Non-Fiction Spotlight: The Romance of Dracula

The Romance of Dracula by Charles E. Butler is, in his own words, “a personal journey of the Count on celluloid.” I think that is a perfect way to describe this book, which is part film critique, part essay, and part personal reminiscence. Like Mr. Butler, I love the vampire film genre as well as…

Vampires Should Be Evil

I encountered the Vampire tale first through the movies, staying up late Friday and Saturday nights watching Bela Lugosi, John Carradine and then Christopher Lee portray Dracula. The Count was the epitome of evil, his whole existence on this Earth one purpose, to feed and create more of his kind. Vampirism was like a plague,…

Dark Shadows Frenzy

With less than two weeks before the premiere, publicity for Tim Burton‘s version of Dark Shadows is reaching a fever pitch. Case in point–the website Deviantart.com is having a contest. Create a portrait of Barnabas Collins, with Tim Burton himself as the judge and literally thousands of dollars of prizes awaiting the winner! Well over…

Christopher Lee in Dark Shadows

So much news about the upcoming “Dark Shadows” film! Some confirmed, some not. To begin, there was indeed a panel at ComicCon about the new movie, hosted by Hermes Press and including Lara Parker and Kathryn Leigh Scott (the original Angelique and Maggie respectively). They were able to confirm that not only is Jonathan Frid…

Vampires – An Avatar of Sin

When vampires first drifted, shadow-like, into popular literature in the early 1800s, this denizen of ancient folklore became an incarnation of the Nightmare Stranger–the alien ‘other’ who presented a threat to civilization itself. It was death reaching out to infect the living. The foreigner who defiled virtuous women. A pagan invader thriving where the light…

Make Believe

Shoulda Woulda Coulda… Make believe is fun. In fact without it this delightful thing we call fiction simply would not exist. So let us now make-believe–as in “let us create a belief”–some beloved or well-known characters to be undead. Why not? For one, Sherlock Holmes. Leaving aside that the physical description of him is perilously…

The Secret Life of Abraham Van Helsing

Last year I was discussing possible casting choices in “Dracula” with a friend. My choice for Professor Van Helsing caused her to do a take. Michael Gambon, she said, was too old. Then I did a take. Van Helsing of course is indeed an elderly man. She didn’t realize that, and was shocked at the…

The Second Most Famous Dracula

No other actor has played the part of Count Dracula in so many films. As a consequence, none other has gazed into so many initially hesitant sets of eyes belonging to beautiful women–Caroline Munro, Barbara Hershey, Linda Hayden, Veronica Carlson to name just a few. So many plunging necklines! So many throats to ravish! Yet–curiously–so…

What to do with Dracula?

Draculas have begun to feel like a dime a dozen. Starting with the milestone silent film “Nosferatu” (i.e. skeletal, rat-fanged, pointy-eared) we’ve seen Eastern European versions, Spanish ones, porn Draculas, English Draculas, at least one female Dracula, effete Draculas, etc. We’ve seen the world’s most famous Transylvanian as suave, brutal, silent, wordy, young, old, Byronic,…

Adaptations of Carmilla

For fans of the undead, a favorite topic of debate remains comparing the various film versions of “Dracula.” Even limiting oneself to those explicitly based upon Stoker’s novel, over a dozen versions exist from “Nosferatu” (original and remake) to both Universal versions in 1930, both adaptations that starred Christopher Lee, all three BBC Draculas, the…

Vampires.Com Salutes Vincent Price and Christopher Lee Part Two

Welcome back to our special Vincent Price, Christopher Lee double feature. In part one we focused on the life and career of Vincent Price. We now salute Count Dracula himself, Christopher Lee. Christopher Lee was born in Belgravia, Westminster, England and made his movie debut in 1947 in the film Corridor of Mirrors. He began…

Vampires.Com Salutes Vincent Price and Christopher Lee Part One

Today we take time to salute two of the horror genre’s finest actors, Vincent Price and Christopher Lee. Now, if you do not recognize the names Vincent Price and Christopher Lee there may be some very good reasons. One, you’ve never seen a horror movie before and two, you have been living in a cave…