Through a weird coincidence, the last movie I watched in my Zip.ca queue (that's like the Canadian Netflix) was the classic Hammer Horror of Dracula, and the next one, which I'm in the middle of watching right now, was Werner Herzog's remake of "Nosferatu" (which is also explicitly an adaptation of Dracula, unlike the original, since it uses the character names from Stoker's novel). On top of that, we've already had Van Helsing this year, and Dracula is the baddie in the upcoming Blade: Trinity. So Drac is on my mind right now.
Is Dracula the most commonly-represented character on screen, ever? He's got to be in contention at least, with Sherlock Holmes, Hercules, and Jesus.
So the most prominent Dracs are Lugosi, Christopher Lee, and Gary Oldman, with Frank Langhella and, if we include the aforementioned Nosferatu and remake, Max Shreck and Klaus Kinski. But of course there are a jillion others, mostly in schlock (hello, Richard Roxborough!). Then there's the Spanish Dracula, Carlos Villarías, and the Guy Maddin Dracula ballet movie with the Asian Wei-Qiang Zhang as Dracula, neither of which I've seen. And if you want to really stretch, Willem Dafoe from Shadow of the Vampire.
Which of these do you like, which do you hate, which ones have I forgotten?
Personally, the only one of these I find actively scary is Shreck, though watching Kinski now he's pretty creepy too. Of course I give mad props to Lee, but other than a couple of "shock moments" he doesn't inspire dread in me...
Is Dracula the most commonly-represented character on screen, ever? He's got to be in contention at least, with Sherlock Holmes, Hercules, and Jesus.
So the most prominent Dracs are Lugosi, Christopher Lee, and Gary Oldman, with Frank Langhella and, if we include the aforementioned Nosferatu and remake, Max Shreck and Klaus Kinski. But of course there are a jillion others, mostly in schlock (hello, Richard Roxborough!). Then there's the Spanish Dracula, Carlos Villarías, and the Guy Maddin Dracula ballet movie with the Asian Wei-Qiang Zhang as Dracula, neither of which I've seen. And if you want to really stretch, Willem Dafoe from Shadow of the Vampire.
Which of these do you like, which do you hate, which ones have I forgotten?
Personally, the only one of these I find actively scary is Shreck, though watching Kinski now he's pretty creepy too. Of course I give mad props to Lee, but other than a couple of "shock moments" he doesn't inspire dread in me...
