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…

Let’s Remake Lesbian Vampire Killers

One of the biggest recent disappointments in vampire cinema (at least for me) in recent years was the utterly unfunny Lesbian Vampire Killers (renamed simply Vampire Killers for the American DVD release). And I think the problem lies in one decision.  Okay, that isn’t quite true. Quite a few bad decisions ended up made, but…

Are Vampire Stories Sexist?

Consider the scene most expected in almost any vampire film. A supposedly virginal young woman opens her eyes in the middle of the night. She gets up, her translucent gown billowing slightly as she moves in the moonlight. Then she opens the window before returning to the bed, lying down in expectant terror. A fully…

Vampires: Girls vs. Boys

What most of the unofficial Feminists Against Vampire Romance Novels organization, –bent on the mass destruction of a fictional theme, –seems to miss in the world of vampires right now, is that normally, chicks are over-represented in vampire literature and cinema. How many badass vampire guys can you think of? Blade, Dracula, Kurt Barlow, Count…