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…

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…

Upcoming Dracula Series Finds its Mina

When it was announced that NBC was creating an all-new Dracula series we were thrilled beyond words! When they then announced that the magnificent Jonathan Rhys Meyers would play Dracula, I almost died of happy. And the good news just kept coming.  Like that Daniel Knauf, creator of Carnivale, will be heading up this new…

The Curious Case of Jonathan Harker

Bram Stoker seems like a such a conservative. He pursued a career as a government clerk until a better opportunity in entertainment presented itself. As manager of a hugely successful actor and theatre, he and his primly beautiful wife reveled as they walked amid high society. His novels abound with staunchly Victorian ideas and prejudices.…

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,…

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…