryerson who works at the cemetery. He too dies later and rises as well. Then Ryerson’s body and a baby at the morgue disappear as does Carl Foreman. Others begin to act sluggish during the day or simply disappear.

It happens very fast and the town seems not to notice though some do. A small group eventually forms: Ben Mears, Matt Burke, Father Callaghan, Susan Norton (Ben’s girlfriend), Dr. Jimmy Cody, and a young boy Mark Petrie. Both Mark and Susan end up captured when they go to the Marsten House but are captured by Straker. Mark would escape but alas Susan is bitten by Barlow and becomes a vampire. However, Mark manages to severely injure Straker that Barlow kills him because of all the blood. Father Callaghan, whose faith is wobbly and drinking too much, is overwhelmed by Straker and drinks his blood. He leaves town since he is unclean and cannot enter a church. Burke, who suffered a heart attack when Ryerson came to his house, provides analysis and research. As the days go on the streets are getting emptier, few people are around, and fewer stores open. Eventually, and after some very painful experiences such as having to kill Susan Norton, Barlow is killed in his coffin as the sun is setting. Unfortunately Cody got killed in a booby trap. The other vampires nearby can do nothing since they have been bathed in holy water and escape eventually to Mexico. They return a year later to burn the Marsten House down and the ensuing fire would consume the town as well.

In the end Barlow has achieved his goal as nearly the entire population was made into vampires. The town itself is just a shell now with decaying buildings, overgrown lawns, and strangely no rats or birds to be found. The people around there know something bad happened but are afraid to say what that might have been. King gives us a horror that lingers and has very troubling images. You have neighbors, now vampires, attacking their former friends. Children are not spared and nor are babies. A bus driver who terrorized the children on his bus finds them coming back as vampires to take revenge on him. Barlow uses his intelligence to thwart the small group but like Dracula, is beaten in the end. King delivers a terrifying story of a vampire destroying a small town and does it well. While some adaptations have been okay, the book fleshes out the characters better for great story worth reading anytime of the year. But not late at night with only a candle for light.

There have been several adaptations of the work. Two were miniseries and one was a feature film on a streaming service.

Salem’s Lot (1979) CBS

This is a 3-hour miniseries that was shown on CBS. There are two versions of it. One is the full three-hour version and a much shorter 2 -hour theatrical production. Directed by Tobe Hooper, the story is mostly the same though some characters are dropped or merged with others. The acting is top rate with David Soul as Ben Mears, Bonnie Bedelia as Susan Norton, and well-known veteran actor James Mason as Straker. Straker has a more prominent role than in the book here. The special effects, particularly with the vampires floating outside windows, are still scary to this day. The biggest change was the vampire. Instead of the human form that the book has, Hooper decided to go against form for effect and made him a Nosferatu in appearance. Unlike the book, he cannot speak so Straker does all the talking for him.  A good horror movie and adaptation as well.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Salem’s Lot (1994) TNT

This adaptation was also 3-hours long and made several differences from the 1979 version. Barlow this time is modeled from the book and jump scares are reduced to settings and atmosphere. Ben Mears is played by Rob Lowe who has a troubled history with the Marsten House believing he had something to do with a death of a child there. Susan Norton’s mother does not care much for Ben (like the book). It is hinted Larry Crockett has had incestual relations with his daughter Ruthie (who Dud Rogers lusts for and as a vampire bites her). Donald Sutherland’s portrayal of Straker is different. He is more crazed and less refined than James Mason. On the other hand, one can easily see his nastiness as well in his interactions. Father Callaghan was changed so that unlike in the book, he ends up leading the vampires after the town burns down (although it appears they are all dead killed over the years by Ben and Mark). Perhaps the most disturbing scene and deviation from the book is that Father Callaghan, now Barlow’s thrall, kills Matt Burke in his hospital bed. Rutger Hauer plays Barlow with great effect. While it is closer to the original book in some respects, it lacks the horror punch the first one did. Still worth watching.

Rating: 3 stars

Salem’s Lot (2024) Max

After some years of languishing, this movie version significantly cuts out much of the rich material in the King book and the other two miniseries.  It was originally going to be put into theatres in 2023, but Warner scrapped that and sent to Max instead. Of all the three, it is perhaps the weakest of all because of the streamlined story and other issues. Most critical reviews out there note all those deficiencies. While some liked it, overall, it missed the King story by a wide country mile. It does prove one thing: some Steven King novels are better suited for miniseries or a 2-part movie like IT.

Rating: Not yet viewed

Not a Remake or Adaptation

 Return to Salem’s Lot (1987)

Billed as a sequel, it has nothing to do with the original movie. Instead it is about a colony of vampires that migrated to the US and reside in Salem’s Lot. The story has no relation at all to the King book. The vampires are trying to mainstream themselves and use drones for both breeding and outside contact. Michael Moriarity’s character is shocked to learn, since he was there as a boy, that it was really vampires that ran the town. Other than for some visuals and not so clever criticisms of American way of life, not worth watching. It is one of the few movies some critics gave zero ratings for, so that gives you an idea of how poorly it was received.

Rating: 0

Suggested Book & Video

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Halloween

Countdown to Halloween: Dracula

Ist Edition Cover
Public Domain

Bram Stoker’s Dracula was not the first vampire story but certainly the most memorable. It starts out as Jonathan Harker records his trip to visit Count Dracula about property he has purchased in London. We are given fascinating details of the journey but foreboding as well. Although welcomed warmly by Dracula, he begins to suspect things are not right. And that leads him to discover Dracula is not at all what he seems but a monster that will spread evil into the heart of Europe.

Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will! He made no motion of stepping to meet me, but stood like a statue, as though his gesture of welcome had fixed him to stone. The instant, however, that I had stepped over the threshold, he moved impulsively forward, and holding out his hand grasped mine with a strength which made me wince, an effect which was not lessened by the fact that it seemed as cold as ice–more like the hand of the dead than a living man.

Readers then and now are surprised at how Stoker did not hold back in what Dracula does. Perhaps the most horrific–and rarely seen in film or miniseries adaptations–is when the three vampire women at his castle are given a baby by Dracula as a meal. It shows what truly a monster he is and those that serve him as well. Stoker builds on that horror as Dracula arrives in England to begin spreading his evil. The strange illness of Lucy Westenra brings us the character of Van Helsing who suspects a vampire is at work. And Jonathan’s return helps the group that forms that they are dealing with an evil creature that must be destroyed.

Count Dracula (Louis Jourdan) confronted by Van Helsing
Screen capture from Count Dracula (BBC) on YouTube

But they also fail to see he is already working against them by feeding on Mina, Jonathan’s wife. They get the upper hand though by tracking down all his hiding places to sanctify making them unusable to him. He taunts them at one point and then flees across the ocean back home. The chase to get there before he does is perhaps the most thrilling part of the book. In a dramatic ending, they catch him as the sun is starting to set and he is about to have full command of his powers. The end is quick with a dagger in the throat and the heart. And then he is no more. Unlike some depictions, he goes to dust with just a momentary sight that his soul was at peace now. The evil is vanquished never to rise again.

Bela Lugosi as Dracula
Photo:Public Domain

Dracula spawned other books and movies both inspired or based in some way on the book. The famous 1931 movie with Bela Lugosi cemented a certain image of Dracula that stood out for a long time. Yet except perhaps for the Coppola movie, few show what Harker saw:

Within stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of colour about him anywhere.

Most depictions have no moustache and Dracula neither appears old or young (somewhere in between). They also rarely show the trip to the castle (quite long as Dracula was looking for blue flames to find hidden treasure and his command of wolves). Dracula in the book can get about by day. The myth that sprung up was that vampires had to walk at night. Not so in the book at all. Dracula could get around in daylight, but it constricted his abilities. At night he could use his full range of abilities, but daylight limited him to whatever form he had at that time (he also had to be careful about running water).

Dracula was not conflicted nor concerned about what he became, like vampires in some modern novels are sometimes depicted as. Dracula was a creature of evil that served evil. He had no qualms about killing anyone who got in his way but despite all that, as Van Helsing observed, he was not without weakness. He could live centuries, but he could be killed by staking through the heart or kept at bay with a crucifix. And when confronted with a determined group out to destroy him, he fled back home to live to fight another day.

Dracula stands out as masterful horror fiction because it reveals a story slowly, deliberately, and then like a hammer hitting anvil hits you with full fury. Reading it today is still gripping despite all the movies inspired from it. Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot follows a similar pattern of building the story up slowly until it reveals what the horror is. And it appears Stoker did his research well for he based it on a real historical figure (Vlad the Impaler) who for a time brought fear to Turks who tried to dominate central Europe. He was so ruthless that he made sure that lands were burned, wells were poisoned, and many of their soldiers were found impaled on stakes as they approached his lands.

It is debatable how much Stoker really knew about Vlad the Impaler but learned enough from the information he had to craft his vampire story. And a great one it is that stands the test of time while other vampire stories remain forgotten on library shelves.

Dracula Movies Worth Watching

Nosferatu ( 1922 )
This is one of the earliest adaptations of the book for the screen. Since it was unlicensed, the story was changed (Dracula became Count Orlok) A really fine horror movie on its own. It was remade in 1979 starring Klaus Kinski.

Dracula (1931)
Dracula purists do not like this movie much except for one thing: Bela Lugosi. His performance set a standard for both state and movie adaptations that would follow later. The story is a complete rewrite of the story but has its moments making it worth watching.

The Horror of Dracula (1958)
This Hammer version, while loose with the original story, is well acted. The script is well written as well. Christopher Lee became the new standard for Count Dracula as well with Peter Cushing playing Van Helsing. They both would reprise their roles in various sequels.

Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)
The third in the Hammer Dracula series offers a newer tale and sees Dracula resurrected (he died in the first movie). A good movie, though not as great as the first one. Nearly all the sequels after this one got poor ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.

Count Dracula (1977, BBC)
This adaptation by BBC comes closer to the original story than other productions. Dracula is played by Louis Jourdan who makes a fine outing as the titular vampire. Some weird visuals mar the production, and it looks quite dated by today’s standards. However it is the only one that has the depiction of a baby that becomes food for Dracula’s wives.

Love at First Bite (1979)
This may be hard to find these days, but a great comedy starring George Hamilton as Count Dracula. He is forced to flee his native land when the Communists decide to seize his home. In America he meets a descendent of Van Helsing and falls in love with the character played by Susan St. James. It is funnier than Mel Brooks 1995 movie Dracula: Dead and Loving it starring Leslie Neilsen.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
This is Francis Ford Coppola’s entry into the Dracula franchise. Like everything he does, it is done with style, flare, and good drama. While he does take liberties with the story, it is a well-done production and most certainly worth watching.

Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula (2000)
This story relates the story of the historical Dracula (known as Vlad Tepes in Romania). And it does show the very difficult times he lived in with Ottomans dominating that area of Europe. It also accurately shows how while he was a hero, to the Eastern Orthodox Church he was less than that due to his viciousness and the fact he converted to Catholicism at one point (a major no-no back then). However, the idea throughout the movie is that he is something unnatural, perhaps already marked by Satan. He arises as a vampire to confirm that pointing out to the very person that he had made it so. When they excommunicated him from the church, he could not enter heaven or hell and now was free to roam the world forever.

Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
This is a movie within a movie with a twist. It is about F.W. Murnau filming Nosferatu but the person he hired to play Count Orlok is a real vampire adding realism to the movie.


Halloween

DRACULA

Ist Edition Cover
Public Domain

Bram Stoker’s Dracula was not the first vampire story but certainly the most memorable. It starts out as Jonathan Harker records his trip to visit Count Dracula about property he has purchased in London. We are given fascinating details of the journey but foreboding as well. Although welcomed warmly by Dracula, he begins to suspect things are not right. And that leads him to discover Dracula is not at all what he seems but a monster that will spread evil into the heart of Europe.

Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will! He made no motion of stepping to meet me, but stood like a statue, as though his gesture of welcome had fixed him to stone. The instant, however, that I had stepped over the threshold, he moved impulsively forward, and holding out his hand grasped mine with a strength which made me wince, an effect which was not lessened by the fact that it seemed as cold as ice–more like the hand of the dead than a living man. 

Readers then and now are surprised at how Stoker did not hold back in what Dracula does. Perhaps the most horrific–and rarely seen in film or miniseries adaptations–is when the three vampire women at his castle are given a baby by Dracula as a meal. It shows what truly a monster he is and those that serve him as well. Stoker builds on that horror as Dracula arrives in England to begin spreading his evil. The strange illness of Lucy Westenra brings us the character of Van Helsing who suspects a vampire is at work. And Jonathan’s return helps the group that forms that they are dealing with an evil creature that must be destroyed.

Bela Lugosi as Dracula
Photo:Public Domain

But they also fail to see he is already working against them by feeding on Mina, Jonathan’s wife. They get the upper hand though by tracking down all his hiding places to sanctify making them unusable to him. He taunts them at one point and then flees across the ocean back home. The chase to get there before he does is perhaps the most thrilling part of the book. In a dramatic ending, they catch him as the sun is starting to set and he is about to have full command of his powers. The end is quick with a dagger in the throat and the heart. And then he is no more. Unlike some depictions, he goes to dust with just a momentary sight that his soul was at peace now.  The evil is vanquished never to rise again.

Dracula spawned other books and movies both inspired or based in some way on the book. The famous 1931 movie with Bela Lugosi cemented a certain image of Dracula that stood out for a long time. Yet except perhaps for the Coppola movie, few show what Harker saw:

Within stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of colour about him anywhere.

Most depictions have no moustache and Dracula neither appears old or young (somewhere in between). They also rarely show the trip to the castle (quite long as Dracula was looking for blue flames to find hidden treasure and his command of wolves). Dracula in the book can get about by day. The myth that sprung up was that vampires had to walk at night. Not so in the book at all. Dracula could get around in daylight but it constricted his abilities. At night be could use his full range of abilities but daylight limited him to whatever form he had at that time (he also had to be careful about running water).

Dracula was not conflicted nor concerned about what he became, like vampires in some modern novels are sometimes depicted as. Dracula was a creature of evil that served evil. He had no qualms about killing anyone who got in his way but despite all that, as Van Helsing observed, he was not without weakness.  He could live centuries but he could be killed by staking through the heart or kept at bay with a crucifix. And when confronted with a determined group out to destroy him, he fled back home to live to fight another day.

Dracula stands out as masterful horror fiction because it reveals a story slowly, deliberately, and then like a hammer hitting anvil hits you with full fury. Reading it today is still gripping despite all the movies inspired from it. Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot follows a similar pattern of building the story up slowly until it reveals what the horror is. And it appears Stoker did his research well for he based it on a real historical figure (Vlad the Impaler) who for a time brought fear to Turks who tried to dominate central Europe. He was so ruthless that he made sure that lands were burned, wells were poisoned, and many of their soldiers were found impaled on stakes as they approached his lands.

It is debatable how much Stoker really knew about Vlad the Impaler but learned enough from the information he had to craft his vampire story.  And a great one it is that stands the test of time while other vampire stories remain forgotten on library shelves.

This is Dracula’s death scene from Horror of Dracula (1958).

,,

Miscellaneous

Dracula

Ist Edition Cover
Public Domain

Bram Stoker’s Dracula was not the first vampire story but certainly the most memorable. It starts out as Jonathan Harker records his trip to visit Count Dracula about property he has purchased in London. We are given fascinating details of the journey but foreboding as well. Although welcomed warmly by Dracula, he begins to suspect things are not right. And that leads him to discover Dracula is not at all what he seems but a monster that will spread evil into the heart of Europe.

Readers then and now are surprised at how Stoker did not hold back in what Dracula does. Perhaps the most horrific–and rarely seen in film or miniseries adaptations–is when the three vampire women at his castle are given a baby by Dracula as a meal. It shows what truly a monster he is and those that serve him as well. Stoker builds on that horror as Dracula arrives in England to begin spreading his evil. The strange illness of Lucy Westenra brings us the character of Van Helsing who suspects a vampire is at work. And Jonathan’s return helps the group that forms that they are dealing with an evil creature that must be destroyed.

But they also fail to see he is already working against them by feeding on Mina, Jonathan’s wife. They get the upper hand though by tracking down all his hiding places to sanctify making them unusable to him. He taunts them at one point and then flees across the ocean back home. The chase to get there before he does is perhaps the most thrilling part of the book. In a dramatic ending, they catch him as the sun is starting to set and he is about to have full command of his powers. The end is quick with a dagger in the throat and the heart. And then he is no more. Unlike some depictions, he goes to dust with just a momentary sight that his soul was at peace now.  The evil is vanquished never to rise again.

Dracula spawned other books and movies both inspired or based in some way on the book. The famous 1931 movie with Bela Lugosi cemented a certain image of Dracula that stood out for a long time. Yet except perhaps for the Coppola movie, few show what Harker saw:

Within stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of colour about him anywhere.

Most depictions have no moustache and Dracula neither appears old or young (somewhere in between). They also rarely show the trip to the castle (quite long as Dracula was looking for blue flames to find hidden treasure and his command of wolves). Dracula in the book can get about by day. The mythos that sprung up was that vampires had to walk at night. Not so in the book at all. Dracula could get around in daylight but it constricted his abilities. At night be could use his full range of abilities but daylight limited him to whatever form he had at that time (he also had to be careful about running water).

Dracula was not conflicted nor concerned about what he became, like vampires in some modern novels are sometimes depicted as. Dracula was a creature of evil that served evil. He had no qualms about killing anyone who got in his way but despite all that, as Van Helsing observed, he was not without weakness.  He could live centuries but he could be killed by staking through the heart or kept at bay with a crucifix. And when confronted with a determined group out to destroy him, he fled back home to live to fight another day.

Dracula stands out as masterful horror fiction because it reveals a story slowly, deliberately, and then like a hammer hitting anvil hits you with full fury. Reading it today is still gripping despite all the movies inspired from it. Stephen King’s Salems Lot follows a similar pattern of building the story up slowly until it reveals what the horror is. And it appears Stoker did his research well for he based it on a real historical figure (Vlad the Impaler) who for a time brought fear to Turks who tried to dominate central Europe. He was so ruthless that he made sure that lands were burned, wells were poisoned, and many of their soldiers were found impaled on stakes as they approached his lands.

It is debatable how much Stoker really knew about Vlad the Impaler but learned enough from the information he had to craft his vampire story.  And a great one it is that stands the test of time while other vampire stories remain forgotten on library shelves.

Holidays

Countdown to Halloween: Horror of Dracula (1958)

Bela Lugosi was for many years the standard by which Dracula portrayals were judged by until 1958 when Christopher Lee(1922-2015)assumed the role in Hammer Films Horror of Dracula. The movie differed,like the 1932 version,from the book and would spawn a series of sequels (some of which towards the end had dubious quality). Lee’s depiction had both a seductive quality and one of horror. In this movie showing blood was not taboo as it was back in 1932 (note that by today’s standards the gore factor here is light). The movie had not only Christopher Lee but such recognized actors as Peter Cushing (as Van Helsing) and Michael Gough (Arthur Holmwood). It was well received at the box office and still gets high marks from Dracula movie buffs usually near the top of most Dracula film ranks. Consider adding it to your Halloween fright movie lineup.

Lee had a long career in cinema after Dracula but has become better known to millions of fans for his portrayals in Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hallow,as the traitor Saruman in Lord of the Rings, and of course Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus in Star Wars (Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith).

Miscellaneous

Countdown To Halloween#5

Bela Lugosi as Dracula Photo:Public Domain
Bela Lugosi as Dracula
Photo:Public Domain

Bela Lugosi had played Dracula on stage prior to his casting in Tod Browning’s 1931 movie Dracula. Standing at 6 foot 1, he had a commanding presence and the fact he was Romanian (where Transylvania is located)added to his mystique. He was able to show Dracula as alluring on one hand, dangerous on the other. And many consider his performance still to be one of the best though the movie itself gets panned by many horror movie enthusiasts. For Lugosi it was both a blessing and a curse. He would forever be associated with the role that brought him such fame but kept him stuck in horror movies. He found it very difficult to get roles outside of the genre. He was cast by Universal in a few movies as a good character: The Black Cat (1934),The Invisible Ray(1936), and the movie serial The Return of Chandu(1934). However it did little to overcome the shadow of Dracula. His addiction to methadone also affected him getting jobs and by the 1950’s was almost broke. Ed Wood planned to cast him in several features but only appears in Plan 9 From Outer Space(1959) arguably one of the worst movies of all time. And his scenes were done for another Wood movie and Lugosi had died by the time this movie was released in 1959. Lugosi passed away in 1956 from a heart attack and was buried in a Dracula cape (his fifth wife and son made that decision).

And now here is Bela Lugosi greeting his guest in the opening scenes of Dracula. Francis Ford Coppola borrowed from this opening in his movie treatment of the same character.


Uncategorized

Halloween 2011-My Vampire Movie List

That time of year has come again, of pumpkins being carved into lanterns and all manner of scary decorations and costumes being put on display. Watching scary movies is part of Halloween and there are many to choose from. Night of the Living Dead usually appears somewhere on the dial. George Romero’s low budget flick delivers the goods. Seeing reanimated corpses feeding on the living has spawned countless imitators, most of them forgettable except the original Dawn of the Dead which still delivers. Dracula has spawned many movies too though few actually tell the original story. Most often the story is shortened, characters changed or deleted, and even the ending altered. That does not mean the movies are bad just telling the story in a different way.

Here is my list of favorite vampire movies (in no particular order):

1. F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922)
This classic silent was the first Dracula movie but due to legal issues, the script was rewritten with a different story and a different vampire (Count Orlock). Only Mina and Jonathan Harker remain. However Stoker’s widow sued and Prana Films went bankrupt as a result of the judgment. The negatives were ordered destroyed but bootleg copies were shown. It is now considered a film classic.

2. Dracula (1931) is famous for Bela Lugosi. Tod Browning changed the story  (using the Renfield character for Jonathan Harker for one) but Lugosi fit the bill standing six feet tall with an aquiline nose and high cheekbones, and speaking with a thick accent since he was born near Transyvania. The movie cemented the depiction of cinematic Dracula with the cape and other features. For Lugosi, it typecasted him and his was never able to get past it (not unlike George Reeves of the Adventures of Superman).

3. The Horror of Dracula (1958)
Jimmy Sangster’s script for Hammer Films brought Dracula into technicolor and an erotic element where women want Dracula to kiss them. Christopher Lee became the new Dracula (and for several Hammer movies) depicting him as a tall, thin, and ruthless vampire. Once again the story is altered from the book but the story and acting quality is superb as is the ending. Peter Cushing plays Van Helsing becoming Dracula’s nemesis in a few other Hammer films. Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) was a good sequel but nearly all the Hammer Dracula movies after that were not so good and mostly forgettable.

4. Love at First Bite (1979)
A comedic turn that became a success because it was funny. George Hamilton plays Dracula who is driven out of his castle by the Communists and heads to New York. There after some misadventures with his coffin, he meets Cindy Sondheim (Susan St. James). The Van Helsing character is portrayed by Richard Benjamin in the role of Dr. Rosenberg, a psychiatrist. He fumbles countering Dracula and Cindy ends up the count in the end. The movie has great lines like “Children of the night, shut up!”

5. Dracula (1979)
Frank Langella continues the notion from Horror of Dracula that the count seduces women and they accept it. Langella’s performance was pretty good in this regard though the movie was far from scary like other Dracula movies. Lavish in using actual locations in Cornwall, it has a mixed reviews among Dracula movie buffs. Many like the romantic Dracula while others find the movie boring and its ending unsatisfactory (Dracula is killed by sunlight after being hoisted above deck on the ship while trying to flee).

6. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Francis Ford Coppola’s treatment connects Dracula with the historic Vlad Tepes who fought against the Turks. His wife dies falsely believing him dead in battle (due to a forged note) and commits suicide. Since she cannot be buried since it was suicide, Dracula renounces his faith and blasphemes God desecrating the chapel. His desecration results in blood coming out of a crucifix which he drinks turning him into a vampire. Mina Westenra is a reincarnation of his dead wife which explains his interest in her. Coppola depicts Dracula in a number of ways from the old man greeting Jonathan to the young one that meets and seduces Mina. We also see the very dark side where he appears as a wolf (to attack Lucy) and a demonic figure as well. Coppola uses special effects well to show Dracula’s many ways of getting about. One criticism is how Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) is depicted. Hopkins depicts him as slightly mad, eccentric, and the suggestion he lusted after Lucy. The death is different as well for Dracula.

7. The Lost Boys (1987)
This a good movie in which a relocated family finds themselves in Santa Carla where the boys are drawn to an amusement park where vampires also hang out. Michael, the oldest boy, ends up falling in love with a girl who is part of a vampire gang (though not yet one herself) while the other boy gets drawn into the anti-vampire crowd. The ending is great with a surprise twist as to who the head vampire really is.

8. Near Dark (1987)
Outlaw vampires traveling around the country and Adrian Pasdar meets one of them. They are a vicious gang and Adrian is not quite ready for it. The ending is good for him (and the girl who brought him in) and bad for the vampire gang.

9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series, not movie)
The first three seasons, which deal with high school, are pretty good. A combination of horror, high school, and bits of comedy tossed in. The vampires and other monsters are generally scary and people die in the course of the show. Sunnydale is unlike any other place being a Hellmouth (where an entrance to that dimension exists) drawing all kinds of beasties. Buffy and her Scooby Gang are kept pretty busy. The college years (seasons 4-7) are not as good. It gets more dark, gothic, and in parts just plain boring. A few bright lights are Hush (perhaps the best horror episode ever and won an award) and Buffy vs. Dracula. When the show veered into an X-Files story arc (the government runs a secret program that seizes demons for study and an evil doctor is making her own monster from various demon parts) it went downhill but did get itself out of the mess but never recaptured what it achieved in the first three seasons.

10. Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
An excellent movie starring John Malkovich as Frederich Wilhelm Murnau, the director of Nosferatu. Instead of just playing the vampire Count Orlock, Max Schreck (played by William Dafoe) is the real deal. At first most think he is just creepy and scary always wanting to appear in character. But Murnau made a deal with him to give him the actress at the end. It is a very interesting movie with scary moments (especially at the end). Worth watching.

Some honorable mentions:

1. Count Dracula (1978, BBC)
A mostly faithful adaptation of the Stoker story. Louis Jourdan plays Dracula but is miscast here. He is too old and does not fit the part. Likewise the special effects are not that good either. However it does show things the others did not, like Dracula’s brides feeding off a baby. The script and acting is decent building it up the way Stoker did.

3. Salem’s Lot (1979)
This adaptation of Stephen King’s novel has some generally scary moments. The vampire is different from the book (a nosferatu type) and changes to King’s story also are problems. James Mason is excellent as Straker, the vampire’s assistant.

Salem’s Lot (2004)
When the remake was planned by TNT, I hoped it would follow the book more closely that first. While having the tone of the book and Barlow (Rutger Hauer) done right, it is less scary and more suspenseful than the first. Major changes to the story as well (where it begins and ends) cause problems. However the special effects are better than the original. Also Donald Sutherland as Straker was a mistake. Straker comes across as a loon rather than the ruthless and cunning assistant to Barlow.

In short neither are great and just okay. If you want the scare, go with the first. Avoid the movie Return to Salem’s Lot. A terrible movie.

Well that is it for this year. Have more vampire movies you want to add? Send us your comments.