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The shadows are lengthening over Derby as the city prepares to host the inaugural UK Dracula Film Festival from 20th to 22nd September. Coinciding with the centenary of the world’s first stage adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which premiered in Derby in 1924, the festival promises a thrilling celebration of the legendary vampire’s cinematic journey.

Hosted at Quad, Derby’s renowned centre for art and film, the festival will showcase an eclectic mix of classic horrors, cult favourites, and rarely seen gems that trace the evolution of Count Dracula over the past hundred years. From Bela Lugosi’s iconic portrayal in the 1931 Dracula—a performance influenced by the Derby stage version—to the blaxploitation twist of Blacula and its sequel Scream Blacula Scream, the lineup offers something for every taste.

For fans of the unusual, the festival dives into the weird and wonderful with screenings like Billy the Kid vs Dracula,...

Tod Browning's sideshow classic Freaks has had a long and checkered history in horror cinema. Following the success of Dracula (from a story by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston) for Universal Horror, Metro Goldwyn Mayor had high expectations for their next feature and was keen to capitalize on the success of the talking monster movies currently being put out by other studios. Browning had cut his teeth on silent movies with several collaborations with Lon Chaney for MGM and thought he would be the perfect choice for their next horror feature. After all, Dracula made Bela Lugosi a household name and is regarded as one of the first in the Universal Horror Movie canon. Between Dracula and Frankenstein, the famous monsters were single-handedly responsible for kickstarting The Golden Age of Hollywood Horror.

With the new trailer for Chris McKay's action comedy "Renfield" dropping last week, the legend of Dracula is back and possibly bigger than ever. Nicolas Cage, thankfully, is finally getting around to playing the classic vampire and his performance should go down as one of the most memorable portrayals to date. Cage recently told Variety that he took inspiration from "Malignant" and the J-horror staple "Ringu" to come up with some unique movements for his version of Dracula, and went back to study Bela Lugosi's ageless performance as well. In most people's eyes, Lugosi's appearance in Tod Browning's 1931 film remains the most iconic and most romanticized depiction of all time.

Browning's "Dracula" was the first talking picture to feature Bram Stoker's ghoul, allowing audiences to see a much more elegant representation of the character that Lugosi turned out to be tailor-made for. Lugosi was a stately...

Following the release of Frankenstein, Boris Karloff, at nearly 45 years of age and having spent twenty years as a professional actor, became an overnight sensation. As the film was still raking in its rewards, Universal signed him to a star contract and immediately began searching for a property for him. As it turned out it took nearly a year, between his outstanding commitments to other studios and Universal’s inability to find a suitable script, for Karloff to appear in his first starring role for the studio. The film was a decidedly different, but no less remarkable, from Frankenstein. Instead of being quickly paced and sensationalistic, The Mummy was deliberately plotted with a slowly unfolding story, but its restrained direction and masterful performances made it a unique entry in Universal’s growing library of horror cinema of the early 1930s.

Writer and journalist Nina Wilcox Putnam was tasked by Universal...

For a film seen as a classic, Universal’s 1931 Dracula has a less than glowing critical reputation. Even among horror aficionados, the movie held up as the first true horror film in American cinema often gets a cold reception. A certain set of complaints has crystallized around it, typified in this review for Reel Views: all the mystery, terror, and value in Dracula is found in its opening third and the performance of Bela Lugosi. Once the action moves from Transylvania to London, the film becomes a stiff drawing room mystery. Much of Bram Stoker’s sweeping Gothic novel was jettisoned in favor of the creaky Hamilton Deane/James Balderston stage play, and even this bloodless script was marred by wooden acting. Director Tod Browning was clearly asleep at the wheel, and this must be an inferior effort to the likes of James Whale’s Frankenstein. And in any case,...

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Celebrate Nine Decades Of Your Favorite Monsters On 4K For The Very First Time In Collectible Packaging

Available On 4K, Blu-ray™ And Digital On October 5, 2021

From Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

Synopsis: From the era of silent movies through present day, Universal Pictures has been regarded as the home of the monsters. Universal Classic Monsters Icons of Horror Collection showcases four of the most iconic monsters in motion picture history including Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and The Wolf Man. Starring Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. and Claude Rains in the roles that they made famous, these original films set the standard for a new horror genre with revolutionary makeup, mood-altering cinematography and groundbreaking special effects.

Classic Monster Films Included:

Dracula (90th Anniversary) Frankenstein (90th Anniversary) The Invisible Man The Wolf Man (80th Anniversary)

Hours Of Bonus Content, Including:

The Road to...

“The spider spinning his web for the unwary fly… The blood is the life, Mr. Renfield.”

Celebrate Nine Decades Of Your Favorite Monsters On 4K For The Very First Time In Collectible Packaging. Available On 4K, Blu-ray And Digital On October 5th

From the era of silent movies through present day, Universal Pictures has been regarded as the home of the monsters. Universal Classic Monsters Icons of Horror Collection showcases four of the most iconic monsters in motion picture history including Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and The Wolf Man. Starring Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. and Claude Rains in the roles that they made famous, these original films set the standard for a new horror genre with revolutionary makeup, mood-altering cinematography and groundbreaking special effects.

Classic Monster Films Included:

Dracula (90th Anniversary)Frankenstein (90th Anniversary)The Invisible ManThe Wolf Man (80th Anniversary)

Hours Of Bonus Content, Including:...

“Rats. Rats. Rats! Thousands! Millions of them! All red blood! All these will I give you if you will obey me!”

Horror Film Historian David J. Skal will introduce a screening of Dracula (1931) at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood) January 24th as part of the ‘Grave Tales’ Horror film series. Skal is an American cultural historian, critic, writer, and on-camera commentator known for his research and analysis of horror films and horror literature. After Dracula, Skal will screen his documentary The Road To Dracula. The program starts at 7:00. A Facebook invite for the event can be found Here. Look for more coverage of the ‘Grave Tales’ Horror film series here at We Are Movie Geeks in the coming weeks.

First up is the original Dracula starring Bela Lugosi. Ladies fainted in their seats when Bela Lugosi rose from his coffin as a vampire in the 1927 Broadway stage...

When I started the Crypt of Curiosities, I did it with the explicit intention to introduce people to the weird, wild corners of genre cinema. Shaw Brothers’ Black Magic, Hammer mummies, hyper-violent anime, sadistic Spaghetti Westerns—it’s an exercise in peering into the odd expanses that deserve more attention. It’s about championing the under-championed.

So, admittedly, writing about one of the most recognizable, celebrated horror films ever made might seem a bit off. But there’s a catch. Because, like many films of its time, there were actually two versions of Dracula in 1931: Tod Browning’s iconic English-language one, and the much less beloved Spanish-language Drácula. While the former has gone on to become a classic, the latter has languished in relative obscurity, beloved by a small cult but otherwise alien to most viewers. So, I figured this would be a good opportunity to look at the two side by side,...

“Rats. Rats. Rats! Thousands! Millions of them! All red blood! All these will I give you if you will obey me!”

Dracula (1931) screens Thursday August 6th at 7:00pm at Schlafly Bottleworks

Ladies fainted in their seats when Bela Lugosi rose from his coffin as a vampire in the 1927 Broadway stage production of “Dracula” that preceded Tod Browning’s timeless 1931 film version that had an equally chilling effect on movie audiences. Playwright Hamilton Deane based his lean script on Bram Stoker’s famous 1897 novel, and introduced horror to talkies. Dwight Frye’s gonzo performance as Renfield, the hapless Brit accountant who first sets foot inside Dracula’s foreboding castle, set the film’s tone of ghoulish insanity. For the well-established lead, Bela Lugosi is positively blood-curdling as he stalks every scene. With his thick native Hungarian accent and dapper tuxedo and cape, Lugosi forever defined the title character. The way he looks,...

The 1979 version of Dracula with Frank Langella didn't get the names right, but it nailed the cobwebs.

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We love Dracula. Every year at Halloween we go down on The Count in rapturously horrific odes. The most romantic horror icon is based on a historical one, the real Dracula, Vlad Tepes, Vlad the Impaler, the son of the dragon who fought the Islamic Turks as they tried to conquer Transylvania and Wallachia. The military genius and source of nationalistic pride for modern-day Romania died in 1476, 200 years before the Declaration of Independence.

But the polar opposite of the warrior count is Frank Langella in the 1979 version of Dracula. Langella was a sex symbol. The first rock star Count Dracula, he was fabulously glam. Like Bela Lugosi, Langella made women swoon during his late '70s run in the Broadway play Dracula. As an easy shortcut, I will reference the...

The 1979 version of Dracula with Frank Langella didn't get the names right, but it nailed the cobwebs.

We love Dracula. Every year at Halloween we go down on The Count in rapturously horrific odes. The most romantic horror icon is based on a historical one, the real Dracula, Vlad Tepes, Vlad the Impaler, the son of the dragon who fought the Islamic Turks as they tried to conquer Transylvania and Wallachia. The military genius and source of nationalistic pride for modern-day Romania died in 1476, 200 years before the Declaration of Independence.

But the polar opposite of the warrior count is Frank Langella in the 1979 version of Dracula. Langella was a sex symbol. The first rock star Count Dracula, he was fabulously glam. Like Bela Lugosi, Langella made women swoon during his late '70s run in the Broadway play Dracula. As an easy shortcut, I will reference the versions of the...

Horror cinema has a long tradition of creating iconic characters and none more so than those borne in the early days of the genre: characters such as Frankenstein’s monster, the Mummy, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and, of course, Dracula – the king of horror. A character who, despite his many cinematic deaths, always returns to the silver screen for one more bite of flesh… As he does this week in Dracula Untold, which features Luke Evans as the evil Vlad Tepes.

With that in mind we thought we’d rundown the ten best unforgettable Dracula performances in cinema. Check them out below and let us know in the comments if you agree or disagree!

Christopher Lee – Dracula (1958)

Dracula (1958) is the first in the series of Hammer Horror films. Directed by Terence Fisher, Dracula (1958) stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Melissa Stribling, Carol Marsh and Michael Gough. Retitled Horror of Dracula...

Ladies fainted in their seats when Bela Lugosi rose from his coffin as a vampire in the 1927 Broadway stage production of “Dracula” that preceded Tod Browning’s timeless 1931 film version that had an equally chilling effect on movie audiences. Playwright Hamilton Deane based his lean script on Bram Stoker’s famous 1897 novel, and introduced horror to talkies. Dwight Frye’s gonzo performance as Renfield, the hapless Brit accountant who first sets foot inside Dracula’s foreboding castle, set the film’s tone of ghoulish insanity. For the well-established lead, Bela Lugosi is positively blood-curdling as he stalks every scene. With his thick native Hungarian accent and dapper tuxedo and cape, Lugosi forever defined the title character. The way he looks, behaves and sounds is truly vampiric. Think of Lugosi saying, “The blood is the life.” Or, “I never drink … wine.” Or, “To die, to be really dead, that must be glorious.

When Universal Studios released Dracula in February 1931, all involved were a bit nervous.

The studio's adaptation of Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston's play, loosely based on Bram Stoker's novel, was a gamble. Was the public ready for a horror movie - and one with sound, no less - intimating that Evil was alive and well in their world? Would people pay to have the moral order of the universe upended as an evening's entertainment? You bet they would!

Just a few months after Dracula killed at the box office, Universal's head of production, Carl Laemmle Jr., convinced his dad, studio head Carl Laemmle, to begin production on another horror flick. The property they chose to film was another play based on a classic of horror literature. Peggy Webling's Frankenstein, a stage adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, was first produced in 1927 and...

It was on this day, April 22 1935, that the Bride was born…

One of the most iconic images in all of horror cinema, the Bride has haunted our nightmares for 75 years now, an eerily beautiful, hissing figure covered in gauze from head-to-toe, draped in a brilliant but inelegant white shroud, and with flaming white streaks shooting up a jazzed, Nefertiti hairdo.

The Bride’s part in the 1935 Universal classic The Bride of Frankenstein is a small one, but it burns instantly and indelibly into one’s psyche, as the radiant Elsa Lanchester and the immortal Boris Karloff enact the ultimate nightmare version of a blind date.

The Bride of Frankenstein has endured for 75 years, its reputation as one of the great touchstones of early horror movies – and of Hollywood’s Golden Age — only looming larger as the decades tick past. The absolute zenith of the original Universal Horror cycle, Bride effortlessly combines everything: ghoulish chills,...

The multi-award-winning NoHo Arts Center Ensemble (NoHo Ace) in association with David Elzer are thrilled to announce that their critically-acclaimed all-new look at the timeless classic, Dracula, dramatized by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, based on Bram Stoker?s novel , and directed by Ken Sawyer (The Woman in Black, Lovelace) is extending again and will now play through Sunday, May 17 at the NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd. (at Lankershim) in North Hollywood. Additionally, David Burnham, star of The Light in the Piazza will play Renfield on Friday, May 1 & Saturday, May 2.

The multi-award-winning NoHo Arts Center Ensemble (NoHo Ace) in association with David Elzer are thrilled to announce that their critically-acclaimed (La Times "Sensational!" La Weekly Pick Of The Week! Backstage Critic's Pick!) all-new look at the timeless classic, Dracula, dramatized by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, based on Bram Stoker's novel , and directed by Ken Sawyer (The Woman in Black, Lovelace) is Now Extending through Sunday, April 26 at the NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd. (at Lankershim) in North Hollywood.

Unkillable Classics

By Troy Brownfield

You may recall that I opened the new Unkillable Classics column with a discussion of Frankenstein. It’s almost a given now that installment two should cover the other big Universal release of 1931, that other standard-bearer of the horror genre that’s forever linked to that first film. The film for today is, of course, Dracula.

Like Frankenstein, I discovered this film for myself via the local broadcast outlet that carried the “thriller” package weeks. By that time, there were already plenty of other Dracula associations that I could make from pop culture. I fondly recall an issue of the Super Friends comic from DC (in fact, it was issue #10 from 1978, making me about five upon its release) where the heroes crossed paths with a group of characters that resembled the classic movie monsters. It turned out that these “monsters” were in fact the super...