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Favorite Dracula movies
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bj kuehl
Jan 9, 2024, 5:09:55 PM1/9/24
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It's been kind of dead here, so I thought I'd liven it up a little by asking fellow posters and any lurkers to name their favorite Dracula movies.
Mine is the little known Louis Jourdan version. In my opinion, he played the perfect Dracula. He was handsome, alluring, and decidedly evil, but didn't change into some sort of monster when he fed, like Chris Sarandon did in 'Fright Night'. Of course, I was lying in a hospital bed, high on morphine, after giving birth to my first child, so that might have influenced my opinion.
My second favorite, of course, is the Bela Lugosi version. I also liked Frank Langella as Dracula, Dwight Renfield (Michael Moss) in Stephen King's 'The Night Flier', and who can forget Max Shreck in 'Nosferatu'?
Share with us your favorite Dracula movies, and help raise alt.v from the dead.
BJ
Mine is the little known Louis Jourdan version. In my opinion, he played the perfect Dracula. He was handsome, alluring, and decidedly evil, but didn't change into some sort of monster when he fed, like Chris Sarandon did in 'Fright Night'. Of course, I was lying in a hospital bed, high on morphine, after giving birth to my first child, so that might have influenced my opinion.
My second favorite, of course, is the Bela Lugosi version. I also liked Frank Langella as Dracula, Dwight Renfield (Michael Moss) in Stephen King's 'The Night Flier', and who can forget Max Shreck in 'Nosferatu'?
Share with us your favorite Dracula movies, and help raise alt.v from the dead.
BJ
Marcovaldo
Jan 11, 2024, 9:22:40 AM1/11/24
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Yes, it has been rather undead in here.
My sentimental favorite Dracula movie is the Lugosi film, though when I look at it objectively, I have to admit it is stagy and wordy lacks a great climax. But it has some pretty spooky moments and Bela puts in a great performance.
"Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein" is great fun. In spite of the title, Dracula is the main adversary. And Lugosi shows some decent comic chops.
"Nosferatu" is a classic. A good Dracula-adjacent movie is "Shadow of the Vampire". It takes "Noferatu" as a starting point and creates a fascinating premise.
"The Devil's Wedding Night" ("Il plenilunio delle vergini") is surprisingly entertaining. I say "surprisingly" because I saw it on the Elvira show. In spite of the English title, the movie's plot ties into Dracula.
A recent movie that I enjoyed is "The Invitation" (2022), which also ties into Dracula.
I remember enjoying the Jourdan version, although it has been decades since I've seen it. I remember it being pretty faithful to the Stoker novel. I remember thinking that it was a shame Maurice Chevalier couldn't play Van Helsing.
I need to see the Langella version again as I barely remember it. Another one I need to see again is the Francis Ford Coppola version.
I will add "The Night Flier" to my list.
Thanks, BJ
bj kuehl
Jan 12, 2024, 12:57:08 PM1/12/24
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I think you'll like 'The Night Flier'. It's based on a short story by Stephen King, who always writes a story worth reading/viewing (remember 'Salem's Lot'?). Although the vampire doesn't appear until the end of the movie, it's worth the wait. Oddly, although this vampire is super-ugly, you might find yourself feeling sorry for him in the end (I did).
A made-for-TV movie that I liked a lot but forgot to mention is the pilot for "The Night Stalker' series, featuring Carl Kolchak as a newspaper reporter who always seems to track down supernatural creatures. As far as I can remember, this movie was the first (or one of the first) to place the vampire in the United States instead of somewhere in Europe. You'll like this vampire (played by Barry Atwater) and hope you never meet up with a vampire like him.
I also forgot to mention another of my movie favorites...'Thirty Days of Night'. Set in Barrow, Alaska, which really does get 30 days of darkness during the winter, the remaining residents of Barrow (that is, those who didn't go south for the winter) have to hide from several vicious vampires who are intent on wiping out everyone in Barrow before moving on to another town in northern Alaska, which they have discovered is a great place for vampires who are usually forced to sleep every day when the sun comes up.
^BJ^
A made-for-TV movie that I liked a lot but forgot to mention is the pilot for "The Night Stalker' series, featuring Carl Kolchak as a newspaper reporter who always seems to track down supernatural creatures. As far as I can remember, this movie was the first (or one of the first) to place the vampire in the United States instead of somewhere in Europe. You'll like this vampire (played by Barry Atwater) and hope you never meet up with a vampire like him.
I also forgot to mention another of my movie favorites...'Thirty Days of Night'. Set in Barrow, Alaska, which really does get 30 days of darkness during the winter, the remaining residents of Barrow (that is, those who didn't go south for the winter) have to hide from several vicious vampires who are intent on wiping out everyone in Barrow before moving on to another town in northern Alaska, which they have discovered is a great place for vampires who are usually forced to sleep every day when the sun comes up.
^BJ^
Incubus
Jan 18, 2024, 1:22:01 PM1/18/24
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the original (Coppola's Dracula, really) but I liked the actors and the
style. The ending really didn't make sense to me, however. Perhaps he
was trying to leave it open for a sequel.
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