Dracula

Modern media is built on long-running franchises, but how often do we actually revisit their origins? Between decades of evolution and countless retcons, the beginning often looks nothing like the present.

Let’s run a thought experiment: You’ve been handed the keys to a legendary video game franchise. It’s a series with history, baggage, and countless entries. The job is to create a modern take. So, where do you start? Simple: you play them all in chronological order. That is exactly what we did for the Dracula movies.

As a disclaimer, the chronological aspect comes from the legendary psycho-rigidity of my good friend Eric, a stickler for finding the best versions of these movies (which is difficult!), no spoilers, no shortcuts.

Nosferatu (1922)

I know what you are thinking: what could be more pretentious than starting this list with a 1922 silent German movie? It isn’t even called Dracula. There is a good reason for this. Even though Dracula has entered the public domain today, that was obviously not the case in 1922. The producers tried to secure the rights to Bram Stoker’s eponymous novel without success. They were sued in court for more than 3 years and were eventually forced to destroy most of the prints.

Vampires are part of European folklore, but they were truly popularized by this book. Every movie I will mention here is based on this book and actually tells roughly the same story! You will find the same characters, the same places, and similar, yet different lore. This is what makes this adventure so interesting to me: you already know the story, but you get to see how things change, watching the myth and the clichés build up over time.

What’s a cliché, you ask? For example: Rising from your coffin after a day nap

Nosferatu is considered a separate character from Dracula today. Physically, he is clearly not human, whereas Dracula evolved to be an elegant aristocrat. However, this movie still perfectly defined the castle, the coffin, and the established lore: it is very gothic. A vampire needs to sleep during the day in the cursed soil from which he was brought back to life. There is a big emphasis on the Black Plague and its swarms of rats. The vampire can turn into animals (rats, wolves). Finally, the vampire dies when exposed to sunlight (though there is a subtlety here: he essentially dies because he fell in love and lost track of time).

This movie is excellent, and you should see it. It is difficult to convey how a silent movie can be so good at developing its story. Everything is shot on location: the castle, the boat, the inn, the horses. In a lot of ways, it feels very modern.

Nosferatu (2025)

This one is on me, breaking the chronology rule right off the bat. I wanted to see the modern remake after the original. What a mistake that was. This movie was horrendous. Picture a crossover between Jane Austen and a 1922 silent German movie. Where the original develops its plot quickly, this one takes its time. The actors speak a lot; it kind of feels like a play put on screen. I was also disappointed to see that everything was shot in a studio, whereas the original brought us onto a real boat. There is also gratuitous nudity of Nosferatu, which feels out of place. It’s just a bad movie. The only saving grace is Willem Dafoe, who plays “Dr. Van Helsing” (yes, Van Helsing is THE Dracula hunter).

Dracula (1931)

Ok, this is the real deal. Dracula is played by Bela Lugosi. He invented most of the mannerisms that we know Dracula for: the aristocratic stance, the cape play, the mesmerizing gaze, the telekinesis, and turning into bats. It is also the first time we see Dracula bite a victim in the neck. Yes, Nosferatu bit you in the chest (disgusting, and don’t ask me how that works).

Apparently, the movie is based on a play, but there is no recording of it available.

You can also see some wooden spike action, special shout-out to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is well played and has most of the modern Vampire tropes. This is the real OG. If you can only watch one, watch this one.

Dracula (1958)

I am a big Star Wars fan. When The Phantom Menace was released many years ago, I was the only guy cosplaying in the cinema (in my little French town). So, imagine my reaction when you tell me I can watch a movie with Christopher Lee (Dracula) and Peter Cushing (Van Helsing). I know I am just establishing my lack of culture, but it blew my mind. Christopher Lee is a tall guy (1.97m / 6'5"!). He towers over his co-stars, and he plays with it. You do not see his feet under the cape, so it looks like he is floating. He is speed-running everywhere. For example, he climbs the stairs of his castle three steps at a time. It really gives the feel of him being supernatural; something is off.

These movies have the cross

Did you know that in the OG Dracula they did not use garlic, but Wolfsbane? The characters turning into vampires keep complaining about the smell. It is a very good movie. It does not invent much compared to the Bela Lugosi version. It is closer to us in time, so it feels a bit more modern, and maybe the story at the end works a bit better. The audience’s tolerance for horror had clearly evolved, so it gets a bit more graphic. However, it is still very tame by today’s standards.

Dracula (1992)

Emperor Palpatine: Dracula edition

This is a Francis Ford Coppola movie. It is extremely 90s coded. The cast looks exceptional on paper: Keanu Reeves, Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins (I think you can even see Monica Bellucci in a minor role!).

It is the first movie that explores the Vlad the Impaler backstory. You can see Gary Oldman in this weird armor during medieval times.

It is, to me, the most original part and certainly the best. If you do not know, Vlad goes to fight the Ottomans and wins as a servant of God. Meanwhile, his beloved dies, and he returns only to find her corpse. Feeling betrayed by the divine, he curses God, who punishes him with eternal life. It piqued my interest because there is no Devil here; the Christian God (I would guess the Eastern Church) curses him. Dracula’s only obsession over the ages is to find true love again.

Dracula sucks blood to rejuvenate in this one. Palpatine after refreshment

It reminds me of the fashion design in Wild Wild West, the movie with Will Smith, and that is not a compliment.

All those interesting ideas are thrown away in the second part of the movie, where it goes downhill very fast. Hopkins’ acting is not very good, and I am a big fan. He tries an accent that does not really land. You have new characters, like a guy from Texas with a big knife. The final act resembles a Western. It is what I meant by “90s coded”: some sex and lust, some music and weird fashion choices, clashing eras and themes. It is not unpleasant, but the end of the movie does not work.

Dracula (2025)

Emperor Palpatine: Dracula edition 2

Luc Besson released a surprise Dracula entry. I only learned about the movie because I saw news of him being in Los Angeles for the premiere. It is your favorite French director: The Fifth Element, The Big Blue, Leon, Lucy. After Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets failed at the box office, he nearly went bankrupt. I am happy he is finding success again.

In a lot of aspects, if you didn’t know this movie was his, you would still recognize his writing style. There is a lot of humor. Christoph Waltz carries the movie from beginning to end.

We have a medieval intro with the curse and a battle. The costumes are exceptional: armor, dresses, everything. It makes me think a little bit of the gritty realism of his Joan of Arc movie.

We have rejuvenation here again. There is a weird story arc doing a crossover with Perfume by Patrick Süskind (I still have nightmares from this book). It tries to explain how Dracula can be so mesmerizing to people in a non-supernatural way.

France mentioned; my birthplace looks like this

Luc Besson also loves children’s stories. Dracula has some Gargoyle companions now. In a lot of ways, this movie is more exuberant than the 1992 version, and I am into it. It is at least a fun watch.

Ranking

Drum Roll

1. Dracula 1931
2. Nosferatu 1922
3. Dracula 1958
4. Dracula 2025
5. Dracula 1992
6. Nosferatu 2025

Of course, there are plenty more movies about Dracula. But I believe we captured very good representations of each respective era.

Bonus

We also watched some other Vampire movies like 30 Days of Night. It is an old favorite of mine. It develops a different type of lore that we sometimes find in pop culture: Vampires in this movie basically speak Sumerian, implying they have been around since the dawn of civilization. It also put front and center the role of vampire’s servants: people who havn’t turn yet but are doing their bidding. It is also very present in the Dracula’s stories.

Why do I mention it? Because those movies (there are 2 movies, though the second one is very, very bad) had a mini-web series released as part of their marketing. Those web series are arguably better and more interesting than the movies themselves.

Good watch!