New Dracula in LA

October contains Halloween, and as a result theatre-goers with a taste for the gothic can look forward to productions of Dracula.  These vary from the Balderson-Deane classic (which made Bela Lugosi famous) to such fresh takes as last year’s “feminist” version or an adaptation on roller skates or for that matter more than a few…

New Feminist Dracula

Many and varied are the stage adaptations of Bram Stoker‘s famous novel. Most famous of course is the Balderston-Deane version that brought stardom to Bela Lugosi, Ted Miller’s Count Dracula, the Frank Wildhorn musical (perhaps most famously done in Japan with a female Count), even Orson Wells’ radio adaptation. Theatre 68 (which produces works for…

Countess Draculas

Arguably starting with the film Dracula’s Daughter, the notion of the famous Count’s distaff side attracted audience members and storytellers.  Ingrid Pitt of course starred in a film titled Countess Dracula, although the character in question was in fact Ezebet Bathori (quite famous in her own right). In fact, the original source material, i.e. Bram…

Top Lady Vampires on T.V.

A new year arrives and with it time to think back and contemplate–sometimes drawing up lists. Lots of best vampire movies, hottest vampires, most badass vampire flicks etc. popping up so why not drop a list of the Top Ten Lady Vampires on T.V.? Why not indeed? In no particular order here is one such…

New DRACULA via Kickstarter!

The age of crowd-funding has arrived and with it lots more independent films!  Yours truly even used the process to fund a stage production of LeFanu’s classic Carmilla, while the producers of The Curse of Styria used one to finish post-production on their independent film.  Among them, a new kickstarter project looking to make a…

Remembering Lugosi

On this date, August 16, in the year 1956 the actor most associated with Bram Stoker‘s famous Count, died. He had a heart attack while sitting on his couch in his Los Angeles home. Perhaps inevitably, a new series of rumors about his life sprung up. One, that he was clutching a script by his…

Undead of Penny Dreadful

What follows is rife with many a SPOILER. You have been warned! Now that the finale of the first season of Penny Dreadful has aired, with more than a few surprises (as well as few plot twists many of us saw coming from miles away), let us consider the vampires in this series. Not least…

Newly Released Poster For ‘Dracula Untold’

‘Dracula Untold’ A Highly Anticipated Thiller. It takes a look back into the life of Vlad. Maybe it’s like a prequel to the days when he was a young doctor and then came across some Nosferatu… Here’s a look at the recently released ‘Dracula Untold’ poster for the movie coming out this October to theaters.…

Vampire Books Coming March 2014

Here are this months vampire novels coming out! Enjoy! :) Kindred of Darkness: A vampire kidnapping (James Asher Vampire Novel) by Barbara Hambly (Mar 1, 2014) When James Asher and his wife Lydia’s baby daughter Miranda is kidnapped by the Master Vampire of London, the stakes are high: blindly follow the Master Vampire’s instructions, keep out of the…

Review: A Taste of Blood Wine

Freda Warrington’s A Taste of Blood Wine is the first in a series, and of a subgenre you’d think would feel tired, worn out, even (dare I say it?) bloodless. The sweeping gothic period romance. Even describing it summons images of Jane Eyre meets Twilight. Which proves unfair in the end. To be sure, a…