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…

Worst Vampire Movie of All Time

Those readers who cannot stomach the syrupy sweetness and sparkle-skinness (is that a word?) of “Twilight,” proceed and learn some good news. Or bad. Depends on your point of view, really. Suffice to say the tale of Edward and Bella might have been much, much worse. Some debate exists in terms of ordinary cinema over…

The Very Many Faces of Mina Murray

Adaptations of Bram Stoker’s most famous novel often reveal more about the adapters — and about their times — than they do about Stoker or his work. Case in point: Mina Harker, nee Murray. Looking at the novel itself, we find a character who seems very much a yin to her best friend Lucy Westenra‘s…