Daniel Selwood
Dracula is a 1897 novel written by Bram Stoker, yet is still widely recognised today as a true classic in the horror and vampire genre.
It has stood the test of time largely due to its masterful characters, many of whom are often lost in media adaptations.
It has stood the test of time largely due to its masterful characters, many of whom are often lost in media adaptations.
The reason an accurate adaptation is yet to grace the screen is the format. The book itself takes place in real time, utilising real life elements such as diaries, transcribed audio recordings, and a constant stream of letters between characters.
The effect this creates is an intimate, compelling story that gets more thrilling over time.
Movie adaptations fail to capture the true fear that Dracula creates dread. A lot of the horror comes not in the jump scares but the waiting and bloody imagery: a corpse with a red mouth, a captain tied to the wheel of his own ship.
Also, even the adaptations themselves are removed from the time, being produced from the 1920s to the present.
The vampire spirit in modern cinema is tainted with eroticism. Even then, in the novel, Dracula had three vampire ladies living with him who were not allowed to feast upon the male captor.
But the book of Dracula lacks the heaving, shuddering, whimpering women the movie adds.
The movie turns the slight sexism of the novel into a rampant, gory, erotic tale (see Francis Coplas version or Nosterafu from 2024). The movies of Dracula are steeped in eroticism in a way the book does not.
If you want a clever modern story about a band of people trying to defeat evil, read the book. If you want heavy heaving women on top of that, watch the movies.
But the book of Dracula lacks the heaving, shuddering, whimpering women the movie adds.
The movie turns the slight sexism of the novel into a rampant, gory, erotic tale (see Francis Coplas version or Nosterafu from 2024). The movies of Dracula are steeped in eroticism in a way the book does not.
If you want a clever modern story about a band of people trying to defeat evil, read the book. If you want heavy heaving women on top of that, watch the movies.
