Lisa Jernej

The Development of Vampire Characters in Film History

DIPLOMA THESIS submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Magistra der Philosophie

Programme: Teacher Training Programme Subject: German Subject: English

Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt

Evaluator Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jörg Helbig, M.A. Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik

Klagenfurt, January 2021

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Lisa Jernej, m.p. Vienna, Austria, 25.01.2021

Abstract

The vampire has been a mainstay of popular culture for the previous two centuries, fascinating

moviemakers, writers and, lately, videogame developers. This has resulted in the creature

gaining a cult following, in spite of extended periods of monotony in its development. This

thesis will thus deal with the vampire and its role in film history, giving an overview of its full

history from ancient times to the twenty-first century, and show how this creature has evolved

over time. Moreover, ‘real’ vampires will be analyzed and discussed, in order to establish if

any elements are based in reality. The examination in films will be supported by an analysis of

the creature’s main appearances in literature. When this framework is in place, the focus will

be shifted to film and how the vampire has changed in form, appearance and character. This

will be analyzed via representations in the very first vampire movie, then gradually moving

towards current portrayals. The main aim of this thesis will be to determine the importance of

the vampire in popular culture, with a focus on films, and investigate its potential future

influence.

Abstract

In den letzten zwei Jahrhunderten war der Vampir eine Schlüsselfigur der Populärkultur und

faszinierte Filmemacher, Schriftsteller sowie in letzter Zeit auch Videospielentwickler. Dies

hat dazu geführt, dass diese Kreatur trotz längerer Phasen der Monotonie in ihrer Entwicklung

eine Kulturanhängerschaft erlangt hat. Diese Arbeit wird sich darum mit dem Vampir und

dessen Rolle in der Filmgeschichte befassen, einen Überblick über seine Geschichte von der

Antike bis zum 21. Jahrhundert geben und zudem zeigen, wie sich diese Kreatur im Laufe der

Zeit entwickelt hat. Darüber hinaus werden ‚reale‘ Vampire analysiert und diskutiert, um

festzustellen, ob gewisse Eigenschaften ihren Ursprung in der Wirklichkeit haben. Die

Untersuchung in den Filmen wird durch eine Analyse des Vampirs und dessen Auftritten in der

Literatur unterstützt. Danach wird der Fokus auf den Film gelegt und die Veränderung des

Vampirs in Form, Aussehen und Charakter. Dies wird anhand der Darstellung dieser Kreatur

in einen der ersten Vampirfilme erarbeitet, um dann schrittweise zu den aktuellen Darstellungen

überzugehen. Das Hauptziel dieser Arbeit ist, die Bedeutung des Vampirs in der Populärkultur

zu bestimmen, mit Hauptaugenmerk auf die filmische Darstellung und seinen potenziellen

zukünftigen Einfluss zu untersuchen.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1

2 Origins of the vampire myth ........................................................................................... 2 2.1 The vampire in folklore and history ........................................................................... 6

2.1.1 The vampire in ancient history ............................................................................... 7 2.1.2 Vampires during the middle ages ........................................................................... 9 2.1.3 Vampires in Eastern Europe ................................................................................. 11

2.2 Mythology and Reality ............................................................................................. 12

2.3 “Real” Vampires ...................................................................................................... 15 2.3.1 Vlad the Impaler ................................................................................................... 15 2.3.2 Other Vampires .................................................................................................... 19

2.4 The vampire reflected in the literature of the 18th and 19th century ......................... 23 2.4.1 The gothic novel ................................................................................................... 24 2.4.2 The Vampyre or the first creature of the night in literature ................................. 25 2.4.3 Varney the Vampyre ............................................................................................ 26 2.4.4 J. Sheridan Le Fanu Carmilla ............................................................................... 28

2.5 Bram Stoker’s Dracula or the most famous vampire in literature ........................... 29

3 Early cinematic representation of vampires ................................................................ 31 3.1 Nosferatu .................................................................................................................. 33

3.1.1 The plot of Nosferatu ........................................................................................... 33 3.1.2 The portrayal of Count Orlok ............................................................................... 34

3.2 The vampire on the big screen - Dracula 1931 ........................................................ 35 3.2.1 The early cinematic portrayal of Count Dracula .................................................. 36

3.3 Differences and similarities between Count Orlok and Count Dracula .................. 37

4 More recent development in vampire movies – focusing on Hammer studios vampire films .......................................................................................................................... 38

4.1 Hammer Studios Dracula 1958 ................................................................................ 38 4.1.1 The plot of Hammer’s Dracula ............................................................................. 39 4.1.2 The portrayal of Dracula by Christopher Lee ...................................................... 42

4.2 Dracula A.D. ............................................................................................................ 42 4.2.1 A short overview of the plot and motives of Dracula A.D. ................................. 43

4.3 Other Hammer Studios Vampire Films .................................................................... 44 4.3.1 The end of an era – what happened to Hammer productions after 1972 ............. 45

4.4 The development of the vampire character from Nosferatu to Dracula A.D ........... 46

5 Development from Dracula to present ......................................................................... 47 5.1 The Lost Boys 1987 .................................................................................................. 50

5.1.1 The storyline ......................................................................................................... 50 5.1.2 The vampires, their occurrence and motives ........................................................ 51 5.1.3 Comparison to the ‘traditional’ or ‘stereotypical’ vampires ................................ 53

5.2 Dracula 1992 ............................................................................................................ 54 5.2.1 Analyzing the differences between the novel and the film .................................. 54 5.2.2 Coppola’s Dracula as a character and how it differs from others ........................ 55

5.3 Anne Rice Chronicles ............................................................................................... 57 5.3.1 Interview with the Vampire .................................................................................. 57 5.3.2 Queen of the Damned ........................................................................................... 63 5.3.3 The depiction of the modern vampire in Queen of the Damned .......................... 65

5.4 Blade ......................................................................................................................... 67 5.4.1 The plot, differences and similarities with the myth ............................................ 68 5.4.2 Blade’s character .................................................................................................. 71

5.5 Twilight ..................................................................................................................... 71 5.5.1 A successful teenage romance .............................................................................. 72 5.5.2 Things to point out ............................................................................................... 74 5.5.3 Edward the sparkling vampire .............................................................................. 75

5.6 Dracula Untold 2014 ............................................................................................... 76 5.6.1 The plot or Dracula’s life before he became the archetype for vampire films ..... 76 5.6.2 Vlad, as a character .............................................................................................. 78

5.7 Dracula 2020 ............................................................................................................ 79 5.7.1 Dracula, the story and what has changed ............................................................. 79 5.7.2 Differences between Netflix Dracula and the original story ................................ 83

6 The evolution of the vampire ......................................................................................... 84

7 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 89

8 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 91 8.1 Primary Sources ....................................................................................................... 91 8.2 Secondary Sources ................................................................................................... 91

8.3 Online Sources ......................................................................................................... 92 8.4 Magazines and Articles ............................................................................................ 92

8.5 Filmography ............................................................................................................. 92

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1 Introduction

If ever there was in the world a warranted and proven history, it is that of vampires: nothing

is lacking, official reports, testimonials of persons of standing, of surgeons, of clergyman, of

judges; the judicial evidence is all-embracing (Rousseau in Stuart 1994, 16 - 17).

As the quote from Rousseau indicates, this thesis is going to be about vampires, the one with

hundreds of names and appearances, the one whose stories and myths have been around for

centuries and who is to be found in almost every folklore, all over the world. The vampire,

living in the shadows, consuming blood in order to stay alive, a monster with various faces, yet

able to seduce every person with its charm. However, when it comes to the term vampire, most

people tend to associate this term with Stoker’s famous vampire, Count Dracula; his long, dark

cloak, the long teeth, and the ability shapeshift into an animal make him instantly recognizable.

While his appearance has shaped the way the vampire is seen and remembered, it took some

time until this creature found its way into literature and film. Before the vampire was just a

gruesome killer, a monster, nothing that one would fantasize about as some might do over some

of the modern vampire characters. There are several reasons, discussed in this thesis, which

have led to this frightening, mysterious and nocturnal creature becoming widely popular, and

even adored nowadays. As already mentioned, the vampire is a creature that appears in many

folkloric tales, from ancient Egypt to Greece which will be discussed in chapter two.

Furthermore, the vampire’s trails during the Middle Ages will also be focused on to see how

the creature has changed; yet, it is also important to take a closer look, towards Eastern Europe,

since it is mainly believed that the vampire’s history started there, which is not the case.

Nevertheless, one needs to distinguish between mythology and reality, and this work aims to

guide the reader through this process.

Besides this, some ‘real’ vampires will be put into the spotlight, and the reasons why they are

considered real will be looked onto. One of them is the Wallachian prince Vlad Tepes (1431 –

1467/77) or Vlad the Impaler, whom many people consider the archetype of the ‘modern’

vampire. Even though this is not factually accurate, he was, indeed an inspiration for Stoker’s

famous vampire. After this, the representation of the vampire in the literature of the eighteenth

and nineteenth centuries will be discussed. In this regard, a short look at the gothic novel will

be taken, as well as analyzing early vampire literature, such as The Vampyre (1819), Varney

the Vampyre (1845) and Carmilla (1872) (Beresford 2008, 115 – 116). Additionally, Stoker’s

famous novel Dracula (1897) will also be discussed shortly.

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The main aspects of the thesis will, however, focus on the vampire as represented in cinematic

performances, as well as on the development of its character. Therefore, the third chapter will

explain the early years of the vampire’s cinematic appearance. Here, Nosferatu 1922, a silent,

black and white film, which is said to be one of the first films about the creature of the night,

and an illegal adaption of Stoker’s novel (Beresford 2008, 142), will be discussed. Besides this,

Bela Lugosi’s formative performance of the famous Count Dracula, which appeared on screen

in 1931, is also part of this chapter, since these two characters are compared to each other in

order to see the omnipresent differences. As the vampire was taking root in the world of

cinematic performances, Hammer Studios decided to present their own variation of the Dracula

story and created one starring Christopher Lee. Within this chapter, the focus is mainly on

Hammer’s adaptions, namely Dracula 1958 and Dracula A.D 1972. There is also a summary

of Hammer’s productions released during these years which serves to give an overview. The

chapter closes with a comparison of Nosferatu, Dracula and Hammer’s films.

The next chapter deals with the development after the Hammer films up until today, presenting

a bigger picture of the different variations vampires have received over the years. Films like

The Lost Boys (1987), Dracula 1992 (1992), Interview with the Vampire (1994), Queen of the

damned (2002), Blade (1998), Twilight (2008), Dracula Untold (2014), as well as Netflix’s

Dracula (2020). In this chapter, all the diverse versions of the vampire are shown; moreover,

the differences between these characters, as well as the development they have undergone

during the years are looked at. The final chapter offers an overview of the development of this

creature in film, presenting what all these different characters have in common and what

distinguishes them. A short conclusion is added at the end of this thesis, summing up this

fascinating creature and its history.

2 Origins of the vampire myth

For, let me tell you, he is known everywhere that men have been. In old Greece, in old Rome,

he flourish [sic] Germany all over, in France, in India, even in the Chermosese, and in China,

so far from us in all ways, there is he, and the peoples for him at this day (Stoker 1897, 424 –

425).

The vampire and the myth evolving around this creature of the night has a long history. It is

one of the most well-documented beliefs throughout history, from Ancient Greece through

Rome and to Ancient Egypt; from Babylonia and India, to France and England. Vampires occur

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in Norse mythology, in the plagues and the trials of the Middle Ages, in seventeenth-century

and in the Gothic literature of Victorian England. Moreover, the creature appears in modern

times, like in the Dark Arts of the Occult, the Goth movement as well as in psychopathic

vampire cases of torture, murder and blood-drinking across Europe (Beresford 2008, 7).

Whilst there is an abundance of evidences of vampirism, it is still unclear what this points to;

in other words, “what constitutes a vampire?” (Beresford 2008, 7). According to the Cambridge

Dictionary, a vampire is 1. “(in stories) a dead person who comes back to life and sucks blood

from other people at night”, 2. “an imaginary creature, said to be a dead person returned to life,

who sucks blood from people at night.” (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.). Compared to the

description by the Collins Dictionary, a few differences can be found. Hence, the term vampire

is explained as follows; “A vampire is a creature in legends and horror stories.”, “an

unscrupulous person who preys ruthlessly on others, as a blackmailer or usurer”, “a beautiful

woman who seduces, exploits, and then ruins men”. (Collins Dictionary, n.d.). Another, and

even more interesting description of the term can be found in the Encyclopedia Britannica,

which states that “ the persons who turn vampires are generally wizards, suicides and those who

come to a violent end or have been cursed by their parents or the Church” (Beresford 2008, 8).

As one can see here, there are many different, but also a number of similar definitions of this

iconic term. Hence it is interesting to see that in modern Western Culture, the vampire is mostly

represented as a “somewhat aristocratic and seductive male, complete with cape and fangs, and

with the ability to transform himself into a bat” (ibid.). The reasons for this stem from the

Victorian Era imagination, trying to reflect all the “charm and intrigue of high society mixed

with machinations of the underworld” (ibid.). However, the only way to uncover the mythology

of this creature that has created nightmares and “tortured the human mind over thousands of

years” (ibid.), is to analyze its origins (or parts of it, since there are thousands of theories spread

throughout the world).

In 1732, the term vampire entered the English language. It was derived from the German

translation of Arnold Paoles story, which was one of the first documented vampire cases. “The

etymology of the word suggests a transition through various languages” (Beresford 2008, 8).

Hence there are many divergent suggestions of its origins. However, the term upir or upyr from

the Slavic language family seems to be the most likely ancestry of the word. Nevertheless, the

Slavic term is probably also derived from other origins of the word, such as the Turkish uber

(witch). The English term vampire is likely to be “a variant of a much wider collection of terms

denoting variants of the mythical being” (ibid.). In Romania, they use terms such as moroi,

strigoi and pricolici are encountered, whereas in Macedonia and parts of Greece, the word

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vrykolakas is used. Dhampir is used in Serbia and pijavia in Croatia. There are many more

variations around the world, yet they describe different beings. Contrary to popular belief, in

Romania, which is often seen as the home of the vampire, the inhabitants do not believe that

the creatures exist there. This does not mean they do not believe in the supernatural, since they

do think it is the home of the strigoi (ibid. 8 - 9). The strigoi, are what many would consider a

vampire since they are undead, have the ability to transform into an animal, become invisible

and drink the blood of their victims (ibid.).

The vampire and its myth have remained in the human imagination over time, which is due to

the element of fear which accompanies its presence. This is an important variable, since it

served as the unifying factor throughout the various forms and appearances of vampires in

history (though it is difficult to point out a dominant form). Therefore, it can be said that fear

is the key to the existence of the vampire and even superimposes it in some situations. “Whether

or not the demonic creature of our worst fears existed in fact, if we only looked into ourselves

- and into our society – we should find the demon alreatly[sic] there” (ibid. 11).

This fear which occurred within humans has led to several ways in which to avoid or defeat the

vampire; from garlic, holy water or rosary beads to powerful symbols like a cross, or crossroads.

The crossroads burials date back to the Romans, who used to burry dead criminals or social

outcasts there; this is due to their belief that if the dead person might find their way back to life,

they would be “confused by the abundance of paths, and thus be unable to find their way back

to their village or town” (ibid. 11- 12).

There are recent works on the origins, historically and culturally, which imply that human fear

is the reason that stories and ideas about vampires have the ability to make them seem true.

Humanity has often believed that we share our world with good and evil spirits, fabulous beings and strange creatures, sometimes helpful, sometimes menacing and vengeful. For centuries pain and illness were thought to be caused by evil spirits, which could be summoned by a witch or wizard (beliefs that still exist in some parts of the world). Fear of death, and of the souls of the departed being trapped on earth, was at the origin of burial rituals. When these were not respected and something went wrong, the dead would not find peace and would come back to punish the living (Barlett 2005, 7).

The creation of the vampire can therefore be dated back to early beliefs related to death and the

ritual practices such as excarnation (de-fleshing of the body) and mummification. These

ceremonies paved the way to the spirit world, which, once the ideas are established, is difficult

to close again. Since then the human world has been haunted by supernatural belief, myths and

stories, and even in today’s times the vampire along with other creatures is still present. “It is

the belief in them that enables their power over us” (Beresford 2008, 12). Religion plays an

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important role here, since in many religions people believe in good or God and at the same time

they believe in evil or the Devil.

Another piece of evidence for the belief in the spiritual world can be found in the Neolithic

period, in which cairns were placed on top of the grave in order to prevent the soul from

escaping, while allowing the spirit to be free. In Balkan states, “it is believed that the soul cannot

be released from the flesh until the corpse has lain in the grave for some months” (ibid. 13).

Whilst the idea of vampires, or vampire-like creatures has existed since the ancient times, the

notable obsession did not start until the eighteenth century. This is probably the reason why

many vampire works concentrate on this period onwards. What lead to this phenomenon is

“difficult to fathom” (ibid.), but it changed the course of vampires forever and it might even

continue to change them in the future, “a notion supported by the process of modern

technology” (ibid.). This can be seen in the massive number of books, plays, films and

television programs, form the nineteenth century literature of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897)

or Le Fanu’s Camilla (1872) to Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (1994), and from early

films starring Christopher Lee and Bela Lugosi to modern ones such as Blade (1998), The

Vampire Diaries (2009 – 2017) or Dracula Untold (2014). These representations of the vampire

have all influenced the picture of this mysterious creature and even changed it, so it can fit in

the modern times (ibid. 13).

However, for many people the vampire remains a fictional or mystical creature. This, however,

has not always been the case. In the eighteenth century there had been a debate on its existence,

which reached its peak during the Age of Reason, at a time when the vampire had also been

discussed in academic works. Antonio Augustin Calmet, a Benedictine monk, published the

Treatise on the Vampire of Hungary and the Surrounding Regions or The Phantom World, in

1746. He believed that either vampires exist, which in his opinion would be an overwhelming

revelation, or they do not, and his studies would be useless. “Calmet’s work was based on the

hypothesis that there was an unparalleled relationship between the vampire and the evidence”

(ibid. 15 - 16). Nevertheless, it has to be noted that the evidence had been eyewitnesses, which

led to a hysteria among the people. The church was not always willing to admit that those

creatures exist, however they accepted their existence, due to trustworthy sources. Besides this,

the vampire was portrayed as contrasting God and therefore the church had some benefits from

its existence. However, there has been no real evidence of a vampire back then, and neither is

there any today. Yet, believers still find possible explanations for this; since the body of aged

vampires crumbles to dust when they are killed (ibid. 17), it is a logical consequence that there

is not a single skeleton to be found. The vampire is therefore a creation of the human

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imagination and if one wants to believe in its existence one will always find a way to do so. In

addition, it needs to be stated that there are many logical explanations for vampire-like

occurrences, such as plague victims, rabies, premature burials, and slow-decaying corpses, as

well as a number of religious explanations such as heresies or area-specific superstition. In spite

of so much evidence refuting the existence of this creature, doubt still remains. Even though

the vampire is fictional, its legends and stories still fascinate humans and there is a curiosity

that is buried deep in the mind, with a desire to explore this mystery of a creature as old as the

world, according to some stories. Indeed, this curiosity has helped it to survive over the ages

(ibid.).

2.1 The vampire in folklore and history

The origins of the vampire can be tracked to ancient times, as already mentioned before.

However, there are several different versions of the origin story of this creature, from Egypt to

Eastern Europe, which have influenced the vampire we know today. Therefore, it is important

to look back to previous ideas of the vampire, as well as its relevance in the middle ages. Hence,

there is a great deal of evidence which is linked to vampiric beings in prehistory throughout the

world, from Babylonia to India, Egypt, Greece, Rome as well as Eastern Europe, yet, the last

four are the most important. Although there are different versions of the vampire, it is

interesting to recognize that there are far more similarities across the different countries and

beliefs. In Croatia, Serbia, Romania and Macedonia moralistic elements, such as incest, non-

baptism or birth outside of wedlock, have been used to explain the creation of vampires. In

Portugal and Russia, vampirism has been linked to occultism, indicating a degree of religious

intolerance (Beresford 2008, 20). Besides this, people in Eastern Europe also believed that

alcoholics are likely to become vampires. To avoid this, people used to remove the hearts of

those who were suspected to have vampiric traits, such as alcoholism, to prevent a return.

(Barber 1988, 29) In Poland, another indicator of potential vampirism was a child born with

teeth, or with an extra nipple, as believed in Romania. (ibid. 29 - 30) Suicide also indicated a

potential vampire, since people who committed suicide were often refused to be buried in

churchyards. (ibid.). In Ireland, stones were placed on the top of graves in order to “prevent the

deceased returning after death to the world of the living” (Beresford 2008, 20). This method

can be dated back to the prehistorical period. The laminae1, a vampire-like creature from Rome

1 It is said to be a class of “monstrous female birth demons” which are named after Lamina, who was a destroyer deity in Babylonia and the Assyrian Empire. Lamina was a goddess a said to be the mistress of Zeus. Hera killed

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and Greece, was assumed to appear in the form of a young woman to devour unwary young

men. This woman was also depicted in Keat’s poem from 1820, “Lamia” (ibid.). De facto, all

of these examples, ideas and beliefs have influenced and led to the picture of the modern

vampire.

2.1.1 The vampire in ancient history

“Among tales of vampiric beings, children are a common theme” (Beresford 2008, 20). This is

due to the circumstance that in many cultures, vampiric beings drink the blood of children after

returning from the dead. Examples can be found in the obayifo in Ghana, the labartu in

Babylonia, the aswang in the Philippines as well as the lamia, striges and mormos in Rome.

The Roman writer Ovid mentioned demons that drink blood of children and devour them

afterwards. (ibid.) A possible explanation for this is that young children are seen as a symbol

of purity and strength, and so is their blood; this is indeed interesting since blood is a life-source

in many different cultures throughout history. Even the vampires of Christianity share this

theme, and it can additionally be seen as a “disported reflection of Mass” (ibid. 21), hence the

blood of Christ is said to have life-giving powers (ibid.). Blood has and will always have an

immense role when it comes to vampiric mysteries. However, it was also an important factor

in the ancient times, and one of the most well-known blood cults is relating to the Indian

goodness Kali, or Kali Ma, which is known for the consumption of human blood (ibid.).

The Greek culture is one of the few that has a vampire folklore tradition (ibid. 22), which is,

compared to others, long-standing, rich and very carefully analyzed by scholars; it can be dated

back to classical times. However, it is important to know that there are two different types of

“beings widely denoted as vampires” (ibid.). The first type is a supernatural, inhuman being,

while the second variation is a revenant, a human who returns from the dead. It has to be said

that vampires from earlier periods have mostly been supernatural creatures, while vampires

from Middle Age folklore and beyond used to adopt the form of revenants (nevertheless, there

are some exceptions to this like the “Highgate Vampire of the 1970s” (ibid. 23) who “took the

form of the corporal host, but was largely supernatural, with some attributes of the revenant”

(ibid.)). Moreover, the Greek were very diligence when it came to their burial rites in order to

prevent the dead from returning. Even in battles, they allowed the opposing forces to collect

the offspring of this liaison since she was upset about this. Lamina swore in revenge to kill the children of others. However, laminae “became female demons with deformed lower limbs who preyed upon the newborns, drinking their blood and consuming their flesh”. In Hebrew lore, they are represented by Lilith, who used to be Adams first wife. (Guiley 1994, 24)

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the bodies of their people so they could bury them the right way (ibid.). This is due to the old

belief in bloodguilt and vengeance. They were so horrified by the thought of the dead returning

that even murderers used to cut their victims’ limbs in order to avoid vengeance or a return

(ibid.). “This belief undoubtedly shares similarities with the typical vampire myth” (ibid.), a

vampire attacking a human and turning this person into a vampire who would carry on this

pattern, which might come from the vrykolakas2 (ibid. 23).

Besides this there are other contributions that link the ancient myths and fables, such as Homer’s

Odyssey, classical writers who included this topic and later on folklorists who wrote about it,

with evolutionary patterns - the vrykolakas is a result of this evolution. Even though there are

differences as well as similarities between cultural vampires, the vrykolakas can in some ways

be seen as the archetype of the typical vampire creature, since it has the most vampire traits.

Moreover, it is possibly the “only vampire to have an obvious evolution from its early demon

form to the later revenant” (ibid. 24). Hence, other countries and literary styles borrowed

elements from the folklore of others, making the original difficult to trace (ibid.). This leads to

the conclusion that in ancient Greece, the idea of the undead caused tremendous distress, and

to solve this problem they used to cremate the death. It needs to be noted, however, that funerary

practices changed over time and with different religions; cremation was thus replaced with

inhumation (ibid.). Here, one might argue that when a body is cremated, nothing is left to return,

which is indeed not true for every folklore belief. In Russia, Romania and the Balkans, for

instance, it is believed that the soul does not leave the body until forty days after death.

(Murgoci in Beresford 2008, 24). This becomes clearer when one thinks about the notion that

when a body is cremated, the soul is immediately released, and therefore allows it to travel to

the next place. Buried bodies, however, need time to decompose and enable the soul to take its

time to move on. Hence, cremation would have probably stopped the myth of the vampire since

most modern vampires used to rise from the grave, which would have been impossible if there

is nothing left except a pile of ashes (Beresford 2008, 25).

In Roman mythology, the boatman, Charon, who carries the dead into the afterlife, takes his

fee from a coin placed over the eyes or the mouth at the burial. However, there are theories that

this is not the original reason for this tradition; contrary to popular belief, the coin was placed

in the mouth in order to prevent “any evil spirit from entering” (Lawson in Barber 1988, 47).

The placing of a coin or any kind of offering such as a piece of pottery or a charm, should be a

remedy against the return (ibid.). On Mykonos, a Greek island, magical pentacles were carved

2 Vrykolakas is the Greek term for vampire; it is the revenant of a man who has risen from the grave and “preys upon humans and animals for their blood”. It also used to tear out the livers of its victims (Guiley 1994, 26).

9

on doors of houses to protect the householders from vampires “as the placing of a token in the

mouth of the deceased could be seen as a prevention of vampirism” (Beresford 2008, 26).

2.1.2 Vampires during the middle ages

As Christianity has evolved, links between vampires and the Devil have become apparent.

However, it is unclear if the vampire was seen as “a manifestation of the Devil or merely a

creature in league with him” (Beresford 2008, 41). This could be due to the pagan origins of

the vampire. Nevertheless, as previously discussed in the previous subchapter, the vampire

could also have its origin in ancient Egypt, as well as being a demon which has been summoned

into this world from another. Yet the Christian religion linked the vampire with the story of

Christ, precisely with Judas Iscariot (ibid. 41 - 42). This is because of the direct links of Jesus’

betrayal and the modern vampire myth; moreover, there are suggestions that Judas can be

considered to be the first vampire (ibid.). Since the betrayal of Jesus is considered to be the

ultimate act of antagonism towards Christianity, it would therefore explain why the vampire is

seen as such an evil creature by the Church throughout history. Besides this, there are also other,

more obvious elements which can be used as a link. The crucifix or cross, which is feared and

revered by the vampire; the stake, with its similarities to the nails which have been forced

through Jesus’ hands and feet during his crucifixion; and silver, which is feared by the vampire

and hence it was accepted by Judas as a payment for the betrayal (he returned the silver coins

due to his conscience, which could be an explanation as to why the vampire also hates or even

fears silver). Nonetheless, in folklore, these details are seldom used; instead of explicitly

mentioning silver, many folkloric tales use different forms of iron, such as amulets or nails

worn around the neck, to prevent the evil (ibid.). There are also other associations with Judas,

like the red hair, especially prominent with the Greek vampires. Another important aspect here

is that Judas hung himself - suicide is, as noted in the previous chapter, an indicator for

vampirism. Furthermore, the ‘kiss of Judas’, which he used to identify or mark Jesus, can also

be associated with the vampire’s kiss, the biting of the victim’s throat. There are many links

between vampirism and Christianity which are clearly obvious. This connection can also be

found in today’s movies and films. In Wes Craven’s Dracula 2000 (2000), Judas was

“portrayed as unable to truly die and hence forced to be undead forever, as he was without the

forgiveness of God” (ibid. 43). Moreover, he is also considered to be the first vampire by a

vampiric cult known as ‘The Children of Iscariot’. Nevertheless, it is impossible to say whether

the vampire, in a modern sense, was created by the Church or Christians as a symbol of evil

10

based on Judas’ betrayal. However, despite the similarities, there are some objects missing, that

appear in today’s vampire stories, and of which these creatures are afraid, such as the mirror,

the garlic and seeds to name a few. These things used to appear in folklore and literature and

therefore seem to be later additions to the myth.

This is not to say that the vampire was created very early in Christian history, as it could have appeared as late as the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when the interest in vampires was at its peak. The vampire is therefore a (heretical) scapegoat of Christianity, in much the same way as witches were in the Middle Ages, and perhaps did not become applied to secular ideology until the most well-known vampire, the caped and fanged vampire of literature, was created (ibid. 44).

The church has therefore played an important role in proliferating the vampire myth and used

this phenomenon for its own purposes. Many claim that its origins can be found in Greek

Christianity - this is not true, even though it gave the church more power over the populace

(Wright 1924, 20). However, research suggests that the vampire began to emerge into society

during the period where the Christianity replaced various pagan religions (Beresford 2008, 45).

The folklore and superstitions from the early medieval period to the late Middle Ages are the

foundation of the modern vampire. It is derived from the fears of obsession with demons, as

well as the spirits of the death. There had been some ‘vampiric incidents’ in the early medieval

period - this is due to the fact that the vampire with cape and fangs did not exist back then,

hence the folkloric vampire was the dominant appearance at that time. This can be seen in the

book of the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, where he mentions that “Odin was attacked

and slain by inhabitants of Finland when he traveled there” (Grammaticus in Beresford 2008,

48). He caused ‘abominations’ after his death, and locals removed his body form his burial

mound, beheaded it and drove a sharpened stake through his heart (ibid.). Additionally, Seán

Manchester, the Old Catholic Bishop who considered himself a vampire hunter, pointed out

that during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, a law was passed that allowed people to pierce

a wooden stake through the heart of any person suspected to be undead; however, this law stated

undead and not vampiric, which suggests that the beings feared were merely associated with

what we know as a vampire today. Notwithstanding, this law existed until 1823 (ibid. 48 – 49).

Besides this, it was also claimed by Seán Manchester, among others, that both the Eastern as

well as the Western churches accepted the existence of vampires, which contributed to the

spread of this myth. The vampire can also be found in the fifteenth century book Malleus

Maleficarum or Witch Hammer (1486) where it is described as a being “influential in

establishing vampirism as one of the worst manifestations of the Devil” (Bunson 1993, 167).

This book gave a detailed insight into almost every aspect of witchcraft, “from perversions

undertaken by prospective witches, to methods used to track them down” (Beresford 2008, 50).

11

It also included traits which one nowadays would associate with vampires, especially in relation

to the Devil and its abilities to shapeshift and control a person’s mind. That explains the book’s

massive influence and ubiquity of use, “from clergy to judges, to hunt out, torture and condemn”

(ibid.). The mass hysteria caused by this allowed “one of the worst atrocities in history” (ibid).

It is suggested that the Church in Europe during the Middle Ages changed the myth of the

vampire from a pagan folklore to a creature of the Devil and reinforced its believability through

“pre-existing Christian doctrines” (ibid.). The Church saw the vampire as an opportunity to

expand its strength. Yet it took until the Age of Reason and Enlightenment “to expose the

vampire to all parts of society” (ibid.), which was largely fueled by the “vampire epidemics of

the eighteenth century” (ibid. 51). The being was able to hold on in the West due to its

reincarnation, which was relevant for the part of society that “had ridiculed the peasantry for

their beliefs in the fiend for so long: the learned” (ibid. 52).

2.1.3 Vampires in Eastern Europe

When it comes to vampires and similar creatures, people tend to connect them with Eastern

European countries, especially Transylvania. The reason for this is that Western Culture

automatically associates Transylvania with a “dark misty land peaked by mountains and home

to blood sucking friends” (Beresford 2008, 53), which is not a factual representation of the area.

However, it is a land full of mystery and many myths of magical creatures, including the

vampire. In Romanian folklore, it is seen as a “mischievous pest that causes trouble and plays

tricks upon people” (ibid. 55). Expanded studies (ibid.) on the folklore of the Carpathians,

which include parts of Transylvania, the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Ukraine, Slovakia

and Russia, show vampires as creatures that rather scare horses, steal wood or cause rough

waters on rivers instead of drinking the blood of humans. The belief in creatures like vampires,

witches, demons or spirits is widespread and prevalent in many of the Carpathian countries

even today (ibid. 55 -56). Some parts of peasantry even insist (ibid. 56) that they or their

relatives have seen or experienced supernatural beings or forces such as an opyr (vampire), a

nuncnyk (night spirit) or a bosur-kanja (witch). These are just a few of the many spirits that

exists in their folklore, yet the most feared one is the strigoi. There are two types of the strigoi,

or vampires in Romanian folklore; the dead vampire or the reanimated corpse, and the living

vampire. However, the names for vampire can vary from region to region; in Transylvania

siscoi is (sometimes) used for the living vampires and varcolaci and pricolici refers to the dead

ones (but sometimes it is also used to describe wolf-like beings) (Murgoci in Beresford 2008,

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57). Another term used to describe a dead vampire which might be more familiar to the Western

Culture is nosferatu which denotes the Transylvanian vampire, although, strigoi is the

preferable term (Berseford 2008, 57). Whilst vampires, werewolves and other creatures play a

very important role in Romanian folklore, tracing some of them back to their roots can be

difficult, whereas others are linked to restrictions stipulated by the Church.

Besides this, the vampire as we know it today has undergone some changes; within folklore,

vampires are more likely to be born rather than made. In Transylvanian folklore, vampires like

to ride on hemp brakes or shovels, and it is also believed that the different types of vampires

like to meet at crossroads, churchyards, ruined houses or in the forest. Hence, all those places

are likely to occur in vampire tales in the West. There are many different folkloric stories when

it comes to the vampire, yet, all seem to be different from one another. One from the area of

Mihalcea, states that certain types of vampires have different abilities; there the living vampires

are only female and can take the power of other women, animals, or elements, but also bread,

which is indeed very curious (Beresford 2008, 67). Thus, some parallels with the modern

vampire are still visible, especially the psychic vampire, which drains the energy of people.

This could also be the origin of the blood-drinking vampires of today, which drain the life-force

of its victims (ibid.).

2.2 Mythology and Reality

In the previous chapter, the different origins of the vampire myth from ancient to the medieval

times have been observed; yet the question why this creature has survived until today is still

unanswered. It is important to note reports of the vampiric epidemic of the late seventeenth and

eighteenth centuries from Eastern Europe, starting with Istria in 1672, followed by Prussia in

1710, 1721 and 1750, Hungary from 1725 to 1730, Silistria in 1755, Wallachia in 1756 and

Russia in 1772, which marked the end of the epidemics (Bartlett and Idriceanu 2005, 10). These

stories about vampires and superstition were brought back from returning soldiers, who had a

massive audience, while spreading it throughout Western Europe. Most countries where the

epidemic happened used to be part of the ‘Ottoman Empire’ and started to intergrate into the

European empire. However, this seemed to explain the spread of horror and death (ibid. 10 -

11). Even though there had been differences in the reports from country to country, such as the

ways in which vampires were created, there had also been many similarities in the traits,

especially the folkloric elements that occurred. For instance, a widespread description of the

vampire was that it was swollen and bloated, “as if gored on fresh blood” (Beresford 2008,

13

100). Moreover, these reports even caused an interest among the great thinkers of that time.

The scientific community had been challenged to provide evidence against vampires in order

to finally settle the argument (ibid.). Due to the developing “scientific abilities of that period”

(ibid.), this should not have caused any problems. However, the society of the time refused to

“abandon superstition and mysticism” (ibid.). As it was the period of secret, mystical groups in

Western Europe, the acceptance of the superstition assisted “society’s love with the vampirism”

(ibid.). The general view on this topic was still one of ridicule; the belief was that academics

and professionals had been involved in an unnecessary debate, when it was obvious that the

vampire was just a mythical figure (ibid.). In contrast to the West, the Eastern countries did

believe in this creature (ibid.).

However, it is possible to understand both sides of this debate, since the “traits of vampirism”

(ibid.) can be linked to the natural decomposition of the human body. It could also be due to

diseases, plague or other bodily ailments. Yet most of the reported cases of vampirism shared

one common element, namely that the exhumed body “had remained in a non or slow

decomposing state” (ibid. 101). One might argue that this could be attributed to the recent burial

of the bodies, however this goes against what had been reported at the time, with some accounts

even suggesting the corpses had been buried for a year (ibid. 101 - 102). It would have been a

possibility, however, that the bodies which decomposed naturally were not in the interest of the

investors and therefore not mentioned, as they could not be vampires. Be that as it may, logic

could also be falsely applied to suit the case; for example, if a dead body which is bloated and

has blood around its mouth is exhumed, the most logical explanation is that this person must

have returned as a vampire and consumed a great deal of blood (Barber 1988, 42.).

The belief that vampires can adopt other forms also led to some outlandish assumptions, such

as cases of cats believed to be vampires in the absence of more concrete evidence at scenes of

dreadful acts (Beresford 2008, 102). Although this seems to be incredible, it represents

everything that is substantiate in reports and beliefs of folklore, and hence suggests that the

powers of the vampire are limitless in almost any given situation. Understanding this helps us

realize why the vampire has become such a widely feared being with the help of folklore and

superstition. Moreover, one has to keep in mind that the body does not simply stop functioning

after death but is rather “still functioning for some time during the decomposition process until

all that remains” (ibid.) is the skeleton. “This is, in essence, a return to the primitive ideas

attributable to the prehistoric period, ideas that are alien to us today, given our separation from

death within society” (ibid.). However, these ideas did not disappear, but rather they went

underground and later had served as early foundations of the scientific evolution (Barber 1988,

14

40). Richard Sugg, writing about corpse medicine, which was especially relevant in the

seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in Murder after Death: Literature and Anatomy in Early

Modern Europe (2007), states that this practice was adopted by many of the well-respected

philosophers and scientists, as well as physicians such as John Banister, who was the surgeon

of Queen Elisabeth, or the chemist Robert Boyle. Using human remains, such as blood, bones

and flesh in order to ‘cure’ diseases was practiced in corpse medicine; yet this also offers

parallels to vampirism (Sugg 2007, 40). Furthermore, it was also important that the blood used

came from a young, healthy human; here the parallels are becoming more obvious, since ancient

demons preferred the blood of young children in order to prolong their own lives (Beresford

2008, 103).

Another remarkable point concerning the mouth, specifically the teeth of the vampire and the

blood consumption, is that many characteristics connected to the vampire epidemics can be

linked to symptoms of plague and disease. One of these symptoms which is most likely to be

connected with vampirism is the blood around the mouth. Paul Barber explains this in his book,

Vampires, Burial and Death (1988) as follows:

The pneumonic form of the plague causes the victim to expel blood from the mouth, and the combination of visible blood with unexpected and quite sudden deaths may have contributed to the belief that vampirism was responsible for this disease. The observer does not realize that the blood comes from the lungs but instead sees it as evidence that the body has been sucking blood from the living (Barber 1988, 42).

Moreover, the idea of the large teeth of the vampire is a misapprehension, according to Barber,

since there are hardly any references to be found in folklore (ibid. 44). That means that the

reports of the vampire epidemics are exaggerated or falsified in some areas. As a consequence,

people of the time may have thought that sharp teeth are an indicator for vampires, since they

used them in order to drink their victims’ blood, and this remains a widely spread vampire

characteristic even today. This is not always the case though as vampires in Russian folklore,

for instance, have sharp, pointed tongues which are used to injure the victim and to obtain their

blood (ibid.).

Whilst science and folklore explain the traits of vampirism to some extent, there is a theory

from the Middle Ages, which states that the victims of the porphyria disease were the

foundation of the vampire phenomenon (Beresford 2008, 104). This is due to the symptoms of

this disease which, inter alia, include photosensitivity, an aversion to sunlight, paleness of the

skin, hairiness and elongated teeth, all of which are also elements that are attributed to vampires.

It is also interesting that the afflicted used to drink blood in order to “combat the disease as it

introduced haem elements into their system” (haem being a pigment in oxygen-carrying red

blood cells) (ibid.). This represents another example of “the consumption of blood for its

15

healing properties” (ibid.), which is important for the vampire as it is their source of an

everlasting life. Thus, it is curious that the hunt for blood is not always present within fables

and folklore (ibid.).

2.3 “Real” Vampires

Many vampires that have occurred in literature seem to have their origins in folklore, as well

as in real people, such as Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler. He is generally considered to be one

of the most famous people when it comes to real-life vampires as Bram Stoker based his figure

of Dracula (at least to some extent) on the Wallachian prince (Guiley 1994, 79). That is also

the reason why the term vampire and Vlad Tepes are inseparable, even though the relationship

is not a real topic amongst researchers as will be discussed in the next subchapter. However,

one should be aware of the fact that “human nature tends to exaggerate the facts” (ibid. 45),

especially when it comes to tales of haunting (ibid.).

2.3.1 Vlad the Impaler

It is well known that Bram Stoker was to some extent inspired by the figure of Vlad Tepes, or

the ‘real Dracula’ as McNally and Florescu the authors of the book The Real Dracula. In Search

of Dracula and Vampires (1994), call him. This is due to the fact that there are parallels between

him and Stoker’s Dracula which are much too clear to be ignored. While Vlad was indeed an

important figure in history, for this paper, his deeds are not as important as finding and pointing

out the similarities, as well as the contrasts between those two.

First, there are several manuscripts which have been handed down, and one of the most famous

ones is Michel Beheim’s “the court poet of the emperor Frederick III” (McNally & Florescu

1994, 83). When the printing press was invented, the leaflets reporting on Dracula became very

popular in Europe. The first one was printed in 1463, either in Vienna or Wiener Neustadt

(ibid.). However, the question remains how reliable these leaflets, as well as manuscripts, are.

Even though reports are available, it does not necessarily mean that they are truthful (an

example being the ones about the vampire epidemic and the evidence). Yet, McNally and

Florescu find them plausible due to the fact that the “Russian Dracula manuscript closely

coincides with the German stories” (ibid. 86). Hence, many of those sources are quite precise

when it comes to dates, figures and places which might be one of the reasons the authors choose

to consider them.

16

Vlad used to have a variety of surnames, having been known as Tepes, The Impaler or Dracula,

however, according to Beresford “Dracula is in fact more well-known as Vlad the Impaler than

Vlad Dracula” (Beresford 2008, 77). His father was Vlad II, also known as Vlad Dracula, which

means dragon. This is because he was a member of the Order of the Dragons, “a chivalric

society set up by King Sigismund of Hungary to defend Christendom against the Turks” (ibid.).

Dracula, or Drakulya means ‘son of the dragon’; the suffix ‘ulya’ stands for ‘son of’ in

Wallachia (now Romania). However, Dracul also stands for devil in Romania, which has led to

another translation: ‘son of the devil’ (ibid.).

Vlad had a difficult childhood, since his father was often at war and he himself was imprisoned

twice. From 1442 to 1448 Vlad was under house arrest in Sultan Murad’s palace (McNally &

Florescu 1994, 21) and from 1462 to 1474 he was the hostage of King Matthias Corvinus, who

was the King of Hungary at that time (ibid. 13). This means that he “spent more years in prison

than he did on the throne” (ibid., 92). His periods as king were short, having ruled in Wallachia

in 1448, from 1456 to 1462 and for two months in 1476 (ibid., 29). Vlad was married twice;

his first wife committed suicide (ibid. 92), whilst the second wife, a former member of the

Hungarian royal family, married to him while he was still being held captive (ibid. 99).

However, to marry a second time, Vlad converted from Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism,

which is indeed important since many people used to believe that this had been the reason for

him to become a vampire (Beresford 2008, 90). It is also said that he was shaped by the years

he spent as a detainee; the time he was in Turkish imprisonment “offer a clue to his shifty nature

and perverse personality” (McNally & Florescu 1994, 21). Aside from this, a Russian account

claims that “when he was in jail, he could not give up his bad habits. After catching mice and

having birds bought at the market, he tortured and impaled them” (ibid., 99). Whether this is

true or not is difficult to say and is still disputed, yet, some tend to think that this was used as a

method of “blackening Dracula’s reputation” (ibid. 99). Notwithstanding, his deeds were

undisputedly cruel. It is said that he used to eat among the cadavers of those he had robbed, for

instance (ibid. 26). He was also very concerned about resources, especially the human ones,

such as the warriors. To be prepared well, he “eliminated those unfortunates, and the crippled,

who could not usefully serve the state, especially in time of war” (ibid. 35). Whilst Vlad used

to impale his enemies, he was not the one who invented it. Impalement “was known in Asia

and practiced by the Turks” (ibid. 91), furthermore there are a lot of different variations when

it comes to this method.

This torture was often a matter of several hours, sometimes a matter of several days. There were various forms of impalement depending upon age, rank, or sex. There were also various geometric patterns in which the impaled were displayed. Usually the victims were

17

arranged in concentric circles on the outskirts of cities where they could be viewed by all. There were high spears and low spears, according to rank. Victims were impaled and left either feet up or head up, or they might be impaled through the heart or navel. Victims were subjected to nails driven into their heads, maiming of limbs, blinding, strangulation, burning, the hacking off of noses and ears, the hacking out of sexual organs in the case of women, scalping and skinning, exposure to the elements or to wild animals, and boiling alive (ibid. 41).

Dracula was cruel and treated his victims in the most brutal way; vampire hunters, indeed, did

the same to vampires in folklore. Besides this, they also used to impale the undead, which was

known as the only way to kill them properly (Beresford 2008, 93). However, it needs to be

stated that this method was also used during the Saxon era and therefore makes this link between

Dracula and the vampire hunters rather invalid. Even though, Dracula’s most infamous method

of killing was impalement, he also used other techniques to get rid of his enemies, or the people

who broke the law (ibid. 84). He “decapitated them; cut off their noses, ears, sexual organs,

limbs; hacked them to pieces; and burned, boiled, roasted, skinned, nailed, and buried them

alive” (McNally & Florescu 1994, 85). Besides this, it should also be noted that “Beheim

described Dracula as dipping his bread in the blood of his victims, which technically makes

him a living vampire – a reference that may have induced Stoker to make use of this term”

(ibid.). However, it is important to understand that this is not the truth, since there has been a

mistake in the translation. Originally it states that Dracula used to wash his hands in blood,

which was brought to his dinner table (Beresford 2008, 92). Besides this, there is no real

evidence which connects Dracula to vampirism. There have been some attempts to explain his

bloodthirstiness, the main reason being revenge, according to McNally and Florescu (1994, 22,

88). This is due to the cruel death of his family; his father Dracul and his mother Mircea had

been assassinated and his brother had been buried alive after he had been “blinded with red-hot

iron stakes” (McNally and Florescu 1994, 22). Interestingly, there are some accounts that

assume that he was “partially impotent” (ibid., 40) and that this was the reason for his cruelty,

though there is a lack of reliable sources for this claim. In contrast to his cruel deeds, Dracula

was God fearing and was “concerned about the survival of the soul in the afterlife” (ibid.). He

also used to surround himself with “priests, bishops, and confessors, whether Roman Catholic

or Orthodox” (ibid.). Further, Dracula was also admired by the Church since he was willing to

fight for Christianity, though some disliked his cruel tactics. One of these included, ‘germ

warfare’, whereby he “encouraged all those infected by diseases, such as leprosy, tuberculosis,

and the bubonic plague, to dress in Turkish fashion and intermingle with the soldiers” (McNally

& Florescu 1994, 52-53; Beresford 2008, 84). He promised them that, if they somehow manage

18

to infect and kill some of the enemies and survive themselves, that they will be richly rewarded

after their return.

Dracula died in December 1476, and again there are several versions of how this happened.

“The Slavic account of Dracula’s assassination” (McNally & Florescu 1994, 103) states that

while his army was fighting against the Turks, he decided to “ascend[ed] a hill in order to see

better his men massacring the Turks.” (ibid). However, it is not exactly clear who murdered the

Impaler. Beresford states that “[he] was killed either by his own me, who mistook him for a

Turk (highly unlikely, one has to agree), or by an assassin or traitor” (Beresford 2008, 95).

Moreover, his burial is also ‘shrouded in myth’, though it is assumed that he is buried at the

monastery on the island of Snagov. However, when his grave was discovered and opened it

turned out to be empty. Dracula thus either had risen from the grave, like a real vampire, or his

body had been removed, or was never there at all. Albeit, a second grave has been discovered

during the excavations, revealing a male body, next to which there had been several remains of

objects, such as “a purple funerary veil and yellow-brown velvet coat adorned with silver

buttons” (ibid., 94). Besides this, there was also a golden ring. Later it was suggested that this

might have been the actual grave of Vlad, however, there has never been any proof to back this

up; not even the excavation in 1933. “It is most likely that although the grave may be

contemporaneous with Dracula, it is not that of Dracula himself” (ibid.).

With this being said, it is obvious that there is little to no evidence that connects Vlad Tepes or

Dracula, with Stoker’s fictional vampire, despite the fact that his story is partly set in

Transylvania and that Stoker adopted the name (even though he did this very late, as the story

was originally to be set in Austria and the vampire was called Count Vampyre (ibid., 93)). This

suggests that Stoker’s vampire was not modeled on Vlad; he used the name, but this was

probably because he thought it was sinister and fitted quite well into his story. Moreover, his

fictional Dracula describes himself as a Szekely3, whereas Vlad was not. Finally, it should also

be taken into consideration that it was not only Vlad who used the term Dracula, but it was also

adopted by Dracul’s other sons, and was not exclusive to Vlad. (ibid., 93).

3 A Szekely is a self-supposed descendant of an East Asian race which is said to be older than the Magyars (McNally & Florescu 1994, 153).

19

2.3.2 Other Vampires

Even though many people still wrongly believe that Vlad Tepes used to be a vampire, there is

a comprehensive survey of historical documents, such as the reports of other ‘real’ vampires

like Peter Polgojowitz, The Shoemaker of Silesia or Visum et Repertum just to name a few

(Barber 1988, 5- 20), which can help in analyzing the topic more thoroughly. Again, religion

played an important role, which can be seen in Transylvania, for example, where Eastern and

Western religions meet. It was also a common belief that converting from one religion to

another makes the person a vampire (Beresford 2008, 90), which was also the case with Vlad

Dracula.

In the upcoming subchapters the reader will be provided with ‘real’ vampire stories. Therefore,

it should be mentioned that even though these accounts might sound surreal, they are based on

official documents.

2.3.2.1 Peter Plogojowitz

According to Barber, “Europeans of the early 1700s showed a great interest in the subject of

the vampire” (Barber 1941, 5). However, the story of Peter Plogojowitz is one of the most

important accounts of this interest. It took place in the village of Kisilova in 1725, where, after

the death of Plogojowitz, nine people died within a week (ibid. 6). They all said, while being in

their deathbed, that Plogojowitz had appeared in their sleep, and all of them blamed him for

their illness, which ended in death. The Imperial Provisor, who recorded Peter’s story,

recognized the need of an exhumation of Peter Plogojowitz (ibid.). His body was found almost

without any damage, while his mouth was covered with fresh blood. As a consequence, his

body was pierced with a sharpened stake and burned to ashes. After this, the people were able

to live in peace again (Barber 1998, 6 – 7).

Whether Peter Plogojowitz was a vampire or not is still debatable, Barber therefore points out

in his book Vampires, Burial and Death (1998) that some of the facts in this report cannot be

taken as reliable. For instance, the Imperial Provisor said that “the hair, beard, and nails have

grown, and new skin has formed under the old” (ibid., 7). However, he could not have known

that, since he never saw Peter alive. This confirms the theory that there are differences between

folkloric and fictional vampires (ibid.).

The fictional vampire tends to be tall, thin, and sallow, the folkloric vampire is plump and ruddy, or dark in color. […] for the fictional vampire tends to spring from the nobility

20

and to live in a castle, while the folkloric vampire is of peasant stock and resides (during the day at least) in the graveyard in which he was buried (ibid., 4).

Plogojowitz had fresh blood around his mouth, which was seen as evidence, as was the fact that

people had seen him in their sleep and he “throttled them, so they would have to give up the

ghost” (Barber 1988, 6). However, it would be a logical solution to say that Plogojowitz was

affected by a disease and had been the first one to die from it. Yet, he is held responsible for

the deaths of the others – “post hoc, ergo propter hoc” (ibid. 7). His appearance in their dreams

could have caused their breathing difficulties as a result of the nightmares. In any case, the

typical vampire ‘marks’ from the ‘vampire’s kiss’ are not mentioned in the report, which might

be due to the folkloric belief that vampires simply love to torture their victims (ibid. 7 - 8).

Overall, it is hard to say whether Peter Plogojowitz was a vampire or not, yet many persons had

died after his passing, which was seemingly enough for people to mark him as a vampire.

2.3.2.2 The shoemaker of Silesia/Breslau

Peter Plogojowitz was not the only one who got exhumed under the suspicion of vampirism,

however. The shoemaker of Breslau shared this fate after he committed suicide in the year

1591(Barber 1988, 10). Since his wife was ashamed of this, she tried to hide his actual cause

of death and told everyone that he died of a stroke. After his burial, stories appeared among the

people that he had killed himself, which no one wanted to believe at first, but the rumors became

stronger and stronger. The wife, in the meantime, was advised by friends that she should not

allow the exhumation if there is no strong proof. Ad interim, a ghost appeared now and then,

“in just such a form as the shoemaker had in his lifetime” (Barber 1988, 11). People even said

that the ghost not only appeared during the night, but also during the daytime. He scared people,

awoke them, squeezed them and joined them in their bed. This caused mass hysteria, provoking

fear in the majority of Breslau’s populace, as it turned out that most of them shared nearly

identical stories. As a consequence, the exhumation of the body was arranged. Here, again, the

torso was almost undamaged, even though he was buried for eight months. Although the corpus

was exhumed, it did not help to solve the problem, au contraire, it got even worse (ibid., 12).

Thus, it was decided that the corpse should be beheaded, and the heart taken out, even though

it looked “as good as that of a freshly slaughtered calf” (ibid., 13), and to burn everything

afterwards. The ashes were thrown into the flowing water, and after this procedure, the ghost

“was never seen again” (ibid.).

However, according to Barber (1988, 13), much of the story is implausible. For instance, the

descriptions of the dead and bloated body, as well as the new skin and the distended corpus, are

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known to pathologists as ‘skin slippage’ and are normal events when it comes to decomposition

(Barber 1998, 13). Hence, this natural process was interpreted in a wrong way, which is

plausible since this was a common occurrence back then. Another thing that should be noted

here is that, firstly, people who commit suicide (which cannot be proven in this case), are more

likely to turn into vampires afterwards (according to ancient belief), yet in this case the ‘undead’

was referred to as a ghost and not a vampire, possibly due to the fact that he also appeared

during the day, in the sunlight. This is something that is rarely the case when it comes to the

fictional vampire. Secondly, as Barber points out (ibid. 13 – 14), that the body is destroyed in

several ways in order to end the horror, however, he also stated that the ghost is independent

from the body, this can be tracked back, because there was no mentioning of the corpse leaving

the grave, which implies that one only need to destroy the body/corpse in order to kill the ghost.

2.3.2.3 Visum et Repertum

The name Arnod Paole, who was an ex-soldier who fell off a hay wagon, is associated with

perhaps one of the most notable instances of vampirism in the first quarter of the eighteenth

century. He was one of the first in a line of vampires, that “attracted the attention of the

authorities and led to the investigative report (Barber 1988, 15)” Visum et Reportum (Seen and

Discovered). However, it has to be noted that Paole himself was not studied closely, since he

had been exhumed, staked and burned several years before the investigators arrived (ibid.).

The investigation was carried out by Johannes Flückinger, who found out about Arnod Paole

(ibid., 16). Some people remembered Paole saying, that he “had been troubled by vampires”

and in order to avoid anything like this again he “had eaten from the earth of the vampire’s

grave and had smeared himself with the vampire’s blood” (ibid.). After his death, people told

that Paole had returned, since they have seen him, and that he killed four people. As in the

examples before, the corpse had not decayed and “fresh blood had flowed from his eyes, nose,

mouth and ears” and “the old nails on his hands and feet, along with the skin, had fallen off,

and that new ones had grown” (ibid.). Therefore, his body was staked, which caused the

vampire to “groan”, and burned afterwards. Interestingly, it was reported that Paole did not only

attack humans, but also went for cattle (ibid.). The folklore further states that the animals had

also turned into that vampires when attacked by one. Nevertheless, it is also possible to become

a vampire when eating from the attacked animal, in this case the cattle. Paole’s case was one of

the first in this village and was followed by several deaths of people who were suspected to had

turned into vampires (ibid.). Flückinger mentioned thirteen people in his report, however, only

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one of those had deceased “normally” (ibid., 16 - 18). Hence there are motifs that can be

connected to vampirism; for instance, two people (one of them was Paole), were said to have

used “the blood of the vampire as an antidote to vampirism”, however, in both cases they had

failed. Another example can be found in the complaints of the people who believed they had

seen Paole, as well as the fact that his body had not decayed after his exhumation, and his corpse

“groans and bleeds” (ibid. 18) after being staked. Additionally, one of the vampires had

changed, since she was described as “lean when alive” (ibid. 18 – 19) and “plump” when she

turned undead. Besides this, Flückinger also pointed out that non-decayed bodies are unnatural,

and therefore noted that “nearby bodies have decayed properly” (ibid. 18 – 19). Barber also

points out that “[a]ll these are typical observations in the history of vampirism. It would also be

useful, however, since Flückinger was an outsider and a medical officer, to separate out what

he himself observed that is unusual” (ibid., 19) Arnod Paole could not be taken into

consideration here, since the “groan” (ibid.) he made while being staked was not mentioned

again. However, Flückinger created a list of unusual events which contain, among others, the

unnatural state of decomposition (the suspected vampires seem not to decompose), even though

the bodies had been buried for “time ranging from eighteenth days to three months” (ibid., 19).

Further, the corpses contained fresh and liquid blood, and two bodies had fresh skin and nails.

Yet, other bodies had decomposed completely, compared to the vampiric ones, although this

could be due to the fact that people who suffer a long illness, tend to decompose faster than

those who died in healthy condition (ibid., 19 - 20). Moreover, one vampire had the typical

mark under the ear. Flückinger took this as evidence of the “throttling”, even though this mark

is said to indicate a vampire as well as a witch, hence it would have been confirmed either way.

At last he also pointed out that a boy had the typical “distinctively ruddy” vampire face (ibid.,

19).

This list confirms what was known by folklore about vampires, and also leads to Flückingers

persuasion that something strange was going on, thus he also tried to define a vampire. If one

had to come up with a definition of a vampire according to his report it would read something

like: “A vampire is a body that in all respects appears to be dead except that it does not decay

as we expect, its blood does not coagulate, and it may show changes in dimension and color”

(ibid. 20).

These examples illustrate the long-standing fascination people have had with the vampire. In

spite of this, “the idea of vampirism within society” (Beresford 2008, 114) almost died out

around 1770. Beresford states that “[t]he exact reason for this remains uncertain but it may be

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related to the conflict and political turmoil of the following few decades” (ibid.). It rose from

its grave merely forty years later and found its way back in its probably strongest form as the

literary vampire.

2.4 The vampire reflected in the literature of the 18th and 19th century

The vampire was immortalized during the nineteenth century “as he [it] was made the subject

of poems, magazines and novels” (Beresford 2008, 115), with this interest leading to an

extensive list of vampiric literary work all across Europe, such as Wij (1835) from the Russian

author Nikolai Wassiljewitsch Gogol or The Family of the Vourdalak (1839) by Aleksey

Konstantinovich Tolstoy. At the beginning of this period both, Goethe and Coleridge wrote

poetry that included vampires, and therefore also “set the mood for subsequent vampire

literature, which includes poetry by Byron, Keats, and Baudelaire, as well as short stories by

Poe, Dumas, Maupassant, and Gautier” (McGinley 1994, 71) .However, there are perhaps only

four texts which have contributed to the development of this genre, and, indeed, influenced later

stage and film adaptions. The texts are John Polidori’s The Vampyre (1819), James Malcom

Rymer’s Varney the Vampyre (1845), Sheridan Le Faun’s Carmilla (1872) and Bram Stroker’s

Dracula (1897) (Beresford 2008, 115).

Beresford posits that “the earlier poetry of the Romantic movement was the foundation for the

vampire in literature, work by authors such as Shelley, Keats, Byron and Southey” (ibid.).

According to McGinley (1994, 72 - 73), Lord Byron was the first to use the vampire myth in

literature. He created a gothic villain in his early poems, which later became known as the

Byronic hero. Attributes connected to the Byronic hero are his “charming, seductive,

aristocratic character with a diabolic narcissism and desire to control” (McGinley 1994, 73).

“Dracula, like many other vampire characters, is directly linked with the Byronic hero” (ibid.).

Since the use of imagination and feeling was highly encouraged in the Romantic period, it also

strongly influenced the Gothic genre highly. As stated in the beginning, one of the most

important texts from this era was by John Polidori, yet it was baised by one of Lord Byron’s

poems called The Giaour (1813) in which the reader was confronted with the creature of the

night.

But first on earth, as Vampyre sent, Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent, Then ghastly haunt thy native place, And suck the blood of all thy race (Beresford 2008, 115).

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Here it has to be noted that the poem itself was most likely to be influenced by earlier Romantic

works from Coleridge such as Christable (1816) or The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798).

In these works, Coleridge included ideas on a “prolonged life in death and cursed eternal

wanderings that are remarkably similar to those found in vampirism” (ibid., 116). Thus, these

works have definitely affected later vampire literature. Even though it may seem relatively easy

to figure out the beginning of the literary vampire, it is not. This is due to Grundin’s remark

that “the initial appearance of the vampire in literary subject came in 1748, as a very minor

poem by a very minor poet”, Der Vampir by Heinrich Agust Ossenfelder. (Grundin 1987, 61).

There are even some similarities between vampires and the monster in the Beowulf saga. For

instance, like the vampire, the monster in the saga only operates at night and can only be ended

by beheading. (Twitchell 1981, 30). However, going back, there are many poems as well as

novels besides, the works by Coleridge which use the figure of the vampire in order to frighten

their readers, like Keats’s Lamia (1820), Poe’s Ligeria (1838) or Goethe’s Die Braut von

Korinth (1797). This, though, changed with the four authors mentioned at the beginning. Their

stories aimed not only to scare the reader, but also to enlighten them. Here, the vampire figure

became “a serious analog for the process of energy exchange involved in human interactions”

(Twitchell 1981, 142). However, the vampire as it is known today would probably have been

forgotten without one key genre in English literature, namely the gothic novel.

2.4.1 The gothic novel

“One of the powerful images conjured up by the words ‘gothic novel’ is that of a shadowy form

rising from a mysterious place: […], Dracula creeping from his coffin, or, more generally, the

slow opening crypt to reveal a dark and obscure creature” (Kilgour 1995, 3).

This quote from Maggie Kilgour’s book The Rise of the Gothic Novel sums up the phenomenon

of this literary genre, which emerged in the eighteenth century and was seen as a sign of

revolution in literature. It was part of the Romanticism movement and happened all over

Europe. Its interest was especially in bizarre, supernatural, eccentric, lawless, or dark themes.

In the beginning, however, most of those stories had rational endings; the mysteries turned out

to have natural causes and thus could be explained in a logical way, as they had been a seeming

blend of illusion and horror (Kilgour 1995, 3). However, this changed since the gothic itself “is

a transitional and rather puerile form which is superseded by the more mature ‘high’ art of

superior Romantics such as Coleridge, Keats, and especially Byron.” (ibid.). Byron, as stated

above, created the Byronic hero, which was the prototype for a number of gothic villains. The

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first gothic story, The Castle of Ontranto, was written by Horace Walpole in 1765, with the

second edition even including the subtitle A Gothic Story. Walpole’s work was followed by

other authors such as Ann Radcliffe and Mathew Gregory Lewis as well as Charles Robert

Maturin. (Engman 1999, 50).

A turning point for gothic literature, and especially the gothic novel, was the summer of 1816,

when Mary Shelly, Lord Byron, his physician John Polidori, Mary’s stepsister Clair and Percy

Bysshe Shelly went on a vacation to Geneva, Switzerland. Since the rain had disturbed their

plans, they decided to read German tales of horror in order to “amuse themselves" (McNally &

Florescu 1994, 142). This might have influenced the other idea they had, namely writing a ghost

story. Even though none of them had written a novel like this before, ideas were discussed, and

fragments created. This had probably inspired Mary Shelly in 1818 when she wrote

Frankenstein. With this work, she introduced a new element to the gothic novel: realism (ibid.).

Shelly achieved horror and mystery through the exploration of science. The agent of horror in her book was no spook, no supernatural being nor the illusion of such. It was a real monster manufactured by the technical expertise of a medical student (McNally & Florescu 1994, 142).

Interestingly, both creatures, Frankenstein’s monster and the vampire “were conceived at the

same time – and the same place” (ibid. 142). This is due to the sketch Lord Byron created during

their Geneva visit, where he outlined a plan for a vampire story which he never ended up issuing

publicly. Instead, Polidori, his physician and former student of medicine at the University of

Edinburgh, took Byron’s idea, used it as a plan and created his story The Vampyre, which

Polidori’s story was published in the New Monthly Magazine under Byron’s name in April

1819. However, this happened because of a “misunderstanding on the part of the editor”

(ibid.143). The story was appreciated by many, including Goethe, who stated that The Vampyre

was Byron’s greatest work (ibid.). This milestone of gothic literature influenced a great number

of later works and will be discussed in the next subchapter.

2.4.2 The Vampyre or the first creature of the night in literature

The Vampyre was in essence the first ‘vampire story’, using elements that have been present in

folklore, as well as adding new ideas, like the vampire being an aristocratic member of society,

which turned out to become central to all other vampire stories (Beresfor 2008, 116). According

to the American historian David J. Skal, The Vampyre is “one of the most imitated and

influential horror stories ever published” (Skal in Beresford 2008, 116). Christopher Frayling

even states that it is “probably the most influential horror story of all time” as well as “the first

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story successfully to fuse the disparate elements of vampirism into a coherent literary genre”

(Frayling in Beresford 2008, 116).

While creating the protagonist, Lord Ruthven, Polidori unconsciously created the prototypical

vampire, with many later creations of the vampire following the “Ruthven formula” (Beresford

2008, 118). Although it was written in 1816, it was not published until 1819 in the New Monthly

Magazine. However, Polidori developed the vampire myth, even though his story is based on

fragments of an idea of Byron who wanted to create a vampire story. Moreover, it could be

suggested that The Vampyre was written during “Polidori and Byron’s ‘serious personal

disagreement’” (ibid., 119), which had led to the idea that Ruthven is based on Byron. The

result of this is a villain “who is suave and aristocratic yet dangerous and alluring” (ibid.), which

is this phenomenon previously referred to as the Ruthven formula, as mentioned earlier.

Additionally, whilst The Vampyre may be considered the first story, where the vampire’s

victims are preferably women, which differs from the folkloric vampire who did not care about

the gender of its victim (ibid.).

Another noticeable point in The Vampyre “is that the vampire is the victor and all the pure and

strong ‘innocents’ die, something that is reversed in later literature such as Dracula” (ibid.).

Moreover, there are fewer features of the folkloric vampire, as well as no use of the ‘classic’

gothic elements such as the castle or the graveyard. Yet there are some elements that occur in

The Vampyre as well as Dracula, like the similarities between some of the characters, such as

Lord Ruthven and Count Dracula, who both appear as “mysterious and darkly fascinating”

(ibid., 119 - 120). Similarities can also be found between Aubrey and Johnathan Harker, since

both of them are “quite easily intrigued but soon become suspicious and fearful” (ibid.).

The Vampyre’s success, which can probably be attributed to the awakened interest in the

vampire, paved the way for other stories about the creature of the night, such as Carmilla and

Dracula, which are both better known than Polidori’s work. However, it also has to be noted

that without The Vampyre these novels undoubtedly would not exist in the way they do, and it

also opened the path for the vampire on stage in 1823. Polidori, however, killed himself at the

age of 26, after drinking prussic acid (ibid. 120).

2.4.3 Varney the Vampyre

Whereas the vampire in Polidori’s novel did not have a lot in common with the folkloric

vampire, the one in James Malcolm Rymer’s Varney the Vampyer does. The story was

published in 1847, focusing on horror, compared to The Vamypre where the horror was only

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insinuated. The novel was about 850 pages long and had 237 chapters, but Rymer kept the

reader interested. Originally released as a series of ‘Penny Dreadfuls’, he used the Ruthven

formula, while including some notable additions (a method that was also used by Stoker

(Beresford 2008, 121)). The appearance of the vampire became more like the undead described

in folklore, where the vampire was a “tall and gaunt figure with long, gaunt hand which seems

to utterly destitute flesh” (ibid.). This description is also used in Dracula as well as for the

vampire in Nosferatu.

Besides this, the reader can find an underlying sexual theme in the first chapter between the girl

and the vampire, as well as the obvious shock horror, which became a permanent element of

later vampire works, such as Carmilla. During this scene the difference between the vampire

and girl was pointed out; “the smooth skin of that fair creature, […], and in that transition state

which presents to us all the charms of the girl” (ibid. 121). Here, the vampire is depicted as

dominant due to its size; moreover, the sexual tension is always present and builds into a climax,

when the girl is bitten by the vampire, which is seen as an act of pure sexuality. In this particular

scene, however, it is suggested as rape. Nevertheless, the sexuality of the vampire’s kiss is

something that continually appears in vampiric literature, as well as in film, “leading some to

suggest that the biting of the throat by the vampire is a metaphor for sexual intercourse, an act

deemed too risqué actually to be depicted in the nineteenth century” (ibid.).

Rymer took the “theme of sexuality hinted at by Polidori, with Aubrey and Ianthe […] and

moved it on further” (ibid.). Another interesting aspect is that the girl in Varney the Vampyre

Clara, is turned into a vampire and not merely killed as Ianthe in The Vampyre, which is used

as another building block for horror in the vampire literature. Moreover, Rymer added another

alteration by changing the ‘vampire hunting hero’ into an angry mob. This might have been be

influenced by folkloric tales, where the vampires live in isolated castles or mansions and cause

the suspicion of society, which leads to the angry mob (this motif is later also depicted in film).

Furthermore, when the locals realize that the vampire has to be destroyed, they also do this in

folkloric style, with a stake through his body. Clara, the female vampire, is in contrast to Varney

is not tall and gaunt. The only signs of vampirism are “the blood upon the lips, and the very

fresh-like appearance of the face” (ibid. 123). This could be an implied link to the vampire

epidemics in the eighteenth century.

Varney the Vampyre was, back then, the only literary work on vampires which had attempted

to make the reader empathizes with this creature, and this remained the case until Anne Rice

wrote her Vampire Chronicles 150 years later (ibid.).

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Towards the end of the story, and after Clara’s death, Varney even confesses his remorse

speaking about her to the priest Mr. Bevan.

And has it come to this? Is this my work? Oh horror! Horror unspeakable. In this some hideous dream or a reality of tragedy, so far transcending all I looked for, that if I had tears I should shed them now, but I have none … I thought that I had steeled my heart against all gentle impulses … but it is not so (Rymer 1847, chapter 225).

Since despair had overtaken him in the end, Varney killed himself, and with his death, the early

vampire literature also ended, since most of the authors only reworked the Ruthven’s plot,

which became boring over time, creating a need for a new twist.

2.4.4 J. Sheridan Le Fanu Carmilla

The change came with Le Fanu’s Carmilla which was published in 1872. The name Carmilla,

is an anagram of Mircalla, Countess of Karnstein, which is revealed at the end of the book.

However, this anagram, as well as others, has been used frequently later on. Nevertheless,

Carmilla is often referred to as “the most famous and certainly the most influential among

vampire tales … second only to Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (Beresford 2008, 125). One reason

for this can be found in the fact that Carmilla is the earliest example of a lesbian vampire story,

with Beresford noting that “it is perhaps fitting as a precursor to Dracula as it combines the

sexual undertones of Varney with more traditional horror types” (ibid.). As this story portrays

the undead sleeping in a coffin, as well as biting their victims, it may also be the first “vampire

tale” where the readers potentially feel some empathy for the vampire. Even though this effect

was also aimed at with Varney (to a minor extent compared to Carmilla, though), “his foul

deeds” distracted the reader emotionally. Moreover, Carmilla is portrayed as a young and

innocent girl, who does not know about her fate for quite some time making it easier for the

reader to empathize with her (ibid. 125).

An element of sexuality appears in a scene where Carmilla, is meets a girl who she used to visit

when she was younger, with the latter eventually recognizing her (from a dream), ending with

the two becoming friends. Yet, it is obvious that the emotions between them run deeper than a

simple friendship. This hinted homosexual longing is the first of its kind within vampire

literature (ibid., 127). Furthermore, “clear reflections of the atypical traits” (ibid. 127) from

folkloric behavior when it comes to the vampire are also depicted in this story, as it can be seen

in the “peasant-girl funeral procession” (ibid., 127) where the reader is told that the poor girl

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had seen a ghost (Carmilla), and “has been dying ever since, till yesterday, when she expired”

(ibid. 127). The most interesting element here is that the vampire is referred to as a ghost, as in

the Shoemaker of Breslau, although, this might also be due to the fact, that Le Fanu, tried to

build up tension and not reveal too much. Another fascinating change can be found in the scene

where Carmilla is buying a charm - something which was unusual for a vampire back then, but

has become omnipresent in today’s vampire literature, where they are immune to crosses, or

sunlight, for example. It can also be argued that the influence of the vampire folklore cannot be

denied, since Carmilla was able to transform herself into a black cat, as well as being able to

make herself invisible, which was another common belief in folkloric tales (Beresford 2008,

126-128, Engman 1999, 53). This, as well as other examples, show that the author definitely

did some research on the myth of the living dead. Another indicator of this, and probably the

most obvious one, is to be found in chapter fifteen, where the General says: “You heard, no

doubt, of the appealing superstition that prevails in Upper and Lower Styria, in Moravia, Silesia,

in Turkish Servia, in Poland, even in Russia; the superstition, so we must call it, of the vampire”

(Le Fanu 1872, 143). Le Fanu worked with the earlier fears and the public interest in folklore

as a “promotional tool” (Beresford 2008, 128). Two more features, influential in other vampire

stories too, were also used. The first one is the oath, that Carmilla “is sworn by her mother”

(ibid., 127), which also occurs in Varney the Vampyre, where the title character made Aubrey

vow that he will not reveal anything to anyone. The second feature is the fact that a vampire

can only be destroyed by more than one man, which was also the case in Dracula (Beresford

2008, 127, Engman 1999, 53-54).

Carmilla was also adapted on stage and in films, though it is not as well-known as Dracula,

possibly because of the former’s story being about the love between two women, expressed

through vampirism. Whether this is the reason or not, Le Fanu had a lasting effect on the

vampire literature and certainly helped its development (Beresford 2008, 127).

2.5 Bram Stoker’s Dracula or the most famous vampire in literature

Stoker’s infamous novel Dracula was published in 1897, and ever since the opinions on his

work have been divided (Beresford 2008, 134), with Beresford stating that “it is accepted as a

classic text and yet it certainly has its share of critics” (ibid.). However, in this case it can be

argued that the subject matters more than the literary work. It is a widespread belief that

Dracula resurrected the vampire “at a time when interest was waning” more than any other

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book which is, according to Beresford, due to its “ability to re-invent itself” (ibid., 135) and

thus secured the longevity of the vampire once again (ibid.).

The reasons for this can be found in the ability of Dracula’s blend pf the old with the new,

making it a crossover between historical vampirism rooted in folklore and modern vampirism.

However, the idea of the vampire as it is known today “had been gradually building within

literature for some years” (ibid.), but it took until the release of Dracula and its represented

adaptions for other art forms, such as the theatre and the cinema, to realize the widespread

associations “between the vampire or the imaginary created by the aforementioned Ruthven

formula” (ibid.). Stoker combined ancient traditions and folkloric elements of vampires, but he

also used cutting edge technology, as well as medicine (with Van Helsing’s blood transfusions),

thus also making this the vampire’s chance to enter the next century (ibid.). Nevertheless, some

of the rituals Stoker used in his novel correspond with Eastern European folklore. For example,

in Romanian folklore, garlic is put in the mouth of a dead vampire, which is something that was

also used in an adapted form in Dracula, where the men protected themselves with garlic.

Moreover, he also used methods which occurred in folkloric tales, such as cutting the head of

the creature, as well as driving a stake through the heart, in order to kill a vampire. Furthermore,

Dracula appears in the novel in “the form of mist or phosphorescent specks” (McNally &

Florescu 1994, 153), which is how “the vampire in Romanian folklore also sometimes appears”

(ibid.). Besides this, the ability to shapeshift also has its origins in folklore, where numerous

vampires are able to take the shape of a cat, bat or wolf. This element was also used by Le Fanu,

hence Carmilla was able to turn into a cat, whereas Dracula turns himself into a bat or a wolf.

Folkloric elements from Slavic countries are also used, portrayed in the fact that Dracula only

moves at night, has no reflection in the mirror and that he is repelled by the sign of a cross.

Clearly, Stoker was influenced ad inspired by a number of cultures ad works when writing his

book and one of the artefacts that was very important in this regard was Madame Emily de

Laszkowa Gerard’s Land Beyond the Forest from 1888, which included a great deal of

Romanian superstition. This book was the reason why Stoker changed the setting for his story.

Though it was originally planned to take place in Styria, he moved it to Transylvania, since this

country offered him the perfect atmosphere for the story (McNally 1994, 150-151).

When it comes to Dracula, many believe that the literary figure of Count Dracula is based on

Vlad Dracula, or Vlad the Impaler, which seems to be only partly true, since there is little

evidence that Stoker used anything else than the name. Given the history of Vlad Dracula, that

when reading in Jonathan Harker’s Journal, Stoker wrote “in his speaking of things and people

and battles, he spoke as if he had been present at them.” (Stoker 1879, 54). This seems to

31

suggests that the Count was indeed Vlad, although he later states that he is a Szekely whereas

Vlad was not. Moreover, the Count comments that “Attila’s blood courses his veins” (ibid., 55),

setting up further parallels between the Count and Vlad arise, since it is known that the latter

admired some of the methods Attila the Hun used (Beresford 2008, 137). An explanation for

this might be that Stoker, simply collected a variety of information and combined the best “bits

into a sort of vampiric hybrid” (ibid.). It also should be noted that up until Stoker had finished

writing, the Count was still named Count Vampyre instead of Dracula (ibid. 138).

Even though it is not always clear on whom Stoker based his famous vampire count on, the

work itself will always remain one of the most famous vampire stories ever created, in spite of

how polarizing it is. This is due to the fact that it combines different aspects from history,

folklore and literature into one. Nevertheless, it was not until the “mass-market technology of

cinema, which allowed a widespread success of Dracula films starring Bela Lugosi and

Christopher Lee from the 1930s onwards, that any widely accepted vampire become apparent”

(ibid. 139). Stoker shaped the picture of the vampire as we know it today, and without Dracula

it may have died out before. Count Dracula is indeed the most famous vampire ever created,

and no matter what has come before or will come after him, “this is probably how the vampire

will be remembered forever” (ibid.139). In spite of the fact that the vampire guise was created

by Polidori, or the fact that Le Fanu had a massive influence on Stoker, or even that the

vampire’s history is over six thousand years old, Dracula will probably outshine these

examples, which shows the extensive influence Stoker had on this creature (ibid. 139).

3 Early cinematic representation of vampires

The vampire as it is known today has evolved over thousands of years, from ancient times to

the twenty first century. Therefore, it has undergone some changes in its depiction, which will

be displayed in. However, with its cinematic presence, it has become a worldwide phenomenon

since its first screen appearance in 1922 around “3,000 vampire or vampire-related films”

(Gelder 1994, 86) been produced worldwide (ibid.). This creates the appearance that “the

cinema is – and has been for some time – the rightful place of occupation for the vampire” (ibid.

87 - 88). Yet it has to be noted that the vampire movie did not have its beginnings in Hollywood,

as many may believe, but instead it was brought there. An example of this is Nosferatu, a

German adaption of the vampire (or Dracula) from 1922. Here it can be seen that the vampire

was “likely to travel to any place with that means” (ibid.), in aspects of finances and techniques,

as well as its propensity to be produced and shown as a film. “Cinema may be a suitably

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nomadic home for the vampire” (ibid.). This goes to explain how it managed to become an

international medium, since the so-called ‘dream industry’ of Hollywood is drawn to

superstition, the fantastic and the aura this brings.

However, ideological analyses often encounter difficulties when it comes to accounting.

Nevertheless, film itself is an “animating medium” (ibid. 87 - 88) where images are brought to

life in “an otherwise darkened room, in a simulation of the night” (ibid.), which is often used

as a feature in horror films. In the pre-history of cinema, from the late eighteenth and early

nineteenth century, ghost shows have been very popular (ibid.), making use of early “spectral

technologies and spectatorial technologies” in order to make the dead, which were lost loved

ones from cast members from people in the audience, seem alive. Terry Castle said that this

supernaturalized the mind and made ghost illusions look, paradoxically, “more real than ever

before” (ibid.). The early forms of modern cinema, with Edison’s Kinetoscope and the

Cinematograph of the Lumière Brothers, were able to fascinate and make “images come to life”

(ibid.), and at the same time created a possibility to “overcome death itself” (ibid.). This meant

making things appear more alive than one had imagined. Additionally, the cinema was able to

“recruit its audience” (ibid.) by giving them the feeling of being let down after leaving the

movies and going back to real life. As a consequence, people would come back, over and over

again. However, Hollywood has always been looking for profitability which was, according to

Jean-Louis Comolli in Gelder (1994), combined with commerce and the imaginary (ibid.).

“This is certainly a place which the vampire might inevitably inhabit-as a seductive, fascinating

creature of the night, tied to the reproductive technologies of the modern age and to the

accumulation of capital” (ibid. 88). The vampire is a figure that is able to mix reality with

illusion, belief with disbelief, death with life, and at the same time throw all of this into question

just like cinema. Though these connections might be disputed by some, the vampire is, in some

respects, a “naturally cinematic creature” (ibid.).

Moreover, the early cinematic representation and experience of the vampire was not, as many

may think, primitive or a childlike belief in the “illusion-as-real” (ibid. 88) but rather “an

encounter with modernity” which “enabled illusion and disillusion to coexist” (ibid. 88).

Besides this, it has to be noted that vampire films have always embraced society’s taboos, as

well as making fun of the religious ideas about the creature. “In the 1920s” (Guiley 1994, 109)

vampire films shocked and horrified its audiences, yet it has been the most censored genre

besides the slasher films which started to rise (ibid.).

In the age of silent film, many filmmakers experimented with the motion pictures. Some used

them to document history, others used the new medium to create something mysterious and

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fantastic. Unfortunately, the “early motion picture film stock was a volatile medium and was

destroyed by exposure to air and light” (ibid.). As a result, just a handful of these early vampire

films exist. One of them is Nosferatu from 1922.

In the following subchapters, a closer look at the films, as well as the change of the vampire

itself, will be taken in order to find out how it was depicted at the beginning of its cinematic

appearance.

3.1 Nosferatu

Tod Browning’s film Dracula (1931) is still believed to be the earliest popular film about the

undead, which is actually not true. Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens (a symphony of

horror) (1922) is said to be one of the first adaptions of that kind. It is thought to be an illegal

German adaption of Dracula, directed by F. W. Murnau in 1922 (Guiley 1994, 110). Max

Schreck is stars in this classic silent film, which is considered to be one of the “greatest vampire

films ever made” (Bunson 1993, 191). However, it faded into obscurity for decades since the

widow of Stoker, Florence, started a campaign to stop the release. This was due the presumed

illegality of Nosferatu as an adaption of the Stoker’s story (ibid.). This led to a few changes

within the names and locations of the film. Murnau changed the stetting from the “Balkans to

the Baltic area” (Murnau, therefore, made his Count travel to Germany, which is part of the

Baltic area, contrary to Dracula, who travels to London) (McNally & Florescu 1994, 285), while

also changing the names of the characters, as Count Dracula became Count Orlok for instance.

As mentioned above, Nosferatu is “the first surviving Dracula film” (ibid.), and besides certain

“technical gimmicks that cause modern audiences to laugh” (ibid.), such as the accelerated

sequences, the film itself is a masterpiece and a milestone in vampire films (ibid.).

3.1.1 The plot of Nosferatu

Nosferatu is considered an adaption of Stoker’s novel and if one takes a closer look, arguments

for this can be found. Although the names of the characters, as well as the places, have been

changed it still follows Dracula’s plot. As mentioned previously, Count Dracula became Count

Orlok, Johnathan’s last name was changed to Hutter, Mina was renamed Ellen, Van Helsing

became Buwler, and Lucy (who is married) had a very minor role in this adaption. Nevertheless,

there are some “quite striking alliterations in Nosferatu from the original story” (Beresford

2008, 142), which are notable in the appearance of the Count. Besides this, the location was

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shifted from London to Bremen (or Wisborg, depending on the print), as mentioned above

(Gelder 1994, 94 – 95). The plot opens like the original story, starting with Hutter travelling to

Transylvania to “finalize the sale of some property to Count Orlok” (Beresford 2008, 143),

which is located in Wisborg, Germany. Knock, the employee of Hutter (who is simultaneously

enslaved to Orlok), “suggests that Orlok is a Nosferatu when he tells Hutter to travel” (ibid.)

there in order to make some money, even though it may “cost him a bit of pain and little blood”

(ibid.). The story continues with Orlok buying the house and attacking Hutter. Afterwards he

travels to Wisborg on a ship called the Dementer and kills the whole crew. This is the point

when Van Helsing appears for a short period, giving a lecture “on the vampire plant (Venus

Fly)” (ibid.). Orlok’s intention behind travelling to Germany is mostly Ellen (or Mina), as he

wanted to replace Hutter as her partner (Glender 1994, 95). With his arrival in Wisborg, the

rats, bringing the plague, come along (a link to folkloric vampire literature in which rats are

known to have brought the plague). However, the ending differs from the one in Dracula. Here,

Ellen discovers that she has to expose the vampire to sunlight to destroy him. Moreover,

sacrificing herself is also necessary. This results in Orlok exploding into dust “during the break

of dawn” (Beresford 2008, 143) while drinking Ellen’s blood. With the death of the Count, the

plague also stops (ibid.).

3.1.2 The portrayal of Count Orlok

Since the story of the film is based on Stoker’s Dracula, Nosferatu’s similarities are notable,

especially in the depiction of Count Orlok. When he appears as a vampire for the first time he

is “extremely sinister, has a huge form that fills the door-way and his features are quite rat-like,

with protruding teeth, pointed ears and long, pointed fingers” (Beresford 2008, 142). Other

features of his appearance are the bald head and his “three quarter length jacket” (Gelder 1994,

95) which is buttoned up in a tight way. His figure dominates the film, as film critic Eric Rhode

says:

[w]hen he emerges high on the edge of the horizon, or framed in a doorway, or walking the deck of a ship, he seems to take possession of these places and rob them of their identity. Coffins and doorways become apt niches for his emaciated body, and bare fields seem to distend from his gnarled form (Rhode in Gelder 1994, 95).

His appearance is more likely to be found in the folkloric tales of the undead than in vampire

literature. Yet there are some similarities with Varney, who also used to mirror the folkloric

depictions. However, these are the only two examples where this appearance was preferred to

the Ruthven formula, and it might be the reason why the film became so famous. “Count Orlok

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is portrayed in the same way as Varney” (Berseford 2008, 142), he is depicted as lonely,

desperate and condemned, which encourages the viewer to emphasize with him, an idea which

was later adopted by other authors such as Anne Rice. Although the Count is more like folkloric

vampires when it comes to appearance, he also has some “classic modern traits such as waking

at night, sleeping in a coffin and biting his victim’s neck” (ibid.). Whilst there are many

similarities with Dracula, there are also some differences since Orlok is based more on folkloric

vampires, which can be seen at the film’s end. Here Ellen (who partly mirrors Mina) discovers

that “she must entice the vampire into sunlight to destroy him” (ibid. 143) and sacrifices herself

to do so. Orlok is distracted while drinking the blood of the woman, thus missing the cockcrow.

As a consequence, “he explodes into dust with the break of dawn” and with his death he also

ends the plague (ibid.). Throughout the whole film Orlok’s appearance is connected with the

bubonic plague, which is an important aspect of his shock value, as well as his grotesque

appearance, since he is the one to be blamed for the plague coming to Germany (Gelder 1994,

98).

Yet this is also a popular myth, that not only the sunlight is “lethal to vampires” (ibid.), but that

the plague, other diseases (like sexually transmitted ones) and death, brought by these creatures,

can only be stopped by destroying the vampire (Beresford 2008, 143). Nosferatu thus combines

many of folkloric elements, mixed with attributes of his ‘role’ model Dracula, allowing Murnau

to create a masterpiece and milestone of the cinematic representation of this old myth-

enshrouded creature.

3.2 The vampire on the big screen - Dracula 1931

This adaption of Stoker’s novel originated from a theater version of Dracula from 1924, which

was released as Dracula: The Vampire Play by Hamilton Deane and John Balderston. Since

the play was a great success, it was used to persuade Universal Studios to create a film adaption

which was written by Tod Browning and released in 1931, starring Bela Lugosi as Count

Dracula (Beresford 2008, 144). Dracula still ranks among the most important films in vampiric

cinema and still influences “the way in which the count was forever after depicted” (Bunson

1993, 74). The film, moreover, was a large success for Universal Studios and also did a solid

job of “proving the financial potential” (ibid.) of horror and undead movies. However,

according to Bunson, the film is, by today’s standards, quite disappointing (ibid.). His statement

refers to the hampered static photography, Lugosi’s performance as Count Dracula, as well as

the “absence of meaningful action” (ibid.). However, it should be kept in mind that back then

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the material, as well as financial means, were limited. In spite of this, the atmosphere

experienced was superb, and the film functioned for the cinema of the 1930s. This was due to

the lack of extremely shocking scenes or graphic violence and tension. In contrast to other

works of that period, such as London After Midnight (1927), which ended with the “monstrous

threat proven to be unreal or a hoax, Dracula sustained its supernatural elements” (ibid.), which

added an overall effectiveness to the concept of the film (ibid.).

However, the plot will not be discussed here, since it is almost fully identical to Stoker’s story,

except for a few differences. Firstly, the monster, which is Count Dracula, is killed by Van

Helsing who “breaks apart a coffin lid to fashion a stake, and hammers the stake into the

vampire’s body” (Waller 2010, 90). Secondly, there are without any exception only

heterosexual relationships (which does change over time). Finally, contrary to the book,

Renfield and not Jonathan Harker visits Dracula in Transylvania (ibid., 87 - 91).

3.2.1 The early cinematic portrayal of Count Dracula

The appearance Dracula is associated with nowadays originates in Lugosi’s decision to bring

the opera cloak he used to wear during the stage performance (which was used there to cover

hidden trap-doors) onto the screen version without knowing that this cape would become iconic

for the vampire, as well as the fanged teeth and the stake which is used to kill them (Beresford

2008, 144). Moreover, it gave the vampire an aristocratic look. Lugosi’s portrayal of the Count

as a “foreign predator in the guise of aristocratic sophistication became the role model for many

vampires to come [within the cinema]” (ibid., 144 - 145). This mimesis had originally been

influenced by the ‘Ruthven formula’ in literature, with one exception being Murnau’s portrayal

of Count Orlok in Nosferatu, as mentioned in the previous subchapter (ibid.). Outstanding in

this portrayal of Dracula is Lugosi’s East European speaking pattern, since he did not speak

English and learned his lines phonetically (ibid., 144). His performance was appreciated and

associated with the Count, with Beresford praising “his facial expressions, threatening yet

sophisticated demeanor and grandiose attire” (ibid.), which represented the creature of the night

perfectly. However, the Count was depicted differently to his book model. This is due to some

differences that occur when taking a closer look. Firstly, Stoker gave his Dracula more folkloric,

animalistic features, such as “bushy eyebrows, blunt-fingered, coarse hands, hairy palms, and

foul breath” which for example can be found in Nosferatu (Guiley 1994, 68), which did not

make it to the screen. Secondly, in the scene in the book when Dracula is drinking the blood of

Mina and she is unable to resist, she implies that she is the victim of rape, rather than seduction

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which is the case in the movie. Yet there has been a shift in emphasis with Lugosi’s performance

which has given society the cultural stereotype of the vampire. The film Dracula and the actor’s

performance have “picked up and magnified the subliminal eroticism of the novel, as well as

the very slight hints of Count Dracula’s sorrow over his isolation from humanity” (ibid.). This

can be seen when Lugosi’s Dracula uses a quote form Algernon Swinburne: “there are worse

things waiting for man than death” (ibid.), which did not make an appearance in the book.

Summing this up, the vampire that was portrayed by Lugosi definitely influenced other actors

as well as films, whereas the vampire seemed to turn from a bad-looking monster, such as in

Nosferatu, to a more human-like creature.

3.3 Differences and similarities between Count Orlok and Count Dracula

Both Nosferatu and Dracula are masterpieces, as well as milestones, for the vampire, in

cinematic history and they still influence the depiction of vampires seen today. However, it

might be noticed when watching films of that genre that the aristocratic ones, constructed after

the `Ruthven formula` is more dominant than the monstrous version which is seen in Nosferatu

(1922). Even though those films were made just nine years apart, there are notable differences

when it comes to the vampire Count, who was based on Stoker’s Count in both cases.

Count Orlok, in Nosferatu, is pictured as a gaunt yet grotesque figure, compared to his

counterpart in Dracula, who still possesses some human attributes, especially when it comes to

his appearance which is helpful to lure his victims. Orlok has more features resembling those

of the folkloric vampires and his person embodies death and illness and sticks to these folkloric

elements. This is underlined by his monstrous appearance, since these creatures had a portly

and tall figure with a “long, gaunt hand which seems utterly destitute of flesh” (Beresford 2008,

121). Dracula, on the other hand, kept his human veneer when it comes to interactions with

people and does not entirely look like a bloodthirsty monster. He represents the features of an

aristocratic nobleman in terms of clothing, yet he is still not human. However, it is interesting

to see how the looks, as well as the character of the vampires changed within nine years,

especially when it comes to the embodiment of the same character. Most notable here is how

the same character represents different things, as Orlok, in his whole, can be seen as death itself.

The figure and the monstrous appearance make this representation is far from erotic. On the

contrary, Dracula with his gentlemen behavior and charming attitude is more likely to be seen

as a more sexual representation of Stoker’s character. This made it easier for the audience to

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emphasize with the vampire and even look at it in a voluptuous way (which will later be a

dominant aspect in those films).

It can be argued that, even though both vampires are the same character, they do look and act

in very different ways.

4 More recent development in vampire movies – focusing on Hammer studios vampire films

Until the 1950s, when classic horror films were rediscovered on TV, it was quiet around the

infamous Count Dracula. With the resurrection of the Dracula movie, he came back to a whole

new generation of viewers; hence it led to a new adaption of the well-known story (McNally

&Florescu 1992, 174).

4.1 Hammer Studios Dracula 1958

British screenwriter Jimmy Sangster wrote a script for Dracula in 1958, which was “somewhat

based on Stoker’s story line” (McNally & Florescu 1192, 174) for a new adaption of the

vampire count for Hammer Films. It was the beginning of a number of Dracula-related films,

staring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. The films, Dracula 1958 included, where “praised

for their visual style, although were rarely taken serious” (Beresford 2008, 146). A critique

from The Times stated that, “[a]ltogether this is a horrific film and sometimes a crude film, but

by no means an unimpressive piece of melodramatic storytelling” (ibid.). However, the

predominant reaction to the film was the opposite of this, as many found it to be disgusting and

vulgar (ibid.). It was deemed by the media as a “singularly repulsive piece of nonsense that was

made in such sickening bad taste” (ibid.). The Daily Telegraph suggested in a sarcastic manner

to introduce new ratings for this film, “ “S” for sadistic or “D” for disgusting” ibid.). Moreover,

Dracula numerous restrictions, one of which was a demand by the censoring board that “there

should be no scenes depicting the vampires’ sinking their teeth into the victim’s neck” (ibid.).

Yet this was not enough, as they also wanted the “act of staking a vampire out of shot” (ibid.).

Besides this, the role of women was made clear, since they were forced to be fully clad and

were not allowed to shoot any scene of a sexual nature, due to the prevailing belief that “there

was no room for” sex in a horror film (ibid., 144 - 145). Further requests were made by the

Board after they watched a “preliminary black and white rough cut” (ibid., 145). One of these

was to remove the scene where Lucy is staked, another one was Dracula’s seduction of Mina,

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and the last one that was requested to be removed was the destruction of the Count (ibid. 147).

Nonetheless, Hammer reminded them that the film was suggested an ‘X’ certificate, which

“would prevent anyone under the age of sixteen form seeing the film” (ibid.), as well as

suggesting that audiences should expect horror scenes. Additionally, they argued that the

suggested changes would, to some extent, remove the shock value, as well as the excitement

the audience were expecting. Hammer’s version of Dracula “therefore relied heavily on the

sexual side of vampirism for the first time” (ibid.), yet it was also the first movie to show a

“vampire baring its teeth” (ibid.).

The film itself was worth the effort, considering the given budget as well as the use of full

Technicolor process and the performances by Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Dracula 1958

is considered a classic vampire horror film (ibid.). Moreover, in less than two years it made up

eight time its original cost (McNally & Florescu 1992, 175).

4.1.1 The plot of Hammer’s Dracula

In Fisher’s version, Jonathan Harker travels to Dracula’s castle in order to become his new

librarian. Before accessing he recognizes a drop in temperature; entering the castle a woman

with a daringly décolleté appears and cries for help, wanting to escape. Dracula appeared before

Harker realized what he can do to help this woman, addressing Jonathan in a business-like

manner and inform him that he will not be available until the next sundown, advising Harker to

make himself comfortable in his room. There, Harker writes his journal, where he states that he

is a vampire hunter and used the librarian as a pretense to kill the Count. In the library, the

woman appears again and searches for help once more, throwing herself at Harker. This

behavior, however, was just an excuse to bite Harker, since the woman is a vampire too.

Simultaneously, Dracula arrives with blood all over his mouth, tearing the woman away from

Harker and throwing him away too, making him lose consciousness. The count carries the

woman out of the room. When Harker finally wakes up, seemingly a whole day later, he retreats

to his room to continue writing his journal, in which he also notes that he was infected with the

vampirism and hopes that, if he himself is not able to kill Dracula, someone else might do it.

Moreover, he wanted to be staked if his mission goes wrong. After hiding the journal, Harker

goes to the crypt where Dracula and his wife lie. He stakes the woman and turns to the Count

to do the same to him but finds the coffin empty (Keppler & Will 2006, 85 - 86).

Van Helsing went to Clausenburg to find out something about Harker. In a pub he realizes that

there is garlic hanging around, and as a consequence he asks the owner, who seems to know

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something but does not cooperate. However, his daughter secretly hands Van Helsing Harker’s

journal. On his way to the castle a hearse crosses his path, and when finally gets inside the old

building, he finds the dead bride of Dracula, as well as Harker, who has also become a vampire,

leaving Van Helsing no choice but to kill him (ibid.).

After this he travels to Karlstadt to visit the couple Holmwood, to inform them about Harker’s

death; The fiancé of the deceased lives in the house too (since Arthur is her brother) but was

absent at this moment. Arthur is curious about Van Helsing, since he did not want to open up

about Harker’s cause of death. The couple did not tell the news to Lucy, Harker’s fiancé, since

she is ill and in bed. She is sick because of Dracula, who vampirised her. After the couple left

her room, she stands up and opens the door, throws her necklace with the cross away and awaits

Dracula (ibid.).

Mina let herself be checked by Dr. Seward, who could not help her, so he told her to go and

look for another opinion. She took this as a chance to visit Van Helsing and, while doing so,

she picked up Jonathan’s belongings and started to talk about Lucy who seems to be getting

more ill. After listening, Van Helsing identifies the problem and insists on Mina keeping all the

windows, as well as the door to Lucy’s room shut. Moreover, she should put garlic all over the

place. However, Lucy convinced her maid to remove all of it and to open the windows; the next

morning she was found dead. Even Van Helsing could do nothing for her, but he does proceed

to tell the Holmwood the real cause of Jonathan’s death and hands them his journal. In the same

night, a little girl was found alone crying and telling Mina that she had met Lucy, who took her

on a walk, but then disappeared as someone came over. Not believing this, Arthur goes to the

family crypt, only to find Lucy’s coffin empty. While leaving he meets Lucy, again with the

girl, who wanted to bite him. Van Helsing, who watched the scene, helped Arthur while holding

a crucifix against Lucy, which made her flee. After this event, Arthur wanted Van Helsing, who

observed Lucy’s case after her death, to free her from this state she is in. Even though Van

Helsing wanted to catch Dracula, he agrees and impales the woman with a wooden stake (ibid.,

87 – 88).

From this moment on Arthur does believe that vampires exist and wants to help. As a

consequence, Van Helsing and Arthur try to figure out where Dracula’s coffin has been brought

to. While doing so, Mina receives a message, saying she should meet Arthur at the local

mortician’s, however, as she arrives there, Arthur is nowhere to be found, and instead she finds

Dracula’s white coffin. As the men come home, Mina is not in her bedroom but appears a few

minutes later, wiping her throat, telling she was out for a walk. They continue their search

without a result. Yet Arthur wants Mina to be safe and gifts her a little cross. However, as she

41

touches it, it leaves a burn mark on her hand, a sign that she had been bitten too. In order to

avoid another death, the men planned on patrolling, while Mina prepares everything for

Dracula’s visit, who is already inside the house, though this is not known by the men, who

wonder how this could have happened. To save Mina, Arthur gives her his blood during a

transfusion. Van Helsing, coincidently, finds Dracula’s coffin in the cellar, while

simultaneously Dracula also enters the cellar and flees immediately when seeing Van Helsing.

who is able to block the coffin as he puts a cross inside, yet he cannot prevent the Count from

abducting Mina, to make her his wife (ibid., 88 – 89).

A dramatical hunt begins, culminating in the library where Dracula is fighting against Van

Helsing, who is about to lose but figures out that the sunrise has already began. He opens the

heavy curtains and as soon as the sun touches the Count he starts to burn and ends up as a heap

of ash. At the same time, the scar on Mina’s hand is gone, she sits outside with Arthur waiting

for Van Helsing to come (ibid.).

4.1.1.1 Differences between Stoker’s Dracula and Hammer’s Dracula

The film tells the story of Dracula, yet there are many differences to be found when compared

to Stoker’s novel, beginning with the fact that this version starts with Jonathan Harker’s trip to

Castle Dracula, where he applied as Dracula’s new librarian, which was not the case in the

original story. Moreover, he was portrayed as Van Helsing’s assistant. Another important

change was leaving out the scene depicting Dracula’s journey on the Demeter to Whitby, which

is one of the key passages in the book. Another interesting aspect they adapted is that in

Hammer’s Dracula, the vampires are not able to change themselves into bats, wolves or other

creatures, as hence Dracula and other vampires were able to do so in the original story, as well

as in many folkloric tales. In addition to this it should be noted that these abilities were used in

other productions, such as Brides of Dracula (another Hammer film), which might create a

certain amount of incoherence. However, when it comes to Dracula himself in the film, he is

not like the Dracula Lugosi portrayed, with a notable absence of the accent the previous actor

brought. In the more modern of the two depictions, Dracula behaved like a salesman, talking

straight forward.

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4.1.2 The portrayal of Dracula by Christopher Lee

In the Hammer production Dracula, played by Christopher Lee, was shown as a tall, physically

attractive man in his mid-thirties. He did not have an accent, he was speaking fluently in a more

business-like manner, as already mentioned. His whole appearance shows dominance, as well

as sex appeal (which was something new, since the vampire has mostly been portrayed as a

monster). When he moves, the masculinity he is spreading cannot be ignored. He therefore

represents danger from the first moment he can be seen on screen, yet combines that with an

erotically side note (Keppler & Will 2006, 93) which is indeed something new, yet provoking.

This is due to the fact that the vampire, as mentioned above, has mostly been portrayed as a

monstrous creature, however, with this new aspect in its character, it gains more interest since

it is a large step towards eroticism in mainstream cinema. Palmer describes that “Lee’s Dracula

is stiff and poised, imperious, yet manages to convey a fierce, feral predatory sexuality just

beneath the surface” (2013, 58). His portrayal of the famous count also provided the audience,

especially the males, with “a kind of bodice ripper sex appeal” (ibid.). Compared to Lugosi’s

performance, Lee certainly had more erotic appeal. He symbolized an “old-fashioned,

authoritarian, patriarch” (ibid.) who was the counterpart of the “rational, sympathetic and

paternal figure” of Van Helsing (ibid.). Lee’s performance strongly sexualized both the Count

as well as vampirism, like never before. His influence and the horror coming with it is seen in

the film when Lucy is waiting for the count to fulfil her, in this case, uncontrollable sexual

desires towards the vampire. As a consequence, this shows that he is able to seduce everyone,

even a brave wife like Mina, to become a “creature of instinct” (ibid., 59). Overall, it can be

said that Lee’s portrayal is highly eroticized, and even though many things remain unseen, the

audience still knows what is going on and how mighty this creature is, which might add even

more interest to this well-known vampire who had been on the big screen a few times before

then.

4.2 Dracula A.D.

Given the outstanding success of Dracula, Hammer produced a few more vampire-themed

movies, one of which was Dracula A.D. 1972, which was originally known as Dracula Today.

It was directed by Alan Gibson and again starred Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.

Unfortunately, since their other films failed to garner critical acclaim, Hammer tried to attract

a different audience, targeting younger people specifically this time. The film takes place in

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1972 London, as part of attempt to bring the Count and his enemy into a modern setting. The

film, however, has been widely criticized and was one of the least lucrative Hammer

productions (Bunson 1993, 77).

4.2.1 A short overview of the plot and motives of Dracula A.D.

The story is set 100 years after Dracula was defeated in 1872 and is therefore a sequel to the

events that happened between the Count and Van Helsing. The plot itself is centered around

Jessica Van Helsing, one of Van Helsings descendants. She is “running with a group of bored,

disaffiliated youth” (Palmer 2013, 59). They crash a party of upper-class people in the opening

sequence, leaving before the police arrives. Still not satisfied with their experience, they look

for more thrills which leads them to breaking into a church in which Johnny Alucard (an

anagram for Dracula), who is a new member of the group, holds a ritual where he mixes his

blood with Dracula’s ashes in order to bring back the Count. Jessica and the others flee, missing

the ritual’s successful end. Jessica, however, realizing the severity of the situation she

witnessed, asks her grandfather (played by Cushing), a direct descendant of Van Helsing, to

help. The plot develops, into a confrontation between Dracula and Van Helsing. At the end of

the film, most of Jessica’s group is dead, as is Dracula, whilst she is “safely enclosed once again

in her proper place in the social order. (ibid. 60).

It has to be noted that in Dracula A.D. the focus of the movie is moved towards youth culture,

yet still the vampire is fascinating the humans, no matter if old or young. However, the

attraction is not as important in this movie as it was in the first Hammer production. Here, as

well as in their other films, Hammer tend to “associate both youth culture and vampirism with

the broader category of the cult” (ibid.). In his book Vampires in the New World (2013), Palmer

III quoted Newland who stated that the film “signals the defeat or incorporation of the

counterculture within the greater culture” (Newland 2009 in Palmer 2013, 60):

[The film] clearly exploits the countercultural codes and conventions of the 1960s. It presents stereotypical hippie figures that indulge in the type of countercultural practices being inculcated into the discourses of mass culture by 1972. As such in Dracula A.D 1972 we see what is left of the transnational counterculture become effectively “un-dead” (ibid.).

This film thus associates youth culture and vampirism with “the boarder category of the cult”

(Palmer 2013, 60). Cultural anxiety is exploited, while featuring James Bond-like soundtracks

in order to fit in the modern London setting used. The reference to the cult is illustrated via the

Manson murders of 1969, as well as the Highgate Cemetery vampire episode of 1970. The latter

even featured a crowd of young vampire hunters, recruited by the so-called British Occult

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Society, trying to eliminate a “reported vampire in a Victorian cemetery in North London”4

(ibid). In general, the phenomenon of exploring contemporary fears and connecting them with

youth culture in Hammer films can be tracked back to the early 1960s (ibid.)

The depiction of the Count in the film is an interesting point as he is portrayed by Lee again,

one might consider that he still embodies sexuality. Nevertheless, it has to be kept in mind that

the film’s focus is different when compared to the first Dracula film from 1958, owing to the

aforementioned attempt by Hammer to address another audience. As a consequence, the

younger viewership might not have seen Lee as the erotic vampire he embodied in the first film,

due to the fact that the Count has not changed his iconic look, even though he awakes in a

different, more modern era and area. Nevertheless, he still kept his sexual charm as the

‘original’ vampire and is able to seduce his victims. Thus, his appearance continues to be one

of an old-fashioned, authoritarian, patriarch (Palmer 2013, 58).

4.3 Other Hammer Studios Vampire Films

Hammer made “hundreds of profitable films between the mid-1950s and the late 1970s”

(Gelder 1994, 98) and most of those films were variations of “nineteenth-century horror

narratives” (ibid.) which had already been worked over by Universal Pictures in the 1930s,

including Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Mummy, just to name a few. The production company

established its dominance in the horror genre when Universal relinquished the copyrights of

their horror classics to them. Hammer built on this by creating and adopting the so-called

“English Gothic” look to their films, influenced by their roots as an England-based production

company. Moreover, they also pioneered the usage of “lurid” colors such as red and blue, as

well as being one of the production companies which began to “present violent and sexual

events in an increasingly explicit and shocking way – developing their special effects

accordingly (for example, the creation of ‘real’ blood)” (ibid.). With their vampire films, they

provoked the audience by showing the staking of vampires and burning flesh. Attention was

drawn to the body “as a site for potential mutilation, and (as far as its female actors were

concerned) titillation (ibid.). Subsequently, as their films developed by the mid-1960s they were

“openly flaunting the connection between biting and the (female) orgasm, pointing its stakes in

4 It should be mentioned that Highgate Cemetery, even though it was never actually mentioned in Stokers’s novel, is believed to be the place of Lucy’s staking (Palmer 2013, 60).

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between heaving bosoms” (ibid., 98 - 99). Furthermore, Hammer also showed nudity as well

as overt lesbianism in their early 1970s female vampire films (ibid.).

Hammer has created a series of vampire films with different versions of the creature of the

night. In the previous chapters, two of their titles have been discussed shortly in order to analyze

how Christopher Lee portrayed the most famous of them all, Count Dracula. However, it has

to be mentioned that neither Lee nor Cushing appear in all of those movies. The following list

shortly introduces those films, including the year they were published:

• Dracula 1958; see chapter 4.1.

• The Brides of Dracula 1960; is the sequel to the very famous Dracula 1958. While Lee

did not appear in this one, Cushing does reprise his role as Van Helsing besides David

Peel. (Bunson 1993,34).

• Dracula: Prince of Darkness 1966: This film marks the return of Christopher Lee as

the famous Count for the first time since his debut in Dracula 1958. Terence Fisher was

the director, while the cast included, among others, Lee, Andrew Keir, Barbara Shelley

and Philip Latham starred in it (ibid. 78).

• Dracula Has Risen from the Grave 1968; picks up the story where Dracula: Prince of

Darkness left off. It was directed by Freddie Francis, starring Christopher Lee, Rupert

Davies, Veronica Carlson and Barry Andrews (ibid. 77).

• Taste the Blood of Dracula 1969 features the Count played by Lee again, while the film

was directed by Peter Sasdy. Much like Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, this one

also tries to address a younger audience (ibid. 252).

• Scars of Dracula 1970; again, stars Lee, who is joined by Dennis Waterman, Jenny

Hanley, Christopher Matthews and Patrick Troughton, among others (ibid. 233).

• Dracula A.D. 1972; see chapter 4.2.

• The Satanic Rites of Dracula 1973/1974; also called Count Dracula and His Vampire

Bride, features where Lee playing the Count for the last time, as well as battling Cushing

as Van Helsing once more. It was directed by Alan Gibson. The film is set into a modern

setting, just like Dracula A.D. (ibid. 232).

4.3.1 The end of an era – what happened to Hammer productions after 1972

While Hammer’s overwhelming importance in the context of vampire films is clear to see, their

influence started waning due to the demand for higher quality, which was provided by

Hollywood horror films. This made Hammer lose its foothold in the genre, in spite of attempts

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to stay as relevant as they had been before with films such as The Legend of the 7 Golden

Vampires from 1974 (Britannica, n.d.). Unfortunately, they also produced unsuccessful TV

series around that time, as well as a poor remake of Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes (1979),

which was also the last commercial film of the once most financially-sound studio in Britain

(Britannica, 2000).

Nevertheless, Hammer made a comeback in 2010 when they released Let Me In, which was an

adaption of a Swedish horror film. In the years following that, they released different movies

such as The Resident (2011), or The Woman in Black (2012), starring Daniel Radcliffe. It was

one of the biggest indie horror films ever, grossing over $ 130 million worldwide. Their other

films of this era are The Quiet Ones (2014) and Woman in Black: Angel of Death (2015)

(Hammer n.d).

4.4 The development of the vampire character from Nosferatu to Dracula A.D

There have been many changes since Count Dracula or Orlok entered the big screen. Looking

at Orlok specifically, and comparing his character to Lugosi’s role, one can see significant

alterations (see Chapter 3.3). Yet, as a normal consequence of the film industry’s constant

modernization, there are many more changes to be found when it comes to the famous vampire.

As Hammer started to adapt the story, the various sociocultural trends around the world needed

to be considered too. Logically therefore, this also affected the creature of the night. Taking a

look at Lee’s portrayal of Dracula, one can see that it is indeed different to the other actors. The

character is more harrowing, yet also attractive. Comparing him to Orlok shows how the once

monstrous creature, which mostly embodied death, has changed into a more erotic gentleman,

who seduces his victims to obtain what he is looking for. Quite contrary to what he looked like

in Nosferatu, the character is not as creepy and monstrous-looking. Whereas Orlok, still

embodies the folkloric elements, as mentioned before, none of those can be found in the newer

version of the Count, especially in terms of appearance. However, since these changes have

been happening since Lugosi’s depiction of the vampire, the question remains what has changed

between his portrayal and Lee’s. At first it seemed that there are not that many alterations, since

both of them are rather human-looking. However, when analyzing appearance, Lee’s Dracula

combines danger with sex appeal, which was not the case in Lugosi’s performance. Even

though both of them look menacing, Lee, included this new element of sexuality within,

previously missing villains due to the fact that many of them, especially in the horror genre,

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had been portrayed as monsters missing various human abilities. Moreover, Dracula, was able

to speak without an accent.

Taking all this into consideration, it can be said that the cinematic figure of the vampire has

undergone a lot of changes from Nosferatu (1922) to Dracula A.D. (1972), one of the most

significant ones being the move from the folkloric monster that embodies death, to an attractive-

looking, human-like, sexual attractive, dominant male who hides his darkness very well from

society. This ability to change and adapt with the times, allows this creature of the night to be

remembered and stay relevant in an ever-changing world.

5 Development from Dracula to present

Over the years, many different vampire films have been released, yet at some point the audience

began to lose interest in this genre and things became quiet around the mysterious creature of

the night. Nevertheless, the vampire was able to resurrect itself and came back “into the

spotlight in the form of Anne Rice’s novel Interview with the Vampire (1976)” (Beresford 2008,

148). This was the first part of her Vampire-Chronicles, which became a bestselling

phenomenon. The story is “markedly different from any other vampire narrative that came

before” (ibid.) and it is drags the vampire into the modern world. It created a personality for the

creature as a kind of desperate being, constantly struggling to understand its existence, a topic

that can similary be found in Varney (ibid.).

Nosferatu had also been remade during the 1970sby the German filmmaker Werner Herzog in

a film entitled Nosferatu: Ein Phantom der Nacht (Nosferatu: The Vampyre) (1979). It was a

tribute to the original, yet it weaved in its own Dracula theme. This was due to the fact that by

then, the copyright for Stoker’s novel had expired, allowing directors to use original names,

though in this case Herzog “stayed true to Murnau’s film in most other respect” (Beresford

2008, 149). Yet there had been some notable additions to the modern image of the creature,

probably as a result of the widespread understanding of vampires, “courtesy of the Universal

and Hammer offerings no doubt” (ibid.), including the use of the bat and cross. However,

Herzog wanted to satisfy the audience, so he used common contemporary vampire themes and

mythology to achieve his vision. This, however, suggests that society had a vague idea of what

a vampire should be (ibid.).

Considering the fact that the viewership once was tired of the preconceived vampire ideology,

future works had to find something new, a twist, in order to be able to satisfy the audience.

Moreover, it is rather likely that everyone who watches a modern vampire film is relatively

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familiar with the creature and probably with the whole genre. This led writers of new vampire

films to use the existing experience and knowledge of their audience, while simultaneously also

striving to provide something new and different in order to provide entertainment and stave off

the disappearance of the genre into obscurity again. Yet it was easier to keep earlier audiences

entertained since they did not know as much about the vampire or the cinematic horror genre,

which “this in itself creates an increased capability for inducing fear” (ibid. 150). “Anne Rice’s

offering was the catalyst for the next stage in the vampire’s journey into present” (ibid.).

However, it should be mentioned that Interview with the Vampire changed the “course of the

vampire’s evolution” (ibid.), much like Dracula did. It allowed the creature to overcome the

gap between the “early-modern vampire and the present form” (ibid.). As vampires found their

way back into literature with authors such as Anne Rice or Stephen King, it was only a matter

of time until it was also reborn in the cinematic world. One of the most notable films, which

made over $32 million, was Joel Schumacher’s The Lost Boys (1987), which will be discussed

later in this chapter in more detail, together with some other influential vampire titles of this

era. Yet, its difference to most previous vampire films needs to be stressed, since it combines

the rather dark topic with a lot of humor. This mixing of “the horror of vampirism” (Beresford

2008, 152) with comedy has become common in some modern vampire films, however some

of them such as Interview with the Vampire (1994) or Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) tried to

maintain the element of fear primarily. With films such as The Lost Boys, the traditional

vampire seems to lose its relevance in the modern world, turning the creature itself into a figure

of ridicule or amusement. To stop this, a resurrection of Dracula, which came rather surprisingly

in 1992, was made. Francis Ford Coppola offered a version of the classic with the title Bram

Stoker’s Dracula which suggests that “the film is a direct adaption of Stoker’s novel”

(Beresford 2008, 152). It follows it “fairly closely” (ibid.) and is definitely the most similar to

the original, despite some differences (ibid.). Even though Coppola’s adaption was considered

one of the best, it did not meet with critical acclaim. Moreover, it was indeed the last

“traditional” vampire film produced. So, taking a look at the route “the modern vampire has

followed in the fifteenth years since Coppola’s offering” (ibid. 154), it is uncertain if there ever

will be a definitive version of Stoker’s vampire count (ibid.).

After so many years of cinematic representations of vampires, the time had come for a change,

since the genre seemed to be stuck and audiences began to lose interest again. With Blade

(1998), these changes had arrived, with the film was considered a “beacon in the darkness of

the vampire myth” (Beresford 2008, 154). Most of the ‘old’ ideas associated with the vampire

were gone. There were no cemeteries, no castles, no rising from the graves, or sleeping in

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coffins. With Blade, the audience was introduced to a cyber-vamp that existed “on the boarders

of reality” (ibid., 155). He is still a creature of the night that hides from the human world, but

his enemies have changed. They are no longer professors with stakes, but instead they are

vampires too. His weapons have undergone a change too, from simple crucifixes to machine

guns. Blade, himself is a hybrid, half-human, half-vampire, a dhampir from a legend, and a

vampire hunter. Yet the bloodthirst remains, mitigated only by his use of a special medicine,

which shows that even though “some vampire associations may be modified on the modern

genre, they are not entirely abandoned” (ibid.). The success of the film was according to

Beresford due to the fact that the “ Blade was in many ways a precursor for how vampire cinema

morphed into the modern age” (ibid.) Moreover, “it is extremely rare nowadays to see a film

where the age-old vampire traits are exploited (the Transylvanian Count, the sleeping in a

coffin, the shadowy castle or graveyard)” (ibid.). Presenting a new type of vampire within an

action-packed thriller seemed to be a successful formula and was employed two more times in

the follow up films, Blade II (2002) and Blade Trinity (2004). It also worked for other films

such as the Underworld (2003 - 2016) series, in which vampires wage war on werewolves, or

Nightwatch (1994) and 30 Days of Night (2007), which both “utilize good old-fashioned horror”

(Beresford 2008, 155 - 156). Reasons for this might be that these films were no longer about

finding a hidden meaning or psychoanalyzing vampires, but instead were about blood, horror

and death, which was a partial return to the vampire’s roots, yet in a modern sci-fi realm (ibid.

156). In general, they avoid deep and complex plots (which were given in Dracula, for example)

and therefore do not require the viewer’s constant attention, leaving them free to enjoy the film

experience, which was probably the keys for their success, as this enable the watching of blood-

drinking vampires in a sheer act of “unadulterated pleasure” (ibid., 156).

Yet besides these films, many others have been produced in the past 30 years. One of them is

another adaption of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, Queen of the Damned (2002), which is

also set in the modern world and focuses on certain subcultures. It is “a loose sequel” (Gelder

2012, 24) to Interview with the Vampire. However, it has to be kept in mind that at the beginning

of the ‘modern’ vampire era, filmmakers tried to reach a wider audience due to the fact that the

vampire itself had turned into a permanent monster in cinematography; hence, as mentioned

above, the audience, especially the younger ones, consistently began to lose interest in it

because of a lack of innovation. As a consequence, films (beginning with The Lost Boys) and

series exclusively addressing young adults were made. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992 – 2001)

was one of these, yet numerous others followed. “[T]he most popular and spectacular part of

the post Buffy-wave of teen and twenty-something vampire romances” (Gelder 2012, 83)

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include series such as True Blood (2008 - 2014) and The Vampire Diaries (2009 - 2017). The

last one came out a year after the first film of the Twilight (2008 - 2012) series. The Twilight

films “are examples of what are often called event movies, a term that generally refers to films

produced in response to the popular recognition of a pre-existing proven commodity” (ibid. 84).

However, many vampire films could be said to fall into this category. Furthermore, these films

were mostly aimed at a female audience, whereas Coppola’s Dracula can be seen as open for

an adult audience, no matter what gender (ibid.).

Interestingly, the emphasis shifted back to the ‘traditional’ vampire and its traits throughout the

years. One of the films, where not only the famous Count was in focus but also the historical

figure of Vlad the Impaler, is to be found in the 2014 movie Dracula Untold and even the

successful streaming platform Netflix decided to give the well-known vampire a stage when

releasing their own mini-series in 2020, titled Dracula.

The following subchapters will introduce some of the most influential films of the era discussed

thus far, with a focus on the representation of the vampire character and how it has changed.

5.1 The Lost Boys 1987

“Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It’s fun to be a vampire” (Schumacher

1987).

The Lost Boys (1987) is an interesting mixture of the vampire myth and the children’s classic

Peter Pan, according to J.B. Macabre. The film was directed by Joel Schumacher (Guiley 1993,

119) and made over $32 million, while also picking up the Award for Best Horror (Beresford

2008, 150).

5.1.1 The storyline

The film tells the story about a broken family with no father, forcing Michael, one of the main

characters, his younger brother, Sam and their mother to move from Phoenix to Santa Clara,

where they move in with their grandfather, who characterizes a friend more than an authority.

In the opening scene, “a panoramic view of the beach” (Gelder 1994, 105) which is full of

young people from different subcultures is shown, yet this view is also “interspersed with

posters of missing children” (ibid.). This serves as a hint that Santa Clara is not a good place

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for families. As the film goes on, Michael seems to become attracted to a mysterious young girl

called Star. However, she ‘belongs’ to the leader of the (vampire) biker gang, who have been

“flaunting their lawlessness in the local fairground – already killing a security guard” (ibid.).

These vampires are the so-called ‘lost boys’, a term which does not only refers to the missing

children, but it is also an allusion to Peter Pan (1911). These children never grow old and have

the ability to fly, just like the vampires in the film. As the story moves on, Michael is invited to

become one of them, which means that he is parting ways with his family. This happens after

he and the gang have a race with their motorcycles, ending up at their stash, where Michael is

offered a wine bottle filled with vampiric blood, which marks his turn into a vampire. Michael’s

younger brother, who, somewhat suggestively, reads vampire comics, can barely recognizes his

brother anymore. Sam gets introduced into the vampire topic by the Frog brothers, who are

teenage versions of ‘vampire hunters’. They use the comics to make him aware of the vampires

living in this area, since both of them take the comics seriously.

Michael starts to realize the changes when he has a hypersensitive reaction to sunlight as well

as his sleeping schedule chancing abruptly. Moreover, he is constantly thorn between good and

evil. Sam, realizing this change too, contacts the brothers to help him stop the transformation

into a vampire as well as to get rid of the other vampires. They use their comics in order to find

a solution, making their way to their stack, where they are able to kill one of the vampires.

However, the others attack Sam’s and Michael’s house. To beat them they work together,

Michael included, managing to stake David, the leader. Nevertheless, it was not over, since the

real lead vampire turns out to be the new boyfriend of the brothers’ mother. Only with the help

of their grandfather, who stakes this vampire, are they are able to defend them (Gelder 1994,

107).

5.1.2 The vampires, their occurrence and motives

As explained, The Lost Boys is about a teenage vampire gang, as well as, Michael a young adult,

who moved with his divorced mother and younger brother to Santa Clara. There, Michael falls

in with the vampire gang, whose members are dressed in leather and riding motorcycles,

depicting the youth subculture. The only female group member, Star, can be described and seen

as a psychic vampire, who entrances Michael to fall in love with her. The psychic vampire,

especially its abilities, can be seen in several scenes in the movie. One of these occasions is

when Michael follows the gang to their hideout, a hotel, that has been sunk during an

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earthquake. There, the leader, turns his noodles into worms and his rice into maggots.

According to Beresford:

This is a good evidence that the cinematic vampire genre was attempting to develop the common vampire myth, and this is further supported in the creation of vampires through the consumption of vampiric blood in The Lost Boys, as opposed to the more traditional view of biting the neck evident in earlier films such as Nosferatu and Dracula (Beresford 2008, 150).

Michael, while parting with the gang, was offered a drink from a wine bottle, without knowing

that it contains the blood of the leader, David. After partaking the blood, he starts to turn into a

vampire himself. However, when it comes to the transformation, common traits associated with

vampires, such as long fingernails, bad breath, aversion to sunlight, a lack of self-reflection and

the ability to float in mid-air, can be witnessed. The film gives the audience the common theme

of darkness, since most of the movie is set at night. “However, up until the gangs’ attack on the

beach, vampirism is assumed by the audience rather than shown” (ibid., 151). While there are

quite a few allusions to vampires, such as the garlic, the use of mirrors, the vampire comics and

the bat kit, there appear “no vampires per se; rather than being explicit it utilizes the audience’s

preconceptions” (ibid.). Still, the attack, as well as the vampiric forms of the members, indeed

leave indeed no doubt on what they are, emphasized further by the fact that the scene in the

cave is “full of blood drinking and violence” (ibid.). It is also accompanied by eerie church

organ music in order to underline the tension and prioritize the topic of horror, which is also

helped by David pointing out to Michael that even though that they neither grow old nor die,

they have to feed on something.

The Lost Boys is indeed an unconventional vampire film which downplays the theme to a great

extent, “almost as if it feels it is exploiting its audience’s fascination with the subject and is

slightly embarrassed by the topic” (ibid.). In order to overcome this, elements of humor and

‘goofiness’ are added. An example of this is a scene where a vampire tells the Frog brothers

that garlic does not work and that they should use holy water instead. This allows for satirical

interpretation of the film, while still retaining many elements of the horror genre. Beresford

sums this up by saying that “The Lost Boys is a film in which the horror is diluted” (ibid.).

However, this changes when David, the leader of the vampire gang is staked and destroyed, a

scene which would have been “deemed too risqué for cinema just thirty years earlier in

Hammer’s Dracula (ibid.). Even though this passage is rather brutal, the repulsiveness is

somewhat reduced owing to the outfit of the Frog brothers, who appear “donning blacked out

swimming googles to protect them from the splattering blood” (ibid.), which definitely brings

in a humorous element again. Yet, the overall impression within the film is still predominantly

one of horror (ibid.).

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5.1.3 Comparison to the ‘traditional’ or ‘stereotypical’ vampires

Analyzing The Lost Boys, it is obvious that the vampires in this film are different from the

traditional vampire figure seen in Dracula A.D. or Nosferatu. This can firstly be deduced by

the fact that the vampires dress differently, donning leather, and looking more akin to 80s rock

stars than vampires, which is a stark contrast to what the creature looks like in Nosferatu, where

it follows the appearance of folkloric vampires, embodying death and diseases. Looking at

Orlok’s gaunt and tall figure, he is different from these creatures, which are human-looking,

young adults with motorcycles. This was also a turn away from many previous attempts to copy

Christopher Lee’s Dracula as the sexual seducer. Another difference can be found in the process

of ‘creating’ vampires. In many of the earlier films, such as Nosferatu or Dracula, one turns

into a vampire when he or she is bitten in the neck by one. The Lost Boys challenges this

traditional myth, as the drinking of vampiric blood turns one into a creature of the night, without

being bitten (Beresford 2008, 150).

Furthermore, the psychic vampire, which is said to occur in The Lost Boys, can also be found

in Dracula as well as Nosferatu. Yet the question of what a psychic vampire is needs to be

answered; in short, these vampires appear to suck the life-energy of humans and can also be

found in ancient folklore. In The Lost Boys, the psychic abilities are exemplified in the scene

where David makes Michael believe that the noodles are worms, by manipulating his mind.

Here it is clear that the psychic vampire is nothing new but has just been adopted to the different

characters of the creature. Moreover, it has to be kept in mind that a change of the genre and

the stereotypical traditional vampire appearance and abilities hast to be made in order to keep

the audience interested. Therefore, one can see the changes in the style of the children of the

night, from the traditional cloak which was always associated with the famous Count, to a more

rock’n’roll look, which was especially appealing to the younger viewership. It showed them

that even though one is a vampire, it does not have to be the old, gaunt gentleman, it used to be.

Nevertheless, many similarities between the ‘new’ vampire type of The Lost Boys and the

traditional ones such as Dracula or Orlok can be found anyway. One is the long fingernails,

which still occur in this film, or the fact that the sun can be deadly for the vampires.

Furthermore, they sleep like bats, which is something different to the aforementioned films, but

at the same time is a link to the folkloric belief that vampires are able to turn themselves into

animals such as bats or wolves. Another traditional trait the producers stuck to while creating

the characters is the fact that the vampires were not able to see themselves in the mirror and

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could be killed with a stake through their hearts (ibid.). It can be summed up that, even though

the look of the vampires has changed, and some old traits have been replaced by new ones,

there are still numerous similarities to older depictions of the creature.

5.2 Dracula 1992

Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) was another version of Stoker’s famous

novel, as the title already suggests. It was able to gross $82 millions in the USA, which is more

than double of its budget, and it made a total of over $200 million worldwide (Gelder 2012, 1).

Furthermore, the film won three Academy Awards, for sound editing, costume design and

make-up, prompting some critics to say that it was just about “look and technique” (ibid.).

Nonetheless, there have been many positive critiques of Coppola’s film, such as Grant Edmond

stating that “Bram Stoker’s Dracula is both primitive and hypermodern […] the most vividly

sumptuous horror film to come our way since Kubrick’s The Shining” (Edmond in Gelder 2012,

2). It is modern and old at the same time, and projects a future for the American cinema while

simultaneously revolving “old genres like the horror film, ‘minor genres and debased modes’”

(ibid.). To put it differently, it behaves like a vampire film. It is set in 1897, which was the year

Stoker’s novel was published, a fact also marked in a citation within the film. Interestingly,

Gelder states that this film is as much about vampires as it is about cinemas (ibid., 2 - 3).

However, it is seen as an “authentic enactment of the myth: the true Dracula of cinema – once

more risen from the grave […] to haunt us all” (ibid., 3). What needs to be analyzed is why

these critiques apply to this film, as well as how the character of the Count has changed or is

depicted differently from all previous iterations. Furthermore, a connection can be made here

to previous subchapters by asking why another Dracula title appeared, in spite of the belief at

the time that audiences required something new.

5.2.1 Analyzing the differences between the novel and the film

This film is certainly the closest to the original novel, yet there are still some notable

differences. Many of these are subtle changes, such as the fact that Dracula has a shadow as

well as the depiction of the peasants as Romanians, rather than Hungarians (Dracula states in

Stoker’s novel that he is a Szekely, which is a subgroup of Hungarian people (Ramet 1992,

160)) , as they used to be in the novel. Moreover, Lucy’s sleepwalking incident in Whitby,

where she is found by Mina, is turned into a sex scene depicting intercourse between Lucy the

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Count. These additions have probably been incorporated in order to meet modern expectations,

like the ties between vampires and Romania, while also producing new developments in the

modern vampire myth. This is especially true for the underlying sexual topic, which has been

“slowly building since Victorian literature and that was barely suppressed in the Hammer

Horror films was finally unleashed in Coppola’s Dracula” (Beresford 2008, 153). It was an

influential step since this “led the way for sex to be emphasized much more in future vampire

offerings, so much so far that it has become rare to find a contemporary vampire film that does

not utilize a sexual theme” (ibid.).

However, one of the most notable changes from the novel is definitely the portrayal of the

Count himself. Coppola let Vlad Dracula embody Vlad Tapes, while Mina Harker was a

resurrection of his wife from the fifteenth century. This, though, promoted a false link between

these two figures, but at the same time it gave an explanation for Dracula’s craving for Mina.

While it was Lucy that was attacked and turned into a vampire by the Count, it was Mina he

secretly longed for, which was also the reason why his attack on Lucy was so brutal. Coppola

offers, or at least attempts to offer, the audience numerous answers to Stoker’s conundrums,

which are left to the reader’s speculation in the novel (ibid.).

Whereas Stoker’s novel ends with Dracula being killed in Transylvania, Coppola’s film

“continues briefly” (ibid.). A year after the death of the Count, Jonathan and Mina have a child,

a boy they named Quincey, after the vampire hunter Quincey Morris, “suggesting that the only

death amongst the vampire-hunters shall not be forgotten” (ibid.). In a way, this reflects the

idea of the Hollywood dream industry, that the good will always triumph over the evil in the

end (ibid.).

Still, Coppola’s adaption of Dracula can perhaps be considered as one of the best, even though

some changes in aspect of the original story have been made. Moreover, it was one of the last

traditional vampire films (ibid. 154).

5.2.2 Coppola’s Dracula as a character and how it differs from others

Since the first vampire film, Nosferatu from 1922, much has been achieved a lot in the cinematic

world. However, Coppola again introduced the audience again to the famous vampire Count,

this time portrayed by Gary Oldman, mixing elements of the old and the new. When taking a

closer look at Coppola’s Dracula, one can find some parallels between this film and Murnau’s

Nosferatu, which was used as a model for Coppola’s version. While the Count is still not

depicted as the grotesque Count Orlok, the impact can certainly be seen. One thing both have

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in common are the long, unnatural shadows (which do not occur in Stoker’s novel). Moreover,

the vampire looks monstrous when it is seen in its castle; an age-old, evil creature, not as

grotesque as seen in Murnau’s film yet still terrific with its long nails and pale skin. Dracula’s

shadow is an important part of his character since it is not bound to him, but is able to overcome

physical distance. For example, it can already be found in Hillingham house while Dracula is

still in Transylvania. Moreover, Coppola’s depiction of the Count also includes a feature similar

to Orlok; as mentioned before, the latter is accompanied by rats which carry the plague, while

Dracula carries sexually transmitted diseases, indicating a continuation of the folkloric belief.

Even though Coppola wanted to stick to Stoker’s novel when creating his story as well as the

character of the Count, he was still not able to depict him as he was shown in the novel. This is

due to modeling him on Vlad Tapes, a real historical figure (Beresford 2008, 153). This gave

the whole story, and therefore the character of the vampire, a new perspective: the unhappy

love story between the Count and his wife, Mina. However, by doing so, the vampire got a new

characteristic, which was the ability to love. I retrospect, this definitely influenced the whole

genre, since there had been no such a thing before as a Romeo vampire, a new Dracula.

Furthermore, upon arriving in London, Dracula looks nothing like the old man he used to when

he was in Transylvania, having instead turned into a noble man, a change that has been noticed

in other films too (except the Lost Boys). However, the severity of the alteration in Coppola’s

film is unmatched in any of the other titles. His appearance shifts throughout, at one time

portraying the brave warlord Vlad, then turning into the old, monstrous creature, which has

resemblance with Murnau’s Orlok. Additionally, he is seen in something that looks like a

cocoon while sleeping, as well as a werewolf and a bat-human hybrid, respectively. Still, he is

also shown as the young, attractive gentleman, the audience has seen before, putting the so-

called ‘Romeo vampire’ was put in the film’s main focus. Clearly, this version of Dracula is

one of the most complex iterations of this creature, though not as formative as Lugosi’s or Lee’s

depiction was. Another interesting aspect pertaining to this character, compared to others, as

well as to the vampire myth, is that he is able to walk outside during the day. This is explained

by Van Helsing in retrospect, as he points out that the vampire is, contrary to popular belief,

able to walk outside during daylight even though it is not his natural time, which means that his

powers are weakened. Coppola’s character can be killed in the same manner as other vampires,

with the help of stakes, through beheading or through burning. When comparing this Dracula,

to other versions, or other vampires, such as ones in The Lost Boys, one can deduce, that the

character has become extremely complex, due to the different characters he is embodying all at

once. This is further emphasized by the fact that he is the only one who also carries the

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romantical aspect within this genre, which was not seen in this way before. However, when it

comes to a comparison with the vampire characters from The Lost Boys, there are some

differences. Firstly, both films are addressing different audiences, necessitating dissimilar

depictions of the vampires. The creatures in The Lost Boys are young, but not like Dracula, who

becomes young, when consuming the blood of others. In terms of outfits, however, there is little

sense in comparing the two films, since they are set in different ages. But when looking at the

characters, the young vampires appear to be wilder, and more out of control, not following a

plan like Dracula does, instead seemingly enjoying their lives as vampires.

This shows that the creature of the night has changed in its apparel and character, due to several

factors such as the basis of the film, as well as the audience the producers want to address.

5.3 Anne Rice Chronicles

Anne Rice changed the picture of the creature of the night forever. She “took the vampire as

far away from the grotesque decrepitude of Nosferatu as it was possible to go; giving us instead

a prolonged celebration of youthful, white, male beauty” (Gelder 2012, 19). With her novels

she dragged the creature into the modern world. Constructing a vampire with personality for

her first book of the Vampire Chronicles, Interview with the Vampire (1976). It was a “kind of

desperate being that was continually struggling to understand its cursed existence; a theme that

was only once hinted at before in Varney” (Beresford 2008, 148).

With this being said, a closer look at the novels is necessary, especially the ones which ended

up being film adaptions, to find out the fundamental differences between Rice’s characters and

the ones from Stoker. There have been two film adaptions which are based on Rice’s first three

books, Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat (1985) and Queen of the Damned

(1988). Especially Interview with the Vampire was a major success, both as a novel, as well as

a film. Its production costs equaled a total of $60 million, yet it grossed more than $220 million

worldwide (Gelder 2012, 20), with the cast, consisting of Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Antonio

Banderas contributing greatly to its mainstream (ibid.).

5.3.1 Interview with the Vampire

Interview with the Vampire is the story of the vampires Louis and Lestat. It shows how they

came together as a ‘vampire family’ when Lestat turned Claudia, a young child whose mother

died of the plague, into a child-vampire (Beresford 2008, 148). As Beresford states in his book

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From Demons to Dracula “[T]he story is markedly different from any other vampire narrative

that came before it and is a deeply dark, disturbing and soul-searching masterpiece that is

second only to Dracula in dragging the vampire into the modern world” (ibid.).

5.3.1.1 The film, its motives and similarities to other films

The film presents explicit associations “of vampires and gay men that was latent or covert on a

number of earlier films” (Gelder 2012, 20) such as The Lost Boys. This specific case involves

Louis and Lestat, “two pale, beautiful, long-haired young men” (ibid.) who come together as

Lestat turned Louis into a vampire. Their appearance is described by Stockwell, in Gelders New

Vampire Cinema (2012), as ‘restrained’, “with barely visible ‘little varicose veins in their faces

– as if they used moisturizer with a blue-cheese base’” (Stockwell in Gelder 2012, 20). Their

beauty would make them stand out in a crowed, making the connection between beauty and

vampires inseparable by this very portrayal. Moreover, we can find several connections to other

vampire films. The bedroom scene, for example, where Lestat appears in Louis’ bedroom, is

the “stereotypical vampire-human seduction scene” (ibid., 21), which also appeared in films

such as Dracula, with Mina and Dracula, and Nosferatu, with Orlok and Ellen. Later, when

Louis meets Armand in Paris, he again, becomes an object of male adoration, as Armand told

him that he is beautiful, while “[a]t one point the two men feed on the blood of a beautiful,

willing boy” (ibid.). However, according to Gelder, for Benshoff the “most terrifying moment”

(Benshoff in Gelder 2012, 21) happens shortly afterwards, when Armand’s face is held closely

to Louis lips, almost kissing him, before rejecting his invitation and letting go of him, which is

yet another example of “Louis’s homosexual panic after a prolonged tease” (ibid.). “The

moment of terror is averted and the audience breathes a sigh of relief – at least until the next

time a handsome male vampire makes eyes at another man” (Benshoff in Gelder 2012, 21).

Therefore, it can be said that Interview with the Vampire is the total opposite of Bram Stoker’s

Dracula, since there is no romance between a male and a female character within the film.

Women appear fugitive here, mainly to be killed or disposed of, leading to the risk that the film

appears as misogynic (ibid.).

Lestat, even though he appears for just one third of the film, is an important character. He ties

in with yet another “distinctive feature” (ibid. 22) of the movie, is namely its interest is in the

“vampire’s point of view, in what it means to be a vampire” (ibid.). This is special, since it is

the first film to be narrated by a vampire, making it the center. The story told by Louis, offers

some truth about how vampires really are, while he also points out that he has no interest in

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Stoker’s Dracula, given that he “dismisses the novel as the fantasy of a demented Irishman”

(ibid.). However, one can find parallels to Coppola’s film in aspects of narration, with Louis

beginning his story by “similarly returning to an historical point of origin” (ibid.), much like

Coppola’s film did with the Count. In this case, though, the character is mourning his dead wife

and child, developing a death wish and is ‘saved’ by Lestat, who turned him into a vampire.

However, Lestat’s behavior – killing slaves, aristocrats, men, women – frightens the slave

community, which tries to protect itself with various religious practices, such as voodoo. On

one occasion, as Louis is killing a house slave, he is confronted with the reality that he himself

brought the bad luck to his home when he was turned into a vampire. He is distraught and “he

burns down his property, frees his slaves and leaves, bitterly resenting Lestat’s Nietschean

influence” (ibid.). As the film continues, the plague spreads over New Orleans, while Louis

comforts Claudia, who was previously turned into a vampire by Lestat and, unable to overcome

his nature, bites her neck. She turns out to be the perfect companion for Lestat, as her bloodthirst

is as insatiable as his. As she is sucking his blood, she tells him she wants more. One can again

find parallels here to the seduction scene in Coppola’s Dracula, as this is a sort of revamping

of Mina, where there is no erotic attraction between the male vampire and the female victim.

Claudia gets adopted by the two vampires as their ‘daughter’, even though Louis is aghast to

realize that she, since she is a vampire, is also a “ruthless killer” (ibid.). Claudia is even more

bloodthirsty than Lestat, eventually even turning against him and trying to kill the vampire,

slitting his throat and watching him bleed. This attempt at Lestat’s life, however, makes her a

target of the Parisian vampires, who end up destroying her and her companion (ibid.).

When Louis and Claudia leave the US to move to Europe, Paris, by ship, references to other

vampire films such as Dracula and Nosferatu can be found during this journey, as they also

used maritime routes to reach their destinations. Moreover, there are obvious associations to be

found in the dialogue when Louis says that, “[t]hough the ship was blessedly free of rats a

strange plague nonetheless struck its passengers” (ibid. 23). As both arrive, they visit the

theatre, having been invited by Armand and Santiago. The performance in the Theatre des

Vampires features a girl getting stripped off in front of the audience and killed by Armand and

the other vampires in the group, however, Louis is disillusioned by the performance. Armand,

however, takes his distancing as a reflection of Louis modernity, which is also defined by

Claudia’s death, as she cannot grow older. Louis, after “taking his revenge on the Parisian

vampires” (ibid.), he returns to ‘his America’, embracing the new age, even though he is still

feeling melancholic (ibid.). This, also, is the point where “the narrative of Interview with the

Vampire once again intersects with Bram Stoker’s Dracula. As with Dracula in London in

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Coppola’s film, cinema is precisely the thing that is made to signify Louis’s modernity” (ibid.).

As Louis tells Malloy in the interview, the cinema enabled him to see the sun rise again, yet, it

is interesting that he watches a “condensed history of film, beginning with the opening title

F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu: as if the origins of American cinema can be properly traced to this

German film-maker” (ibid.).”This is Interview with the Vampire’s cinematograph moment,

with Murnau’s classic as the source; except that there is no seduction scene here and there are

no shadows” (ibid.). Nevertheless, this introduces Louis into the modern world, which also

includes the modern cinema, as well as Hollywood, as this takes place in New Orleans in 1988.

At that point, however, Louis meets Lestat again, who is hiding in a mausoleum, afraid of the

outside, and, by association the modern world. The film soon jumps into the year 1994, where

Louis concludes his story in San Francisco; only to find out that Malloy now wants to become

a vampire. This makes the former leave, which again can be seen as an act of homosexual panic.

Malloy drives off, and as he comes to the Golden Gate Bridge, where the film actually started,

Lestat appears in his car, biting him and simultaneously offering him to become one of them.

The final scene shows Lestat driving, while listening to Guns’n’Roses’ version of the Rolling

Stones’ ‘Sympathy for the Devil’. It is a modern song, rather different to the main music the

audience hears during the film which is mostly period instruments or boy choirs (ibid.), and

was probably used to underline that he finally embraced the new world.

5.3.1.2 The Vampire Louis

Louis is the main character of the film, telling the story from his point of view. He is, compared

to his genitor Lestat, a sensitive character, still grieving the loss of his wife and child, and even

when he was turned into a vampire, he could not let go of his human side. It is interesting that

he is fascinated by Lestat’s promises to introduce him into the life of a vampire. However, as

soon as he realizes the burden this existence brings with it, he does not want it anymore. He

does not find pleasure in killing people like Lestat and, later on, Claudia do, considering himself

evil for this deed. “For vampires eating involves killing people, Louis, who cannot discard his

human moral sensibilities, who associates killing with damnation, is engaged in a constant

struggle to keep his soul and body morally pure” (Tomc 1997, 103). His human side never truly

leaves him and this makes it easier for the audience to empathize with him, since he refuses to

become a brutal killer, but rather takes lives in order to survive. Moreover, he mourns about the

things taken away from him, such as the ability to see the sun rise again. When he is informed,

after his rebirth by Lestat that he is now a creature of the night and that sunlight kills him he is

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even more mournful. According to Gelder he is a “Freudian melancholic, unable to let go of his

lost objects” (Gelder 2012, 23). When comparing his character to Count Dracula, there is not

much they have in common in look and behavior, despite their bloodthirst. Louis is, as already

mentioned, an outstanding, beautiful man who would stand out in a crowd because of his beauty

and not because of him being a creature of the night (ibid. 20 - 21). Coppola’s Dracula is also

a good-looking young man, but only if he consumes enough blood, which is not the case with

Rice’s vampires, as they even look more human than other vampires when biting. When it

comes to Murnau’s Orlok, one can see a massive difference between this grotesque Count and

Louis, with the latter lacking claws, having no gaunt tall figure, or scary elements other than

the fact that he is a vampire. Also, he has not much in common with Lee’s or Lugosi’s Dracula

appearance, with the only common thread of these three being the erotic aura they all possess.

Yet their characters did have more threatening features of the monster than Louis, such as the

long nails. However, when it comes to clothing one can see some similarities since the plot of

Interview with the Vampire starts in 1791, the wardrobe is comparable to the other two

characters, though the cloak is missing. Furthermore, as the film moves on in time, Louis’

clothing does change to suit the era he currently lives in. Overall, it can be deduced that Louis

is a sensitive character, unlike any previously seen in this genre, though some might argue that,

as a vampire, he is weak because of his inability to separate his human feelings from his

vampiric existence (ibid.).

5.3.1.3 The Vampire Lestat

Even though Lestat only appears in one third of the film, he is an interesting character, and

becomes the main part in Rice’s follow up novels, Lestat the Vampire and Queen of the

Damned. Nonetheless, it is important to look at his character in Interview with the Vampire

compare it to the depiction in the follow up film, Queen of the Damned, which was produced

by a different director. In Interview with the Vampire, Lestat seems to have traits of the

‘stereotypical’ vampire, especially in the way he enjoys the hunt. He is thus the exact opposite

of Louis, and the only character with certain parallels to Count Dracula, as McGinley compares

him, with other fictional creatures of the night. According to her, he is more like Dracula, since

he is an “eighteenth-century French lord, the son of a marquis, made into a vampire. because

of his passion for life and his steadfast defiance” (McGinley 1996, 82). Besides this he is a

noble outlaw, a kind of an aristocratic rebel who is craving for power and independence (ibid.).

Another interesting similarity is that he survived Claudia’s attempt to kill him, similar to

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Dracula, who also avoided several attempts at his life before finally dying. In terms of

appearance, Lestat, like Louis, did not have anything in common with the folkloric vampires.

Au contraire, he is also depicted as a beautiful male vampire. Nevertheless, he embodies

vampiric traits that can be found in other famous film vampires as well, like no other creature

in this film. However, at first glance he has difficulties finding his way into the modern world,

though this changes by the end of the film, after he appears biting Malloy, as well as driving

off with his car while listening to Rock’n’Roll.

5.3.1.4 The Vampire Claudia

Claudia, the youngest vampire that appears in this film, is also a very interesting character,

since she portrays the disadvantages of vampirism. She was only five years old at the time of

her transformation into a vampire. Even though she grows up, she only does so psychologically

and not physically, thus being trapped in the body of a child forever, yet having evolved

psychologically into a grown-up woman (Ramsland 1994, 163). Though she seeks revenge

against Lestat, having found out that it was him who turned her into a vampire, this ultimately

gets her killed, as betrayal is highly unacceptable for the vampires of this story. However, a

child vampire is something the audience rarely sees, though it shows the dark side of being

immortal, namely never growing up. Ironically, this fact which the vampires from The Lost

Boys loved about their lives, made Claudia lose her mind. Her character has several facets;

when she was physically younger, she had a number of similarities to Lestat, as she enjoyed

killing and playing with her victims as much as he did. Yet, when she grows older and realizes

that she will be trapped in the body of a five-year-old for the rest of her immortal life she is

frustrated as she will never experience anything an adult could, and therefore she seeks revenge.

Claudia thus illustrates the dark sides of being a vampire and is incomparable to any other

version of the creature previously seen in cinematography, serving as a character development

into another direction. As cruel as the concept of an innocent child being turned into a killer

and even enjoying it might seem, it was an opportunity for the mystical creature to evolve and

show that not everything is as romantic as it may seem when becoming a vampire, especially

at a young age.

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5.3.1.5 Complex Vampires

The vampires in Interview with the Vampire allow the creature of the night to be seen in another

light, showing that vampirism is not always as cruel and anti-human as it is depicted in the

several film versions of Dracula, but that sometimes it is a balancing act, as seen with Louis’

character. Yet, some might enjoy it more than others and therefore are able to cope with their

fate better, even seeing it as an opportunity for a new life in which one can find power, such as

Lestat. Going even further, it can be deduced that living or being young forever can be a curse

as well.

In all, the tremendous character progress, in terms of their complexity, compared to the

‘original’ vampire of the cinema, Count Orlok, also needs to be strongly stressed (Gelder 2012,

24).

5.3.2 Queen of the Damned

In 2002, the Australian director Michael Rymer produced a “loose kind of sequel to Jordan’s

film” (Gelder 2012, 24). As in Interview with the Vampire, it is notable that Lestat, even though

he is older than Louis, is the one who certainly deals better with the modern world. In Queen

of the Damned, he wakes from a long sleep in a cemetery in New Orleans to the sound of a ‘nu

metal’ song, seemingly implying the ending of Interview with the Vampire never happened.

However, this voice seems to draw Lestat into the modern world once again, arriving there with

the appearance of a glam rock star. He seems to be an old vampire who looks “perpetually

young and is surprisingly in touch with current musical trends” (ibid.). The film has been touted

by some as a “prolonged, self-aware MTV clip, built around a series of rock concerts performed

in different parts of California” (ibid.). The reviews for the film were mostly negative.

Moreover, Anne Rice had nothing to do with this cinematic version of her book(s), as the

screenplay was written by Scott Abbott and Michael Petroni. Lestat is played by Stuart

Townsend, an Irish actor, and does not have much in common with Tom Cruise’s version of

the vampire (ibid.).

5.3.2.1 The plot and the motives

As mentioned before, Lestat awakes and follows the noise of the music; since he is now a

different vampire (due to the change of actors), it seems like he himself has become inauthentic

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since the gallows humor and charisma he had in Interview with the Vampire is now missing.

According to Gelder, “the stark juxtaposition of the old and the new that is so typical of vampire

films is evoked here in some interesting ways” (Gelder 2012, 24). Lestat becomes a rock star

without any effort, since he is naturally as well as willingly drawing attention to himself, as he

stands out. The film is more about self-promotion, rather than self-effacement, yet “Lestat

encourages the other vampires to do the same and make themselves equally visible” (ibid.). He

spreads his messages throughout his music; with lyrics like ‘come out, come out, wherever you

are’ he does not want to draw any connections to the vampire/gay theme, as it can be seen in

Jordan’s film, but rather he simply wants the vampires to be seen as what they really are, a

theme that is further developed and explored in the TV series True Blood (2008 - 2014)).

Meanwhile, the audience is introduced to Jesse, a young woman who works for an investigative

paranormal center which is located in London. There she come across Lestat’s journals which

she proceeds to read in order to learn about him. After this scene the film flashes back to a

Mediterranean island in 1788, “its point of origin (like 1462 in Bram Stoker’s Dracula)” (ibid.).

This temporal choice is interesting, given that this was the year Australia was possessed by the

British. During this flashback, Lestat is possessed by Marius, the one who turned him into a

vampire. Viewers learn here that Marius sees Lestat like a son, whom he educates. Marius finds

it important that the vampire remains in the shadow and hides its true self, but Lestat soon

realizes that Marius and vampires like him are “frightened of the light I [Lestat] was directing

on all their kind” (ibid., 25). Even though the film has nothing to do with Interview with the

Vampire in terms of screenplay and direction, parallels between Lestat’s and Claudia’s

characters can be found, such as the fact that both characters seemed different to manage. An

exceptional example of this can be seen when Lestat finds out that Maurius has a mausoleum

on this island where he keeps two statues, of a king and a queen. Lestat, who is an outstanding

violinist (which is unfortunately very scarcely portrayed in the film), wakes the queen Akasha

with his playing. She is much older than Marius and has therefore has “the purest blood form

the oldest things” (ibid.), even though she is dressed in “faux-Egyptian gold breastplates and

lavish gold ornaments” (ibid.), owing the fact that she was Egyptian in Rice’s novel. Here she

functions “as kind of pop culture embodiment of ‘black Athena’” (ibid.), which can be seen as

“a manifestation of Martin Bernal’s controversial thesis, developed through the 1990s” (ibid.),

which states the northern African can be seen as the source for the European civilization. This

means that Akasha, Queen of the Damned, shifts the origin of the vampire, from Eastern

Europe, as suggested in Stoker’s Dracula, to the other side of the world. Gelder adds that “[I]t

also introduces racial difference into a vampire film that, like Interview with the Vampire, has

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otherwise taken the whiteness of its vampires for granted” (ibid.). Since the last time the Queen

Akasha was awake, a lot has changed, yet she does not want to accept this co-existence with

humans, as she believes that the vampires should rule. This is why she almost destroys

everything she comes across, no matter whether it is a vampire or a human. However, she is

somehow drawn to Lestat, even though it does not become clear how she could help him, since

she is extremely destructive. “Akasha’s racial difference is cast as radically excessive,

something ‘primal’ that cannot be assimilated” (ibid.). Still, Lestat is fascinated by her, even

though he has, at least to some point, discovered his human side. This can be seen when he

refuses to turn Jesse into a vampire, despite the fact she wants him too. Instead, he shows her

what this life in the dark, drinking blood and killing humans, looks like. The film then moves

to a large rock concert which takes place in Death Valley, organized by Lestat and his band,

where he wants to fight the vampires who do not accept his exposed lifestyle. When a fight

finally starts, the opposition’s sheer numbers threaten to overwhelm Lestat, even with Marius

and some other vampires helping him, until the moment Akasha suddenly appears and destroys

their enemies. Soon thereafter, that she takes him away, to an island. It seems like Lestat has

chosen his side, even though he, Marius and others of ‘the great family’ have decided to destroy

the Queen. After Lestat, after spends the night with Akasha and wakes up to an island full of

corpses, he realizes the Queen needs to be killed. They both leave for the great family’s location,

Akasha asking for loyalty, but not realizing that this is an ambush until the first members of the

family start attacking her. In the end, her destruction is nothing special, but rather is

“disappointingly conventional for a vampire film: turning black, she becomes a skeleton and

then crumbles into dust” (ibid. 26).

5.3.3 The depiction of the modern vampire in Queen of the Damned

Stacey Abbott talks about the ‘borderless world’ of modern vampires in contemporary cinema

in the concluding argument of her book Celluloid Vampires which was released (2007), where

Queen of the Damned is also part of the argument:

Queen of the damned is incredibly precise about the movements of its vampires, each change of setting begins with a caption indicating the change of location over an elaborate establishing shot as the camera flies over the city and its surrounding landscape. As the vampire in this film are attributed with the power of flight, these sweeping camera movements evoke the ease and speed of vampire travel and the resulting meaningless of distance and global separation […]. While the human Lestat was of French noble birth, his transformation into a vampire suggests that he has equally been transformed into a member of a global elite, able to ignore national boundaries and travel across the globe with ease (Abbott 2007, in Gelder 2008, 26).

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Queen of the Damned definitely “gives the impression of freedom of mobility” (Gelder 2008,

26), even though most of the film has been shot in one place. Gelder, moreover, argues that

“the view of the modern vampire as ‘global’ is a limited one” (ibid.), also adding that “the

modern vampire is immensely constrained in terms of movement and adaptability” (Gelder

2008, 26). Comparing this film to Stoker’s Dracula, one can see that the vampire’s journey to

London, which can be considered as the modern world, “marks the beginning of his demise”

(ibid.), since he was not able to survive this change and gets killed in the end, as he is simply

unable to cope with this modernization. Through the reassertion of nationalities, Dracula is

driven back to where he came from in the film. As Gelder discusses, “the vampire is both

brought into by modernity and erased or undone by it, made substantial and insubstantial

simultaneously” (ibid.). Taking the journey shown in Interview with the Vampire, where Louis

travels from New Orleans to Paris, from the new world into the old and back, it “ushers him

into the modern world and removes him from it” (ibid.). However, these movements are not

global at all, instead they are charting a “very particular kind of trajectory between New Worlds

and Old Worlds that references and reconfigure previous vampire narratives” (ibid.). When

taking a look at the various rock concerts Lestat plays in California, Hollywood and other

places, they “are conjoined to the insatiable appetites of the oldest vampires in the world, who

is also singularly unfit to the modern” (ibid.). Yet, the film does not demonstrate the ease of the

contemporary movement, but rather ties it to the modern and the “restraint” (ibid.), which,

however, could also be modern, but since Lestat learns about it, though it is not possible to

resolve. When Akasha is destroyed at the end and Lestat again joins the family of vampires

again that prefer to hide in the dark, implying that a similar future awaits him too. Being

transformed into a vampire in a way means that one joins a global elite, as the example of Louis

from Interview with the Vampire pertinently shows. Becoming a vampire in the modern world

is accompanied by a number of rules and restrictions, meaning that this is no guarantee for

freedom at all, but only a guarantee of immortality. Ironically, being transformed into a vampire

in the modern world can “mean a little more than an agonizing sense of just how different being

modern can be” (ibid.).

5.3.3.1 Lestat as a modern vampire?

Is Lestat a modern vampire? This question is interesting, since the two pervious subchapters

indicate that Lestat is indeed an old vampire, older than Louis, when taking Interview with the

Vampire into consideration. Yet, comparing both Lestat characters, one can see that there are

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significant changes from one film to the other, which is unsurprising, given that different

directors, as well as screenplay writers, were involved. For the purposes of this analysis,

however, the portrayal as seen in Queen of the Damned will be focused on. Lestat, woken up

by the sound of a ‘Nu-metal’ band, has changed completely in look, resembling a rock star

more than an old vampire, such as Dracula. His behavior also fits this look, as he willingly

draws attention to his kind and encourages other vampires to do so as well (Beresford 2012,

25). Moreover, Lestat’s character shows that he is living a free life among humans with almost

no problems. At the same time, however, this modern vampire, as Lestat seems to be, is at the

end forced to admit that vampires do belong in the shadows. However, becoming a vampire in

this new, modern world, far away from castles, brings a set of rules and restrictions with it. This

can be seen in many modern vampire films of the genre, where vampires still belong to an old

family, or stick to old ancient rules, set by the original vampires. The question is still

unanswered whether Lestat is the embodiment of the modern vampire or not, given the

multiplicity of attitudes he displays towards this dilemma. Taking his appearance and behavior

towards the old rules into consideration however, one could say that he is trying to part with

these outdated ways, in order to give his kind the ability to live a free life, thus making his role

in this ‘revolution’ somewhat dependent on the audience’s own views.

5.4 Blade

This film differs from all the other ones looked at thus far, yet it is worth mentioning since it

represents a different kind of vampire character, while still offering certain similarities to

previously-discussed items.

Blade (1998) brought a significant change to the genre, which was again on the verge of losing

its audience. With Blade, the ‘old world’ that was associated with stereotypical vampire traits

was gone, such as graveyards, castles, rinsing from the dead and sleeping in coffins. Blade

introduced a “gleaming, cutting edge, cyber vamp who exists on the borders of reality”

(Beresford 2008, 154). Even though he is still a creature of the night, hiding from humanity,

his enemies “are no longer stake-wielding professors” (ibid.). Here, the producers decided that

the old “apotropaic of garlic, crosses and stakes” are no longer necessary and does not fit the

image of the modern vampire, instead preferring grenades and machine guns. Moreover, Blade

himself is not a vampire, as seen in the films before, but he is a dhampir, a human-vampire

hybrid. This was the result of a vampire biting his mother while she was pregnant. Blade’s goal

is to destroy all the vampires, though he is not working alone, as his mentor, Whistler (who is

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a modern Van Helsing), helps with weapons and the garlic serum, which the protagonist needs

to inject himself with in order to avoid becoming a vampire, as well as to overcome his thirst

for blood. Thus, many of the old vampire associations are modified for the modern world, but

they are not fully abandoned (ibid., 155).

Blade’s success was mostly due to the morphing of the vampire cinema into the modern age,

which was also adapted within Queen of the Damned (2002), though without the action. It

seems that vampire films which follow a thriller pattern are more interesting for the audience,

which can be seen within films that have used the Blade formula, including the two Blade

sequels Blade II and Blade Trinity, as well as the Underworld films, which depict an old dispute

between vampires and werewolves, or Nightwatch and 30 Days of Night. The formula the

viewership seems to prefer is about blood, horror and death, choosing action over hidden

messages, which somehow is a primitive return to roots of the vampire, as suggested in many

folkloric stories (ibid.). The essence of those films is that the viewers do not have to over-

analyze the events happening, but are free to simply enjoy the experience, which can be a

plausible explanation for Blade’s success (ibid., 155 - 156).

5.4.1 The plot, differences and similarities with the myth

Having conceptually established that Blade differs greatly from all the other films analyzed

thus far (with the possible exception of The Lost Boys), we can delve deeper into the specific

details of these distinctions, with one of the main ones being half-vampire protagonists. In order

to understand some of his characteristics, a closer look at the plot is necessary. The film opens

“with pre-credits moment of origin, as Blade’s mother, Vanessa Brooks, gives birth to her son”

(Gelder 2012, 108). This is, according to Gelder, also the historical moment of the film, he

describes it as a “generic feature it shares with many other vampire films except that here it is

much closer to its present day: ‘1967’” (ibid.). This is followed by “red credits over a black

background and time-lapse photography showing shadows moving across city buildings as

night arrives” (ibid.), which are some rather clichés elements familiar to the viewership from a

number of other vampire films. The audience is then transferred into the ‘now’ and the setting

changes into a hidden nightclub located in the back of a slaughterhouse, full of vampires, and

in the middle of all this is a young man who was taken there by another vampire. He is unaware

of the nature of the others until the blood starts to come out of the sprinkler systems above,

which drives the others into a frenzy. Blade appears at the very moment the young man gets

kicked to the ground, killing the vampires in a spectacular way with his guns, a sword and a

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lethal boomerang. As soon as they die, they turn into animated skeletons, who spray out blood

in tiny spheres, as well as green gore. However, soon thereafter they completely disintegrate,

leaving no ashes or bones. This is somewhat different to other films, where vampires often

leave something behind when they die, giving the opportunity to bring them back from the dead

as seen in Dracula A.D. Some vampires are also seen to be indestructible, such as Lestat, in

Interview with the Vampire, where he survived two attempts at his life.

It is also important to take a closer look at Blade’s sidekick, Whistler, who represents the ‘old’

world, in the film. He is the Vietnam war veteran figure, who is the complete opposite of Blade:

a white, ageing man, who has long hair, disheveled clothes, smokes, and he has cancer. He

makes use of old technology, exemplified by Blade’s car, an old, yet heavily modified 1968

Dodge. Nevertheless, he is also a father figure for the protagonist, making his death at the hands

of the film’s antagonist, Deacon Frost, even impactful. (ibid.)

Blade is about the power struggle between the titular character and Frost, a vampire who is not

a ‘pure-blood’ (natural-born vampire) and it is against the rules of the older pure-bloods, who

are called the Vampire Nation. Seeing them reminds of a business meeting of a large company,

since all of them are sitting around a table. They own and influence many companies, as well

as being an important political factor. However, Frost wants a new age for vampires, where

they are the leaders of the world, ruling humanity and resurrecting an ancient Blood God. While

following his plans, Frost kills one of the pure bloods, exposing him to the sunrise. Frost himself

is described by Gelder as “an impish, malevolent half-vampire who is able to diagnose Blade’s

sheer alienation” (ibid. 110). Nevertheless, he continues with these plans, managing to decode

the script to summon the Blood God, before realizing that he needs Blade’s blood for it. To get

it, he breaks into Blade’s hideout, almost kills Whistler and takes Karen as a hostage. This is

enough to lure the protagonist into chasing him to his penthouse, where Blade is overpowered

by Frost’s men and taken to a temple where the ritual is completed. During all of this, Blade

also finds his mother, who he thought was dead. It is revealed here that it was Frost who bit

Blade’s mother while she was pregnant, partly making him the latter’s father. After Blade fights

the vampires who brought him there, he manages to save Karen, a woman bitten by a one of

the abductors, and brings her into the hideout where she gets a liquid containing garlic in order

to stop her transformation. While he stays with her during the night to make sure she does not

transform, he is eager for her to leave the next morning. However, when she finds out that she

is being hunted by vampires as a result of her escape, she refuses to leave and becomes Blade’s

sidekick during the rest of the film. She wants to find a cure because she sees vampirism as a

disease and therefore tries some different methods on herself. Whistler is intrigued by her

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research and hopes that it can yield a cure for Blade’s bloodthirst as well. Karen, however, is

unsure whether this is possible, since he was not bitten directly like her, but was born a half-

vampire, which is also what makes him different to Frost. Besides this, Karen is also attracted

to Blade, though the feeling is not mutual. The most erotic scene between them happens when

Karen saves Blade in the crypt where the ritual takes place and lets him drink her blood in order

to make him survive and give him the strength to fight Frost. Here both of them are on the floor,

embracing each other while Blade is drinking her blood, which is the closest association to sex

in this film and is definitely an allusion towards the intimacy of a vampire’s kiss, and the

sexuality that comes with it. As previously mentioned, Whistler has to kill himself after the

attack of the vampires, resulting in the loss of Blade’s quasi-father. Enraged by this event, Blade

makes his way through Frost’s forces and into his hideout, where he is trapped and used in the

ceremony. There his mother appears again, “stripping off his vest and brushing her lips

provocatively against his face” (ibid.). The last encounter with his mother happens shortly after

the drinking scene, as she appears asking whether he had fun drinking blood. Blade fights her

and she embraces him erotically one last time, before he kills her. After this he goes on to

murder Frost too, who turns into a bubble of blood as he dies. It can thus be said that, Blade has

to kill both of his parents, the “sexually provocative mother and a father who has been described

as a ‘sexually transmitted disease’” (ibid.). He wiped out his whole family and therefore his

history, leaving no trace while trying to return to a modern, viral America. Yet he cannot really

do so, as he “tries to suppress his own viral, mixed-species condition with even stronger

medication, he simply makes himself anachronistic, a strange king of modern anomaly” (ibid.).

Overall, it can be added that the Blade film, tries to take “the idea of a species’ future and turn

it into a perpetual struggle” (ibid.). This can be seen as Frost asks one of the pureblood vampires

if they want to find himself extinct one day, while Blade on the other hand wants to get rid of

all of the creatures of the night. Yet, this can also be seen as the struggle the vampire myth itself

has gone through over the years, as there have been many periods when the vampire has lost its

audience due to the fact that the viewership found it oversaturated. A few parallels between the

vampires in Blade and the ones from folklore can be found, such as their fear of sunlight, their

inability to smell garlic, and the fact that silver destroys them. This shows that even if many

ideas have changed some artifacts will always be found in vampire films when one takes a

closer look, which makes them at least to some extent, intermedial as well as intertextual (due

to the books, stories and novels) connected.

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5.4.2 Blade’s character

Since Blade is technically a vampire, or at least a vampire hybrid, a closer look at his character

traits should be taken in order to understand what makes him different from other vampires, but

also to find some similarities.

When he is first seen, Blade is dressed fully in black, donning leather pants, a vest, chest amour

and a long, open leather jacket, which is reminiscent of Lugosi’s opera cloak. Moreover, he has

sunglasses on, which was a detail also used by Coppola in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, in order to

protect the Count from the sun. These small connections can be seen as indicators that Blade,

in spite of his half-blood nature, still belongs to the ‘elite’ group of vampires which have created

several famous characters over the decades. Furthermore, he can be considered a so called

‘daywalker’, having all the abilities of a vampire, such as strength, fast healing and the reflexes,

but still being able to be out during the day, owing to the human part of his DNA. Being trapped

in-between these two worlds and states of being, he does not feel that he belongs to either of

them. He is constantly on medication, in order to keep his bloodthirst under control. In William

Crain’s Blacula, “the black vampire was linked to a potent kind of authentic African

masculinity that was unable to survive in a modern, diasporic America” (Gelder 2012, 110).

Crain also states that even though he kills so many vampires that “there is something impotent

about Blade, something sterile. He is certainly able to survive but it also seems that he has no

future” (ibid.) Taking this into consideration and thinking of the missing sex scenes in the film,

there is certainly some logic to this deduction, especially when comparing it to many other

vampires in similar films, where the kiss of a vampire is something as intimate as sex.

Furthermore, there are no elements of seduction in this film, even though this is a common

element towards humans within this genre, implying Blade’s different approach, which was

also posited by Beresford. Another point of difference is that Blade is a well-trained soldier,

rather than a noble count or wild young man. Thus, even though his character and appearance

are different from the creatures discussed until now, he still gave the vampire character a new

perspective and was an important part of its progression.

5.5 Twilight

The films discussed thus far make up only a fraction of the production related to vampires,

while some of these films have been more successful than others, the genre has generally been

oversaturated, yet the myths, legends and fascination for the creatures of the night still survive

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centuries later, serving as the backbone of a variety of themes in cinematography. One more

recent entry in this group are romantic teenager films with vampire protagonists, with Twilight

(2008) being the most popular example. The immense popularity of the story which the films

came out of makes their own success not very surprising, as the author of the books, Stephanie

Meyer made it on the bestseller lists along with J.K. Rowling and Dan Brown (Gelder 2012,

84). The Twilight universe consists of three books and four movies, with the first film, Twilight,

was released in November 2008. The production costs were approximately 37 million, yet it

doubled this investment within the first night of screening, before continuing in such a

successful fashion (ibid., 84 - 85). It is indeed interesting to analyze how and why the vampires

depicted in the films and books, though this is of secondary importance in this particular thesis,

have become so famous. Thus, in order to understand this universe better, and to see what has

changed and if these has alterations have influenced other films, a closer look will be taken at

the first film.

5.5.1 A successful teenage romance

Twilight begins with Bella Swan arriving in Forks, Washington, a small provincial town near

the Canadian border. She moved there to live with her father, since her mother remarried. The

beginning is like a typical high school film, with Bella drawing a lot of attention to herself, as

she is the new, unknown person there. Moreover, her romance with the vampire Edward begins

“almost straight away, after some smoldering looks and long stares” (Gelder 2012, 84). In the

film, Edward is even made to look like an angel when Bella first sees him in biology class, due

to the “white wings of a stuffed owl stretched out behind his head” (ibid.). However, besides

the ‘good’ vampires, the Cullen family, of which Edward is a part off, has evil ones too, which

is first made visible for the audience in a scene where a worker is seen to run away from

something that is most likely not human, and is later identified as a member of the

aforementioned family. As quickly as this scene starts it is also concluded and the focus shifts

back to the ‘main’ storyline, namely the romance to-be between Edward and Bella. Since their

first encounter, the human-seeming vampire avoided Bella until the moment when she was

almost run over by a truck in the school parking lot. As he saves her, she realizes that something

strange is happening, since he was standing on the other side of the parking area mere moments

before. When some of her school friends invited her to come to La Push, the beach in a Native

American reservation, she meets Jacob again, who is the son of her father’s friend. When some

of the students bring up that she wanted to come there with Edward, they tell her that he, as

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well as his family, are not welcome in the reservation, due to an old folklore belief about

vampires, or the cold-skinned, as he refers to them, and werewolves, which his tribe originates

from. For Bella, this story answers a number of her questions previously had, as she realizes

what Edward is. She confronts him with this, and he tells her the truth, about his family, who

are quasi-vegetarians as they only drink the blood of animals, before again stressing that this

romance is not good at all, but that he is much too infatuated with her to push her away. She

also gets invited to his house for dinner, where she is fascinated by the place itself, as it is “so

light and open” (ibid. 86), unlike the traditional vampire castle. It is also interesting to see how

welcoming the Cullens are towards Bella (ibid.), which is peculiar when considering that most

vampire portrayals show that the creatures of the night prefer the company of their own kind.

However, there are exceptions within the family, namely Rosalie, and Jasper, who is a

“newborn vampire” (ibid.) and has still difficulties to manage his demand. Alice, who is also

part of the family, is friendly and embraces Bella as a friend, as does Carlisle Cullen, their

‘father’. Interestingly, he is a surgeon, which is indeed very atypical for a vampire, since this

profession includes a constant demand for blood and therefore requires extensive self-control

(ibid.). Soon thereafter, she also gets invited to a baseball game the family loves to play. This

is when the tragedy starts. As they play, another vampire group is attracted by their game, since

it is so loud, that they usually can only play during thunderstorms. After they show up, the

Cullens, especially Edward, panic and want to take Bella to safety, as the other group are not

vegetarian. In order to keep the secret that Bella is human, she and Edward are trying to leave

as soon as it is clear that the three, James, Victoria and Laurant, want to join the game. At first,

everything is under control, until suddenly James manages smell Bella due to the wind carrying

her scent. From this moment on he wants her blood and starts hunting her. To save her, the

vampires create a fake track of her to gain some time, yet the ruse quickly fails and the film’s

climax begins in the old ballet studio Bella used to dance in when she was younger. With the

pretense of having kidnapped her mother, James tricked Bella into coming there, only to find

old VHS playing some of her childhood videos. He is recording this as he wants to show Edward

how he killed her, but after he breaks her leg, the other vampires appear and fight James before

destroying him. Unfortunately, Bella was bitten and starts transforming. To stop this, Edward

sucks the poison out of her blood. She wakes up in a hospital, where her mother awaits her,

thinking they will live together from now on, which Bella refuses. Instead, the end shows Bella

going to the prom with Edward, where they dance and she tells him that she wants to become

a vampire. Edward bows down to her neck and the scenery changes one last time, showing

Victoria, the female vampire and James’ girlfriend, leaving the prom.

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5.5.2 Things to point out

Twilight, as well as the follow-up films, have been a major success due to several reasons that

will be looked into. Nevertheless, the character of the ‘main’ vampire, Edward, who is also the

love interest of Bella, will be focused on mainly.

One of the first important aspects is the fact that Twilight is a film “made by women for a female

audience” (Gelder 2012, 85). Contrary to this, Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula opened up the

vampire film “to the deliriously high-speed world of adult erotic romance” (ibid.), whereas

Twilight (and its continuations) focuses on “broken home/high school romance in a way that,

by comparison, can seem to proceed at a snail’s pace: which is precisely the point” (ibid.) since

it wholly relies on “the romantic attraction that develops, slowly and unevenly, between Bella

[…] and the two young men she is deeply attracted to, Edward and Jacob” (ibid.). However,

Bella is also special, since Edward is not able to read her thoughts as he can with other people,

making her somehow unique, as well as pointing out one of the abilities the vampires of this

universe have. This, again, shows that metaphysical abilities are character traits that have

evolved from the folklore and are still relevant in today’s films. In this case, however, vampires

do not have the same abilities, meaning that one is able to read thoughts, while another one can

see into the future, or torture someone just by looking at the person. However, when thinking

about Dracula, he was also able to manipulate people, so this can be seen as kind of a

development of these folkloric skills. Secondly, it is interesting to see that the characters shown

in the film can be compared to characters from other vampire films such as Interview with the

Vampire since they have some external similarities, with Jacob’s appearance very much

resembling Louis, for example (ibid., 85 - 86). Additionally, the vampires in this film also avoid

sunlight, even though they do not destroy them, but instead make them sparkle. This is

something new and somewhat questionable, since it does take some of the ‘living in the

shadows’ aspect away, making them more adorable, especially for the young and (mostly)

female audience. It is also interesting to point out that the vampires in this film have an

agreement (which says, in order to keep the peace between them, the vampires are not allowed

to hunt on their land) with the Native Americans, the Quileute, who are said to be related to

wolves, which is also confirmed in the later films. This was heavily critiqued by Jacob, Bella’s

other love interest, and she has to choose between the vampire, who here embodies the

privileged white male and the “far less privileged wolf of color” (ibid., 87 - 88). Here the

vampire also represents the upper class, as it does in various other films, with some exceptions

such as Blade. However, besides this, another aspect that is criticized extensively is the fact that

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Edward was watching Bella in her sleep without her knowing, which brings up some

problematic questions. Yet, Edward’s character is always depicted as the nice, protective one

who would do anything for his love, thus he lacks some of the vampiric traits and the fact that

he, as well as his family, do not drink human blood is underlining his heroic character.

5.5.3 Edward the sparkling vampire

Edward is the boyfriend most girls dream of, with the combination of his gentleman behavior

and good looks, while remaining rather mysterious. When it comes to appearance, Edward has

nothing in common with the once-monstrous creature the vampire used to be in Nosferatu or

folklore. Au contraire, he is the embodiment of traits that would also fit Dracula’s description,

such as his honorable behavior and his good looks. What makes his character even more

interesting is the fact that he is a vegetarian vampire, possibly the first of his kind, since he

avoids human blood. While other vampires discussed thus far also drank animal blood, none of

them abstained from its human counterpart. Nevertheless, this is not the only trait that is

uncommon when it comes to this particular vampire, the other one being that the sun does not

kill him, but rather makes him sparkle, as if his skin was made of diamonds. Comparing those

two traits to other creatures of the night, it is pretty obvious that both of them have never

occurred the way they did here, which makes Edward outstanding. However, he is still a

vampire and should therefore share some character traits with others, though these are rather

rare, such as his fangs, the avoidance of sunlight and the fact that they belong to the same family

of nocturnal creatures. According to Gelder, an important element that needs to be stressed is

that the Twilight franchise, and thus Edward, is trying to advocate “a sexually conservative

morality” (Gelder 2012, 90). This is exemplified by the fact that Edward always tries to protect

Bella, as well as praising virginity in the follow-up films. Summing his character up, one can

see that he differs from other vampires, since he is not imperiled when exposed to sunlight,

avoids human blood and tries to protect his human love interest, at first refusing to turn her into

a vampire. The only connection with other vampires can be found via his gentleman behavior

and his beauty. Therefore, it is hard to say if he contributed something to the development of

the vampire or if he is simply a derivation of the creature of the night with different, new, less

horrible features.

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5.6 Dracula Untold 2014

An extremely important step was made now with Dracula Untold from 2014, which once again

focuses on the famous Count Dracula. However, this entry was also somewhat of a deviation

from the norm again, since the director, Gary Shore, adapted his own version of the story and

put more focus on Vlad the Impaler, and how he was turned into a vampire. Thus, while this

film again tells the story of the famous vampire, its production came after a rather long period,

with sixteen years having passed between the release of Blade and Dracula Untold, regarding

the film’s reception, there were mixed reactions to it, ranging from disapproval from critics and

audiences, to praise and even awards when it was released (rottentomatoes.com, n.d.).

Nevertheless, the film showed the Count from a different angle, and was relying more on the

historical figure, while simultaneously using legends to turn the Wallachian King into a

vampire. This is emphasized by the posters used to promote the film, where it says: “Every

bloodline has a beginning”.

5.6.1 The plot or Dracula’s life before he became the archetype for vampire films

As already mentioned, the film tells the story of Dracula and how he became a vampire, but it

changes the background story somewhat, since the plot of the film is about Vlad the Impaler

and his ascension to one of the most famous creatures of the night.

The film takes place in 15th century and starts with Vlad the Impaler, who is a Wallachian prince

ruling his kingdom, after having served as a child soldier for the Turkish Sultan Mehmed.

Things change suddenly when the Sultan demands to have one thousand boys, including Vlad’s

son, to train them as child soldiers. As all the negotiations with the Sultan fail, Vlad takes the

decision to see the vampire who lives in Broke Tooth Mountain, and who appeared the first

time when Vlad and two of his men were following a trace for the Sultan. When the vampire

appears for the first time, it is represented as a creature, as dangerous as a hungry tiger. He

attacks and kills both of Vlad’s soldiers, with only the Impaler able to escape. After the vampire

finds him, Vlad begs the creature to give him the power in order to defeat his enemies and

protect his family and people, since he did not want to give the Sultan what he asks for. The

vampire grants his wish, with the condition that he will turn back into his human self if he is

able to resist drinking human blood for a span of three days. As he agrees and uses his powers

to fight the Turks by turning into a swarm of bats, he also knows that he has to take his family

and people away to a different place. He understood what he was doing when asking the

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vampire to turn him, since a monk had who explained to him what the creature that killed his

man really was. This is interesting, since the church was originally denying the existence of

vampires and other, similar creatures. Yet this is a film and does not completely rely on the

accuracy of historical facts, but it is still a detail that has its origin in history and implies that

the church did know about this. While fleeing, they are attacked again by the Turks, with Vlad

helping to protect his people. Nevertheless, the aggressors still invaded their hideout, killing

the Impaler’s wife. With her last breath, she begs him to drink her blood to complete the

transformation in order to find his son and bring him back, since he was kidnapped. Having

done this, Vlad fights the Turks, impaling many of them with the help of his vampire army. He

frees his son who was taken away by a monk, before destroying all the vampires, including

himself by exposing them to the sunlight. Still, this is not the end, since another monk finds

him and gives him blood to awake Vlad again. In the end, the film turns to present day and Vlad

can be seen in a busy city where he meets a woman whose name is Mina, a different version of

his wife’s name, and even though the ending seems to be a happy one, the vampire who turned

Vlad can be seen watching both of them from afar.

When taking a closer look at the plot, one can clearly see that Vlad had cared for his family, as

well as his people, as it is also said in historical notes. Further accuracy in this regard is apparent

in the fact that his family was brutally killed, even though the film does not show this in the

correct way. It is also important to notice that the vampire who has turned Vlad into one, is

depicted in a very mystical and menacing way. When Vlad enters the cave the vampire is bound

to, the audience is shown some grotesque scenery. The vampire itself slightly reminds of Count

Orlok, from Nosferatu, as well as the version of Coppola’s Dracula when he was old, with his

tall, gaunt figure, the sharp teeth and the long nails. He also wears a dark, long robe which

points out these similarities to other vampire characters who have been on screen over the

decades. Contrary to other films that focus on the most famous vampire Count, this film goes

away form Stoker’s storyline and tries to tell the story behind Vlad Dracula, the son of the

dragon. However, there are a few similarities to the historical figure of Vlad the Impaler, such

as the fact that the historical Vlad was also captured by the Turks, but he (as well as his brother)

was released when their father died. Another characteristic he has in common with the historical

prince is his name, as well as the fact that he was a fair and strict ruler (Beresford 2008, 80 –

85).

Overall it can be said that the film itself adds, even though it is about Dracula, a new perspective

to the life of the Count and is therefore interesting when it comes to comparing this depiction

with other vampires discussed so far.

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5.6.2 Vlad, as a character

When it comes to the character of Vlad in the film, one might see a caring prince, a good father

and faithful husband, willing to save everyone, no matter at what cost. When Vlad was shown

the first time, he was wearing an armor with a red dragon on it, which is a reference to Vlad

Dracul, the figure’s historical father’s name, whose name means dragon and who was a member

of the Order of the Dragon (Beresford 2008, 77). Here, the suffix ‘uyla’ which stands for ‘son

of’ is used to turn the name into Dracuyla or Dracula, which would then mean ‘son of the

dragon’. Yet, Dracul also means devil in Romania, which also makes him also the ‘son of the

Devil’ (ibid. 77 - 78). Another allusion to this was made in the film when the protagonist fights

the Sultan and states that his name is not Vlad anymore, but instead Dracula, Son of the Devil,

before killing him. Besides this, he is depicted as a tall, dark haired man, but when he turns into

a vampire, he does slightly change in appearance, as his eyes get a red undertone and he is able

to transform into a colony of bats. This turning is another trait that can be seen in many vampire

depictions and characters, especially when it comes to films that are about the famous Count

Dracula. Hence its origin lies within the folkloric tales that state that vampires are able to turn

into animals, as well as objects. Continuing with folklore, it is said that vampires react to

different things such as garlic, silver or a crucifix, yet in this film. Vlad is not affected by seeing

a crucifix, nor does he burst into flames while being in church. This is different from several

depictions, except Blade, where the crucifix is also ineffective. Interestingly however, his son

was saved by a monk from the clutches of Vlad’s vampire army by showing them a cross.

Which opens up the question of why this does not affect the Prince. A potential reason for this

may be his military education and physical, as well as mental strength, since he had undergone

excessive brutality, and it seemed that the church was always a place of peace for him. This

may be also due to the fact that he still has some human traits within, since he did this to protect

his loved ones, as well as his people whom he had always treated with respect. His weakness

instead is silver, which burns him when he touches it. According to folklore, silver was used to

protect oneself against the vampires, yet, again with the exception of Blade, it is not used as

often in films. Vlad, is, even though he is a monster, still a loving father, who protects his son

from the vampires, even sacrificing himself to give the boy a chance. The saying from Vlad

that “sometimes the world no longer needs a hero. Sometimes what it needs is a monster”

(Dracula Untold 2014, 26:22), as he begs the vampire for help, shows that he is still connected

with his human traits and therefore no real monster.

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Another factor worth mentioning is that the vampire who turns him into one told Vlad that he

has been captured in this cave for centuries, which at the one hand points out that Vlad here is

not the archvampire. The vampire in the cave is, moreover, only able to leave it if Vlad’s

transformation is complete, which happened when he drank his wife’s blood. The film, then,

clearly tries to tell the story of the Prince’s turning.

His character, as already mentioned still remains human, and a similarity between him and

Louis, who was also unable to let go of his human traits, can be found, as both grieve for their

beloved ones. Yet Vlad is nothing like he was often shown as. A very interesting thing Dracula

Untold and Bram Stoker’s Dracula have in common, is the theme of resurrection of love. In

both films, Dracula loses the love of his life, and in both films, he finds it in another, resurrected

person. Even though there is not always a happy end; the idea is still the same and the

phenomenon of the ‘Romeo vampire’ is to be found again in these examples. Overall, Dracula

Untold, definitely combines several character traits from different vampires within the

protagonist, and is therefore a good example of how this character has changed over time.

5.7 Dracula 2020

The vampire has been, and continues to be, present in film, fiction and series over the last

decades. Therefore, it is no surprise that the streaming service Netflix, decided to do a version

of Dracula of their own. This version was released at the beginning of 2020 and is not a film,

but instead it is a mini-series that contains three episodes, and each lasting about 90 minutes.

According to the producers, it is based on Stoker’s novel, yet it is telling a different story,

especially in the last episode. Due to this it is interesting to look at this version of the well-

known vampire from today’s point of view and to point out the differences and similarities that

can be found in this adaption.

5.7.1 Dracula, the story and what has changed

The first episode of the miniseries is called The Rules of the Beast and starts in a similar way to

Stoker’s novel. However, there are some changes to be found, since the first scene shows a

monastery in daylight, after which a bald, sick-looking man is shown, which turns out to be

Jonathan Harker, as the story is told from his perspective. Harker, who is an English solicitor,

was able to escape from Dracula’s castle and is now telling his story to a nun, Agatha. As in

the original Harker came to Transylvania to negotiate Dracula’s bargain of an estate in England.

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When he first meets the Count, Dracula looks like an old man. This was also the case in

Coppola’s version, as well as in the book. However, as the story continues, a number of

similarities can be found within several versions of the film. As Harker tells the story to the

nun, details such as the scenery change. He narrates, in every detail, what happened there,

including how he managed to flee the area’s labyrinth. Further on in the story, he recounts how

he got to know one of Dracula’s brides, whom he wanted to protect form the Count with the

help of a crucifix, which, however, did not work. Here again one can see that artifacts used to

protect one from vampires differ in many films, which leads to different kinds of creatures. This

variety is nothing new, as folklore from different places of the earth is an influential factor in

this case. As Dracula feeds on Harker and becomes stronger as well as handsome, the victim

starts to lose weight and hair, and starts to look like he is suffering from an illness. Another

interesting aspect shown in this episode is that Dracula saves Harker from a baby vampire and

its mother, just to make him watch the sunlight for one last time and kill him there. This shows

that, contrary to other depictions of being turned into a vampire, where the one who is turned

does so within minutes or hours most of the time, here it takes days. The fact that Harker was

turned is indeed something new, since this did not happen in the novel. The climax happens

when Dracula comes to the convent to get Harker (here the perspective of the story also changes

and it is shown from a third-person perspective). He firstly appears in the form of a wolf, before

Agatha tells him that he does not have to hide his real form, which is another connection to the

original, where the Count can also shapeshift. Moreover, he is also not able to enter until

someone invites him in, which leads to a discussion between the Count and Agatha about the

reasons behind his appearance and attitude, as she does not understand why a beast follows

rules. Yet, during this scene, Agatha is revealed by Dracula as being Van Helsing, which is

important, given that the latter is the Count’s famous opponent. Meanwhile, Harker killed

himself but since suicide is ineffective on vampires, he is only asleep and wakes up to be invited

into the convent. When this happens, a bloodbath transpires which only Agatha and Mina, who

visited Harker there, survived.

The second episode is called Blood Vessel and starts with something unexpected: Agatha and

Dracula talking about his trip to England with the Demeter while playing chess, which is indeed

a peculiar picture. However, it is a detailed depiction of what happened on the ship while sailing

to England which takes an unexpected turn. It can be posited that Dracula is an unreliable

narrator in this situation. This is due to the fact that, while telling this, there is a cabin on the

ship which is never to be opened. Nevertheless, since Dracula needs to consume blood, he keeps

murdering the other passengers which attracts attention, as well as fear among the passengers

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since they do not know who is killing them. When the moment arrives that the remaining

commuters want the captain to open the cabin which should remain closed, the whole story

starts to change. Before anything is found out, the conversation between Dracula and Agatha is

shown, where viewers start realizing that this scenario is not real but is instead happening in

her imagination because Dracula drank her blood, which causes her to hallucinate. This

therefore means that the passenger to be found in there is Agatha, looking sick while being

surrounded by items that the victims had with them when they died. As they open it, Dracula is

inside and blames her for killing these people. As a consequence, she is tied to the mast, where

she begs for her life. Since no one wants to listen to her, she tells them that she is a vampire,

only as a trick to show them Dracula’s real self. She manages to do this by biting her lip open

and spitting blood onto him, which reveals his real nature, yet he remains hidden since his back

is turned to the passengers. Yet, one of the passenger’s offspring shows up in front of him,

making a cross with her fingers, which makes the Count move away. This is the evidence that

makes the others realize that he is actually a vampire. From this point on, they tried to protect

themselves against him with Agatha’s help, as she uses the pages of a bible to create a circle

which he is unable to enter without an invitation. While doing so, an incident happens in a cabin

with Dracula, which was seen by one of the crew members who entered the circle before it was

finished. Since the vampire is able to take over people and animals, Agatha want him to step

outside to see if he is Dracula or not. When the crew member proves to not be the Count,

Dracula shows up and starts provoking them, managing to lure one of the passengers out of the

circle and starting a fight which ends with Dracula being burnt. Since Agatha got bitten by him,

she wants to protect the others before she is turned into a vampire, and thus advises them all to

leave the ship, while she kills herself. This is where the episode reaches its climax, with Dracula

being alive, killing the captain who wanted to go down with the ship and accompany Agatha.

Yet, the episode ends with Agatha dying alongside Dracula, since she was still able to blow the

ship up. The last picture seen is Dracula being welcomed to England by a woman surrounded

by armed fighters.

The third episode, called The Dark Compass, takes place in present-day London and is about

the seduction of Lucy Westenra, a girl who is in love with death which makes her also love

Dracula. The Count has a phone now and is searching for his victims via the internet and dating

apps, and that is also how he found Lucy. However, before he meets Lucy, he is kept captive

by Zoe Helsing, a descendant of Agatha who is a researcher in the modern times. In this episode,

Renfield, Dracula’s lawyer, is also brought back and helps the Count to be released. As in the

original, the vampire seduces Lucy and drinks her blood. The viewer is also able to see the

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Counts reflection in a window, which shows the complete opposite of what he looks most of

the time; here, one can see his real self, the old man he really is. This reflection reminds the

audience of other versions of the Count, like the one in Bram Stoker’s Dracula or even

Nosferatu. Here all his beauty is gone, he has monstrous features and parallels to folkloric

depictions of the creature of the night can be found. Lucy, however, has lost of all her beauty,

which is due to the circumstance that she was killed by the Count and burned after passing.

Unfortunately, she was not dead but rather turned into a vampire, which, interestingly, survived

the cremation, which indeed left some marks, as she now looks like a monster, with all her skin

burned. Towards the climax of this last episode, Dracula, Lucy and Zoe are at the Count’s

house. Before Lucy arrives at the house, Zoe and the Count are having a talk and as she tells

him about her cremation, he is shocked, as Lucy would have been alive during the whole

process. Shortly after Dracula and Zoe talked, he explains to Zoe’s assistant, Dr. Seward, (who

came to help Zoe since she has cancer and released herself from the hospital for this visit) that

beauty is not everything. As she enters, Seward is shocked by her appearance since she, as

mentioned before, was burned ‘alive’. Lucy is unable to see her real self, as her reflection is

still showing her what she has been, but as soon as she realizes what she really looks like, she

is completely overcome with hysteria until Dracula comforts her. To help her, Seward kisses

Lucy, as he has always been in love with her, while hiding a stake behind his back. As she

recognizes it, she begs him to kill her, which he does, turning her into a pile of ashes. Dracula’s

fury because of this leads him to make a mistake, namely telling Zoe about his greatest fear –

death. Zoe sees this as a chance to finally kill the Count. Therefore, she sends her assistant

away, then rips away the curtains of the window and exposes him to the sun. He does not burn,

and Zoe starts to explain to him why; she believes that all of the things he is afraid of or unable

to do are just because they have turned into habits and fears over the years, such as his fear of

sunlight or crosses, as well as the inability to go into a house without an invitation. She calls

this the rules of the beast and wants to know what he fears the most, yet answers this question

simultaneously by herself. Dracula then realizes that she is right and sees that she is, in contrast

to himself, not afraid of death. Zoe sits down as she is unable to stand because of her cancer,

while the Count walks towards the sun and admires its beauty. At this very moment he decides

to die and drinks her blood. However, during this episode, the audience is shown that Dracula

is unable to drink the blood of an ill person such as Zoe, without dying. The last scene shows

Dracula and Zoe embracing each other in bed, and the hallucination of her is the last thing the

audience sees.

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5.7.2 Differences between Netflix Dracula and the original story

A major difference that needs to be pointed out is that Van Helsing is a woman in this modern

version, which is interesting since most of Dracula’s victims used to be women. Compared to

Stoker’s version, where Dracula is defeated by a man, here he is bested by a formidable woman.

Moreover, in this adaption, Mina is not the central figure as she is in the novel, as she takes a

rather unimportant role. One moment where she does show her importance, however, appears

to happen after her return from Hungary, when she uses her family’s money to build the

Jonathan Harker Foundation, which Zoe also works for. Another difference that needs to be

highlighted is that Dracula never attacks the convent in the novel. However, as already stated,

the Demeter trip is an important part in the series, which it was not in the original. Yet, after

the temporal transition to modern day, it is said that Dracula learns about the new technique

through drinking its victims’ blood. That allows him to be up to date and even use dating apps

to find his victims. A character is also reintroduced here, namely Reinfield, who takes the place

of Dracula’s lawyer, and who was created by Stoker. When it comes to the character of Lucy,

the producers made her his favorite bride since she was the one who did not fear death, which

is the one thing that Dracula really is afraid of. The series also changes the destruction of the

Count, as he used to be destroyed by Van Helsing and his team, who also destroys his boxes to

replenish his powers. Here, the focus is more on his weaknesses and how those infected his life

as they had been manifested into the rules he lives by. Namely, not being able to walk in

sunlight, or into a house until he is invited, as well as his fear of crosses, which, according to

the series, is only because he believed in the effects of these artefacts on him. This certainly

makes him into a more complex character than he has been previously, since his fear of death

is greatly foregrounded in this edition, especially with Zoe confronting and making him decide

to drink her blood to overcome his fear and die. It can be posited that this changes his character

towards more modern, complex vampires that have been discussed thus far. When it comes to

his character and appearance, Dracula has the ‘stereotypical’ old-man look when he is first

shown in his castle, which changes when he drinks Jonathan’s blood, turning him into a good-

looking man, as it was the case in many previous adaptions. Yet, he has kept his long nails,

which can serve as a hint as to his nature, even though he is well dressed and adapted to the

century he lives in. In terms of his character, the most interesting element is his fear of death,

which dictates the rules he lives by. Interestingly, the question of his ultimate immortality,

which is to be explored in the second season of the series, is raised, given that he tries to

overcome this fear by drinking Zoe’s blood. If he does indeed come back from the dead after

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this circumstance, it would mean a clash with many folkloric traits and would necessitate new

ways of ultimately destroying the Count.

To sum up, a number of aspects used previously in vampire films and series can be found in

Netflix’s Dracula, while some aspects have changed and made the Count an even more

interesting character to analyze. It also shows that the vampire is a very adaptable monster

compared to others, while still being surrounded by folkloric beliefs and ideas. Therefore, it is

interesting to see how the character has developed over the decades and how it is depicted

nowadays.

6 The evolution of the vampire

Within this paper, many different vampire characters have been analyzed and compared to each

other to point out what has changed in almost 100 years of their cinematic presence, and thus

some general assumptions can be made. As pointed out in the beginning, the vampire, in its

various forms, has been around from ancient times on and therefore has several names, shapes,

character traits and motives. Some of those are still used when it comes to modern portrayals,

while others have been changed and reused. Yet many vampires seen on screen do not have

many parallels with the folkloric monsters they used be in old stories and myths. However,

although their appearance has changed, the traits have stayed the same, especially with regard

to blood consumption. In almost every film, discussed here, the vampire does need human blood

in order to stay alive and keep its form. The only exception can be found in the Twilight movies,

since the main characters do not consume the blood of humans, but animals instead. Taking this

into consideration, blood is, and has always been, an important element of the vampire’s

history. It is the source of their power and life and is therefore a trait that will automatically be

connected to vampires. The act of the blood consumption is another important part, since it is,

in many cases, a very intimate, erotic and sexual procedure used by the creature of the night,

and is therefore often connected to sex. This is also a reason why the act of drinking the victim’s

blood is not shown on screen in early vampire films. The first time it did make an appearance

was with the Hammer Studios’ production of Dracula, which was a very controversial scene at

the time, yet it paved the way for its future showing. Blood is also the one element that all the

analyzed films have in common, because every vampire drinks and needs it. Besides consuming

blood, vampires are said to be able to shapeshift in some stories, while others state that they do

not look anything like a human being, though this is not true. When looking at Count Orlok

form Nosferatu in 1922, the vampire depicted there was a grotesque, haunting figure, more

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monster than human in looks, and did not have anything in common with the sexualized

vampires one can see today. However, only nine years later, when Dracula was brought to the

big screen again with Bela Lugosi, the look of the creature of the night had changed

dramatically. The grotesque, monstrous appearance was gone and a good-looking gentleman

had taken his place. Dracula, the famous vampire, a seducer of his victims had become

attractive, which is indeed a useful trait since it makes it easier to lure his victims and drink

their blood. Lugosi’s impact on the look of the vampire is still relevant today, having been

copied many times. It shaped the image of the creature, especially the famous Count. His iconic

look was also used in the Hammer Studios productions, and even though Lee added something

personal to it, the cape was still the trademark. Lugosi, as well as Lee, added an erotic note to

the vampire, though Lee made it stronger than Lugosi. Thus within this small timespan, the

vampire changed from the monster to a nobleman, with an erotic note. He embodied sex appeal,

especially in his first film, but even in his later portrayal of Dracula featured the iconic look,

even though the younger target audience necessitated a less sexualized version. A major change

happened when The Lost Boys came into cinemas. There was nothing left of the iconic look

from the archetype of the cinematic vampire. The creatures were young, rebellious and

Rock’n’Roll, with the film targeting a younger audience. It also shows different vampires, most

of them were young adults who lived only to party. After The Lost Boys, Dracula returned to

the big screen and told the Count’s story again, this time portrayed by Gary Oldman, who,

unlike in other films, gave him more than one face. The vampire received some Orlok’s

grotesqueness again, with the long nails being a prime example. Here he needs blood to keep

himself young and beautiful, and is indeed shown as handsome and sexually attractive as never

before. Interestingly, even the long cloak was kept, even though it was replaced by a long coat,

but the reference cannot be denied. After Oldman’s portrayal of the Count, the interest in the

creatures of the night began to fade until Anne Rice created some very interesting as well as

iconic vampires that had changed in look and appearance. Louis and Lestat, as well as Claudia,

contributed greatly to the complexity of the character, as they were not simply searching for

blood. They did differ from what had been known before, since they had such an outstanding

beauty that no human could resist. On the one hand, this is an important aspect, since it made

haunting even easier for vampires. On the other hand, they added some new perspectives to the

creature, as Louis was made into a vampire, rather than born as one, which means that he still

kept some human traits and this made it hard for him to kill people without feeling bad about

doing so. Yet Lestat, portrayed twice, and differently both times, was cast as the perfect killer,

since he loved to hunt and used his good looks to his advantage in this regard. Clearly, the

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vampire had started to become a more sexualized object. It was shown as a dangerous, yet

sensual killer that nobody is able to resist. Its portrayal in Queen of the Damned, portrayed it in

an even more sexualized light than in Interview with the Vampire, owing, among others, to the

fact that he was dressing in a more modern manner. He also adopted a number of contemporary

traits and tried to live openly among the human race, which often led to the question if he was

a present-day version of a vampire. Claudia, the child vampire from Interview with the Vampire,

showed the negative aspects of living forever, especially when being turned into a creature of

the night at a very young age. Her portrayal gave a rather romanticized picture of the vampire

in comparison to previous iterations, since she does not grow older physically, but only

psychologically, showing the vampire as more than a blood-drinking monster.

In spite of these diverse variations, with the vampire character becoming more complex, it

seemed that more change was needed, and it came with Blade, the vampire-human-hybrid. Even

though he is not a real vampire (as long as he is taking his serum to prevent the transformation),

he still has many vampiric traits. This creature showed how much the vampire had evolved over

the years, with his enemies still needing blood to survive, while Blade is able to be ‘more

human’. The allusions to other films, especially Dracula and its protagonist’s iconic black cloak

cannot be denied. Even though, Blade, is not a real vampire per se, he influenced the character

with its change and diversity, and is therefore important in order to understand that the modern

vampire or vampire-like creature which is constantly evolving, and thus ensuring that the

creature of the night is not always what one expects it to be. The next vampire that was analyzed

can be considered to be the total opposite of the creature’s cinematic history up to that point,

Edward, (and his family) from Twilight is a vegetarian vampire who loves a human girl and

does not drink human blood. Moreover, since the Twilight films are about a teenage romance

and therefore different than the other films, they introduce a modern, different type of vampires

in terms of appearance and behavior. There are no real connections to the older iterations, no

cloak, cruelty or killing. Therefore, it can be questioned if this kind of vampire can be

considered a ‘real’ vampire, since there are only very few attributes that connect this type with

the character traits discussed so far. However, it is still a development and a modern

representation of the creature within youth culture. Still, the fascination for the ‘archetype’

vampire, Count Dracula, never really subsided and that was probably the reason to create him

and his story in a different way. The story told here has nothing to do with the original novel,

however, the vampires depicted there have several attributes that connect to other, older

versions of the creature. Firstly, the old vampire has a number of similarities with the grotesque

figure Count Orlok portrayed as well as Count Dracula, as seen within Coppola’s Bram Strokers

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Dracula. Vlad, in contrast, is portrayed as a good-looking king with the abilities of a vampire,

who shows that, even though he is a monster, he does not look like one. Especially in more

modern vampire films, as well as series, most vampires do not have any grotesque features, as

they are likely to be portrayed in a way that makes the audience can feel empathy with this

creature, as well as seeing it as a symbol of sex, gives its erotic portrayal. However, in Netflix’s

production, Count Dracula went back to the ‘standard’ development of the creature, meaning

that when first seeing him appear in his castle, he is depicted as an old, fragile man with white

hair hanging down his face in skeins. Yet, he has very many similarities to former portrayals of

this character in aspects of clothes, since he is dressed as the nobleman he used to be. The only

element that may give a hint of his real nature are his nails, as they are long and thick, easily

revealing his real age.

Summarizing these characters up, one can see that their appearance has changed over the years,

with the creature turning from a haunting figure into a sensual seducer. It has to be noted that,

even though not all of the characters discussed here are the same type of vampire, which is

indeed a consequence of the development of the creature’s character over the years, it is clear

that most of the time appearances has been important. Dracula, with his cloak, as a nobleman

who knows how to seduce his victims, the vampires from The Lost Boys, who embody the

attitude and looks of rock stars, appealing to teenage girls and young adults, and Dracula again,

as an even better looking young version of himself with an erotic undertone. Louis and Lestat,

the personification of beauty, youth and sex, yet with a bitter side. Blade, the hybrid, hunting

vampires, covered in leather and embodying danger, compared to Edward, the sparkling

vampire, who made masses wish that vampires really did exist, all juxtaposed to the Wallachian

prince Dracula, fighting for his people, giving them everything and still being visually

attractive, same as he does again in 2020, where he is still seducing his victims and luring them

into death’s arms. Another factor that has contributed to the development of the vampire

character in film are their ‘typical’ traits which most often originate within folklore but have

also altered greatly over time. The remainder of this paragraph examines these various changes,

analyzing which characteristics have survived over the years, which ones have been replaced

and which ones have come and gone. One of the prevailing traits is that vampires carry diseases,

with an example being Nosferatu from 1922, where the Count brought rats with him, which are

known to carry the bubonic plague. This originated in folklore, where vampires were often seen

at places where a plague or other diseases appeared (Beresford 2008, 99 - 100). The motive got

lost as a part of the creature’s ‘arsenal’, but was relevant at the same time again, since a number

of authors suggest that later the vampire was connected with sexually transmitted diseases such

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as AIDS, like in Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula where there are “readings of the film as a

comment on the AIDS ‘crisis’ and the campaigns for safe sex at this time” (Gelder 2012, 7).

However, an essay by Frank Rich, called The New Blood Culture from 1992, states that “the

film is nothing less than a symptom of America in the early 1990s, its orgy of bloodsucking,

bloodletting and blood poisoning inciting fears of further AIDS invasions of the national

bloodstream” (Rich in Gelder 2012, 7). Janet L. Beizer, however, states that “the eroticized

terror of fusion, infusion and transfusion” (Rich in Gelder 2012, 7) has been found in Stoker’s

novel before Rich’s essay on this. It has thus become hard to distinguish between the “urtext

and the remark”, yet blood is turned “into a spectacle in Bram Stoker’s Dracula; syphilis and

AIDS are citations that lend meaning to that” (ibid.). This shows that besides Nosferatu, the

idea of the vampire bringing diseases is nothing new and something that is often adopted. When

taking a look at Blade, a deduction can be made that vampirism is seen as a disease, when Karen

says that vampirism is simply a virus or a sexually transmitted disease. These examples show

that the trait that vampires bring or carry diseases is still adopted in films, even though it might

not be as obvious as it was previously. When taking a look at Interview with the Vampire, it can

be seen that vampirism is a plague, especially if one is turned into a vampire as a child, like

Claudia. She embodies all the negative sides of being immortal without growing up, which can

then again be seen as a curse of vampirism. Taking these examples into consideration, one can

see that this idea is still adapted and relevant in many films of this genre. Besides this, another

trait often connected to vampires that is extremely dominant and has been in all films discussed

in this paper, is the sun’s effect on the creature. For some it is deadly, such as Orlok or Dracula,

while others cannot walk in it because it would reveal their true nature, as seen in Twilight. Yet,

it can be said that it is something that the creatures of the night fear, and even though some of

them might be able to overcome this fear, or are able to walk in the sun, most vampires cannot

do so.

When taking a look at these common traits, it is clear that even though the vampire has changed

from a folkloric monster to a mysterious creature of the night, some traits have still remained.

Still, it has to be stated that some traits that many people associate vampires with have been

created by authors or filmmakers to add something even more mystical to this creature that

keeps the human mind entertained and frightened for centuries.

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7 Conclusion

In this thesis, the vampire, its origins, literature, and films have been discussed. The character

of the once-horrible monster has been analyzed in order to see how it has changed over the last

hundred years in film, and how it was depicted in several ways and with various character traits.

Some of those traits are still to be found, even in the newer versions of the creatures’ depictions,

while others have been abandoned long ago. Moreover, it is interesting to see how the vampire

reinvented itself over and over again, appearing in various forms and versions, form the

monstrous looking Count Orlok, to the gentleman with business manners, to young, wild

teenagers, to melancholy figures, to fighting machines, to teenage lovers, to the warrior and

back again to the gentlemen. Yet one can deduce that the vampire itself is not always the

bloodthirsty and heartless creature shown in novels and films. It has come a long way, from

ancient times, to the twenty-first century. The character has evolved over the last years and even

the old monsters do not seem as frightful as they used to be before. It also shows that many

vampire characters brought to life over the time are more complex and have their own story to

tell, which can convince people into developing empathy for them, even though they are killers.

However, it may be the traits and characteristics, that lure the humans into this world of

darkness and blood or it is the relationship between fear and death. Ernest Jones, a neurologist

and psychoanalyst explains this relationship in On the Nightmare as follows:

a continued relation between the living and dead may be regraded in two ways, and each of these from the obverse and reverse. On the one hand it may be desired, and this may result in either the living being drawn to the dead or in the dead being draw back to the living; on the other hand it may be feared, which may also have the two same effects (Jones in Beresford 2008, 194).

Nevertheless, some of them still seem to be human at heart and want to remain in the shadows,

while others want to rule the world or see themselves as the ultimate creature. However, all

those creatures have at least one thing in common, this being that they are all vampires, so even

though they might differ at the beginning, in the end they have something that connects them

all. Humans’ interest in the vampire is manifold, but, in the end, the idea of being immortal,

living forever, and overcoming wars, diseases or other catastrophes might contribute to this

fascination. Yet, the question arises if this is really what one should want or if the idea of being

immortal has been romanticized by many of those stories, or if we are fascinated by death so

much that we want to become undead. By now we should have realized that being able to live

forever may not be as romantic and beautiful as many seem to think. Yet, it is still something a

lot of people want to be – immortal. When entering the word immortal into the Cambridge

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Dictionary, the second entry states that: “[a] very special or famous and therefore likely to be

remembered for a long time”(collinsdictionary.org, n.d.) and as Beresford states, “ in this the

vampire is all-conquering, even though he was ever alive in first place” (Beresford 2008, 196).

Overall it can be said that the vampire “reflects an ever-changing being that bears relevance to

the culture it exists in” (ibid., 201). “The modern vampire is a being born of a demon, burned

as a heretic and reviled as a friend; the Devil’s own creation” (ibid.). Yet, nobody can tell what

the future holds for this creature, but one thing is for sure, it was immortalized through Dracula

and it represents, at least to some extent, the history of this creature which is over six thousand

years old.

How blessed are some people,

whose lives have no fears, no dreads,

to whom sleep is a blessing that comes at night,

and brings nothing but sweet dreams (Stoker 1897, 237).

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8 Bibliography

8.1 Primary Sources

Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan. 1872. Carmilla. Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sjaani and PG Distributed Proofreaders. E-Book.

Rymer, James Malcolm. 1847. Varney the Vampire. The Feast of Blood. The Floating Press 2012. E-Book.

Stroker, Bram. 1897. Dracula. A Mystery Story. E-Book.

8.2 Secondary Sources

Beresford, Matthew. 2008. From Demons to Dracula: The Creation of the Modern Vampire Myth. UK, London: Reaktion Books LTD.

Barber, Paul. 1988/2010. Vampires, Burial and Death. USA, Yale: Yale University.

Bunson, Matthew. 1993. The Vampire Encyclopedia. USA, New York:Crown Publisher.

Bartlett, Wayne, Idriceanu, Flavia. 2005. Legends of Blood: The Vampire in History and Myth. UK, Stroud: Sutton Publishing Limited.

Gelder, Ken. 2012. New Vampire Cinema. UK, London: Palgrave Macmillan Publishers Limited/ British Film Institute.

Grudin, Peter D. 1987. The Demon-Lover: The Theme of Demonality in English and Continental Fiction of the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries. USA, New York: Garland.

Guiley, Rosemary Ellen, Macabre, J.B. 1994. The Complete Vampire Companion: Legend and Lore of the Living Dead. USA, New York: Macmillian General Reference.

Gelder, Ken. 1994. Reading the Vampire. USA, New York: Routledge.

Kilgour, Maggie. 1995. The Rise of the Gothic Novel. USA, New York: Routledge.

McNally, Raymond T., Florescu, Radu. 1994. In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires. Completely Revised. USA, New York, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

McGinley, Kathryn. "Development of the Byronic Vampire: Byron, Stoker, Rice." The Gothic World of Anne Rice. Eds. Ray B. Browne and Gary Hoppenstand. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1996

Palmer, Louis H. 2013, Vampires in the New World. USA, Santa Barbara, Califoria: Praeger, ABC-CLIO.

Ramet. Sabrina P. 1992. Protestantism and Politics in Easter Europe and Russia. The Communist and Postcommunist Eras. UK, London: Duke University Press.

Ramsland, Katherine. 1994. The Vampire Companion. Offical Guide to Anne Rice’s “Vampire Chronicals”. New York: Ballantine Books.

Stuart, Roxana. 1994. Stage Blood: Vampires of the 19th Century Stage. USA, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press.

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Sugg, Richard. 2007. Murder After Death: Literature and Anatomy in Early Modern England. UK, London: Cornell University Press.

Tomc, Sandra. 1997. “Dieting and Damnation: Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire.” Blood Read. The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture. Eds. Joan Gordon and Veronica Hollinger. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania.

Twitchell, James B. 1981. The Living Dead: A Study of the Vampire in Romantic Literature. USA, Durham: Duke University Press.

Waller, Gregory A. 2010. The Living and the Undead. Slaying Vampires, Exterminating Zombies. USA, Illinois: University of Illinois Press.

Will, Michael, Keppler, Stefan. 2006. Der Vampirfilm: Klassiker des Genres in Einzelinterpretationen. Deutschland, Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann GmbH.

8.3 Online Sources

Cambridge University Press. Vampire. dictonary.cambridge.com. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/de/worterbuch/englisch/vampire (accessed December 12, 2020)

Collins Dictonary. Vampire. collinsdictionary.com. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/vampire (accessed December 12, 2020)

Rotten Tomatoes. Dracula Untold. rottentomatoes.com. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dracula_untold (accessed December 20, 2020)

Hammer Films. About Hammer. hammerfilms.com http://www.hammerfilms.com/about-hammer/ (accessed December 19, 2020)

Encyclopedia Britannica. Hammer Films. britannica.com https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hammer-Films (accessed December 20, 2020)

8.4 Magazines and Articles

Murgoci, Agnes. 1926. “The Vampire in Roumania”. Folklore, Vol. 37. No. 4: 320 – 349.

8.5 Filmography

Dracula Untold. 2014. Directed by Gary Shore. USA, California: Universal Pictures