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When you think of Vampires, you think of Dracula, the undead Count created by Bram Stoker. A combination of multiple vampire myths, he hails from Transylvania and wants to suck the blood of voluptuous women.
A Brief History of Vampires
Vampires definitely existed before Dracula- as with many mythological beings, their precursors can be seen even back to Mesopotamian cultures, and into regions as far flung as Africa and Asia. Many cultures used vampires to explain certain diseases (tuberculosis in particular) or other unknown things (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, for example). Their thoughts on vampires came from many things- vampire bats, premature burials (causing people to scream and knock on coffins and mausoleums), the blood disease porphyria, rabies, and most importantly, decomposition. Some stages of decomposition result in the face swelling with blood, sometimes even causing it to trickle from the mouth as though the corpse had just fed. As a result, many cultures portrayed vampires as ugly things, based on how the corpses looked of so called 'vampires'.
Dracula is a combination of many myths
Bram Stoker's work on Dracula included years of research into vampire mythology in different areas of the time. It can be very difficult to tell what existed before and after in this region, as Stoker's work has been highly influential and is, in most cases, the basis of modern vampires. Stoker researched a multitude of different myths, even taking cues from earlier vampire novels (yes, there were earlier novels, most notably Carmilla) and history, eventually merging them into one central character of Dracula.
Vlad Dracula
It was when Stoker was researching Transylvania that someone first mentioned to him the story of Vlad Tepes (also: Vlad Dracula or Vlad the Impaler). Obviously, this makes Count Dracula's name no coincidence, and his hailing from the same region (Romania) was also incorporated into the origin story of Dracula. Research shows that Stoker knew very little about Vlad, though, and based the character on his more fantastical traits- namely his cruelty, royalty and penchant for drinking blood. This made him a perfect allusion, as well, for the few who knew the name of this foul prince would gain a deeper association for how cruel (and, perhaps, ancient) the Count actually was.
Dracula According to the Novel
In Stoker's novel, Dracula is first described as a cruel, hawklike man who never eats, doesn't cast a shadow or reflection, and captures the narrator at the time (John Harker), slowly revealing his inhumanity to Harker as he watches the Count doing things such as scaling the walls of the castle (despite his old age) and exhibiting superhuman strength when holding Harker. Dracula's main purpose is to move to London, where he can feed upon as many people as possible (seemingly preferring women) and won't be noticed, despite his oddness of appearance, action, and accent.
His backstory is delved into somewhat. Apparently he descends from a race of proud warriors, and he himself is said to have fought against the Turks, and gained fame from his efforts. He is fiercely proud of this, and brags to Harker about it at certain points. It is also revealed that he studied black magic at the academy of Scholomance. He is regarded as one of the most clever and cunning men from the area. After his death, he mysteriously rose once more from the grave, roaming as a vampire, and accumulating three brides around him (though their relationship to him is unknown)
The novel does a fair job of detailing Dracula's powers, as well, and they include:
- Strength equal to that of 20 men (and growing, as he feeds more and grows younger in appearance).
- Immunity to conventional forms of attack.
- Ability to defy gravity, as he is seen scaling buildings in a reptilian manner.
- Telepathic and hypnotic power, especially over those he has already fed on before.
- Power to control certain animals (such as wolves and rats).
- Weather control, especially in gathering a mist about himself.
- Ability to shift in shape to that of bat, wolf, fine mist, etc.
- Can turn others into vampires at his will, though how is not quite explained.
In the novel, Dracula actually spends a fair amount of time out of the picture, being more of an unseen force. He slowly turns Lucy Westenra into a vampire, and then moves his attention onto Mina Murray. When the main characters discover that they can destroy his coffins and thus, destroy his resting places, he attempts to return to Transylvania once more. The characters catch up to him, though, and kill him before he can reach his castle.
It should be noted that Dracula is very different from most vampire myths in terms of appearance. Though vampires were known before then as cruel, ugly, and perhaps a bit stupid, Dracula exudes charm and is quite aristocratic, though still cruel and described as "child minded" by the well-researched Van Helsing; the lack of blood in his diet has resulted in his mind falling to the wayside, and as such, it is easy to outsmart him.
Van Helsing, who's done quite a bit of research on Dracula and vampires, also outlines several of his weaknesses:
- Sunlight does not kill the vampire, but merely weakens it. Many of his powers, explained above, do not work in the day, and he is forced to remain in whatever for he had been in at the time.
- Religious artifacts, such as crucifixes, holy water and sacramental bread, harm him and can be used to stop him from going certain places. Also, garlic.
- He cannot cross running water at low or high tide. Nor can he enter into a place that he hasn't been invited into.
- Transylvanian soil is needed for him to rest on. When it is consecrated, however, he can no longer use it.
- If a wild rose is placed on a coffin he is in, he will be trapped there until it is removed.
- The only ways to kill him include a stake (or sharp object) to the heart, though it is alluded that a sacred bullet could kill him as well.
The vampire on display in Stoker's novel was a far cry from the popular sympathetic vampires of today. He was a truly evil individual, quite pleased with his "condition," as well as the pain & terror he inflicted upon others.
Dracula in Film
Dracula is technically one of the first characters to really be made famous in film. Technically, of course, because it wasn't ACTUALLY Dracula, but one Count Orlock, as portrayed by Max Schreck in Nosferatu, a silent German expressionist horror film. The film was supposed to actually be an adaptation of the famous book, but F.W. Murnau was unable to get the rights and so he renamed some of the characters and places and changed some events to give the world Nosferatu. Unlike in the novel, though, Nosferatu can only exist at night, and would die if exposed to sun- which ends up being his undoing.
More famously, however, is one Bela Lugosi's performance in Universal's production of Dracula (THEY got the rights). As frightening as Schreck's performance may have been, technology had changed and Hollywood was able to add in more of the effects, and add in things such as predatorial, glowing eyes to the character. Lugosi's portrayal of the character is highly influential: he's more like the book counterpart, a charismatic, upper class individual who can charm at once and then turn around and suck the blood of someone you love.
So much can be said of the influence of Lugosi's character that it not only seemed to influence how vampires were shown in film from then on out, but it also changed the public's views on the entirety of the vampire mythos and sent influence into nearly every branch of media. Characters such as Lestat are merely extrapolations of the idea- highly sexual, attractive, and financially well-off characters (you'll never hear of an impoverished vampire) who seduce and kill for their sustenance.
As such, the mythos of the vampire even grew from what was presented through Dracula. Though things such as shapeshifting and immunity to sunlight have since fallen by the wayside, the vampire myth as portrayed through this character is what stays. This includes the idea of vampirism as, essentially, a virus; superhuman strength; weakness to religious artifacts (in some versions); aversion to garlic; and coffins. Transylvania, too, has grown to basically mean "vampire," though it's grown since then to just symbolize a place of the occult, be it ghosts, werewolves or yes, vampires.
More than 200 films have been made which star this gent, or feature him in some way. This impressive number is second only to Sherlock Holmes. As such, there have been many notable and famous people running through the role, including Frank Langella, Gary Oldman, Rutger Hauer, Christopher Lee and Leslie Nielsen.
Famous Incarnations
With 200 appearances, some of them have to be more interesting than others. Though a good few have played the basic Dracula as outlined in the original film, some people added new and interesting takes on the legend.
The first incarnation of Dracula that wasn't in a horror movie came in the form of Bela Lugosi in Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein. This was sort of a hodge-podge meeting of all the famous Universal horror characters from the time, such as The Invisible Man, The Wolfman and yes, Dracula. Though Lugosi played him as creepy as ever, the story was much more slapstick and goofball. Dracula's death is much stranger, as well, as he falls with the wolfman into the ocean and that's the last they see of him.
Hammer Films was the next to try Dracula in their own ways, with the film Horror of Dracula, starring Christopher Lee. Their take on the story is more gothic, and is considered one of the best British films of all time. This is another one of the cases of Dracula being killed from sunlight, which is an idea that continues to grow in film since then. The tremendous success of the film led to Hammer producing many sequels where Dracula is resurrected and killed repeatedly.
The Blood of Dracula is essentially "I was a Teenage Dracula" and follows... well, the plot things like that always follow. A girl gets turned into Dracula, though, not just any regular vampire, and has to deal with it in the film.
Another strange version of the legendary character appeared in the movie Billy the Kid vs. Dracula. Perhaps falling into the category of "what on earth were they thinking," it was billed as "The west's deadliest gunfighter and the world's most diabolical killer!" It was quite a low-budget affair, in which Dracula apparently comes to the US and decides he wants to have Billy the Kid's fiancee as another of his brides. Billy actually kills Dracula with a scalpel at the end of it. Interestingly, this isn't the last time vampires will venture to the wild west. The Uwe Boll classic Bloodrayne II takes them there as well.
Dracula's Great Love is notable for being the first adaptation to portray Dracula as a sympathetic character, being both lonely and truly romantic.
And of course, it's impossible to forget Blacula, the seminal Blaxploitation classic. In it, an African prince goes to ask Dracula to help stop the slave trade. Dracula, who's a racist in this version, turns him into a vampire, saddles the name Blacula onto him, and then throws him into a sealed coffin to spend eternity there. After this, though, Dracula disappears, and we're left to watch Blacula suck blood until his own untimely end.
In 1973, Richard Matheson scripted a Dracula television film directed by Dark Shadows creator Dan Curtis. Like Dracula's Great Love before it, the portrayal is much more sympathetic. Dracula is a tragic figure portrayed by legendary actor Jack Palance, who seeks out Lucy, the reincarnation of his lost love. This concept would be used again later in 1992's so called "Bram Stoker's Dracula."
Andy Warhol, amateur filmmaker that he was, decided to present his own version of the Dracula story, wherein Dracula must drink the blood of virgins only, but can't find any. So he moves to Catholic Italy, where he hopes to find more virgins. There, under the assurance of their being virgins, he drinks the blood of two women who (hilarity!) aren't virgins and thus poison him.
One of the more modern interpretations of Dracula that sticks in the memory is from the film Bram Stoker's Dracula, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Gary Oldman turns in a performance here, as both a distractingly ancient looking version of Dracula, and a well-maned younger Count who, rather than sneaking in at night to drink blood, also manages to start romancing Mina during the day. This is because the film sets him up with a romantic backstory, as well as more information on his warrior past. According to the film, though, Dracula had a young bride who killed herself while he was at war, and she looked EXACTLY LIKE MINA (sound familiar?), so rather than turning her immediately, he works to romance her to go back to Transylvania with him as his bride.
And of course, who could forget Blade Trinity, where he was played by Dominic Purcell, ditching all ideas of a suave, charismatic Dracula for the sake of a meathead who just gets by on his strength and growls a lot. Or Dracula 3000, where he GOES TO SPACE and kills all the people on the ship? No one, that's who.
Legacy
To most people, Dracula is THE vampire. And it's no wonder- he came about in a novel dealing with themes that struck a cord with the people at the time, and was probably the first vampire most people saw. Everything about his first appearance has gone down in the public psyche, including side characters such as Mina. Dracula's influence is all over the place- you can't even eat your Count Chocula without seeing a character that's supposed to evoke him right on the cover. TV and film are no exception.Unfortunately, all of this led us, in the end, to Edward Cullen.
For more of his portrayals, some more memorable than the rest, see the list below:
General Information
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