60 Dracula Movies Ranked from Best to Worst
After reading Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula," I viewed a bunch of Dracula movies. This is a ranking of all of them that I've reviewed. This list ranges from fairly faithful adaptations, to loose reworkings and movies that hardly have anything to do with Dracula besides character names. This isn't an exhaustive list, although I believe I've seen most of the Dracula movies I care to see for now, and I'll add to the list if I view any more. For my full reviews at IMDb for these movies, a link is posted at the bottom of each movie's brief summary in this list, or you may click on my user name to link to my IMDb page to look through all of my reviews.
Also check out my ranking of Frankenstein films.
And my ranking of Dorian Gray pictures.
List now also at and open to comments at letterboxd: https://boxd.it/40OV4
My average rating of ranked movies: 4.4 stars.
Also check out my ranking of Frankenstein films.
And my ranking of Dorian Gray pictures.
List now also at and open to comments at letterboxd: https://boxd.it/40OV4
My average rating of ranked movies: 4.4 stars.
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- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsWei-Qiang ZhangTara BirtwhistleDavid MoroniA ballet rendition of Bram Stoker's "Dracula", stylized as an Expressionistic silent film.I didn't expect my favorite adaptation of a Victorian-era Gothic horror story to be a postmodern silent-film ballet originally intended for Canadian TV, but it is. Director Guy Maddin and company merge the styles of two mute art forms, ballet and silent film, with their own codes of silent gestures, and no film adaptation has better depicted the sexual and xenophobic themes of Stoker's tale.
My Full Review - DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsMax SchreckAlexander GranachGustav von WangenheimVampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.The earliest Dracula film still known to exist, F.W. Murnau's loose, unauthorized, silent-film adaptation of Stoker's novel introduced shadows to the Count, made sunlight an existential threat to him and began the oft-reused incident of him being fascinated by an image of the Mina/Lucy-type character - none of which Stoker wrote. But the film's association of the vampire with the plague is faithful to the spirit of Stoker's subtext of vampirism as portending natural disease.
My Full Review - DirectorE. Elias MerhigeStarsJohn MalkovichWillem DafoeUdo KierThe filming of Nosferatu (1922) is hampered by the fact that its star Max Schreck is taking the role of a vampire far more seriously than seems humanly possible.A fictional telling of the making of the above 1922 "Nosferatu," wherein actor Max Schreck (in an Oscar-nominated performance by Willem Dafoe) is either an incredible method actor or a real vampire pretending to be an actor pretending to be a vampire. Film itself is also treated as a vampire, especially as embodied by the zealous director F.W. Murnau (as played by John Malkovich).
My Full Review - DirectorTod BrowningKarl FreundStarsBela LugosiHelen ChandlerDavid MannersTransylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.One of the most influential films of all time, this early talkie essentially invented the horror genre in Hollywood and inspired Universal to launch its series of monster movies, as well as encouraging other studios to make their own shockers. It also introduced the most iconic performance of Dracula ever with Bela Lugosi's suave Count, with mesmerizing eyes highlighted by cinematographer Karl Freund. Lugosi's wonderful accent gave us the since-oft-repeated non-Stoker line, "I never drink... wine." If the film weren't so stagy in its later scenes, I'd rank it higher.
My Full Review - DirectorTod BrowningStarsLionel BarrymoreElizabeth AllanBela LugosiWhen a nobleman is murdered, a professor of the occult blames vampires, but not all is what it seems.Unofficially, director Tod Browning's (of the film above) third try at Stoker's tale and a remake of his first, now-lost attempt, "London After Midnight" (1927). In some ways, it's an improvement on Browning's 1931 "Dracula," and it plays on Bela Lugosi's star image from that film in an interesting, self-reflexive way.
My Full Review - DirectorGeorge MelfordStarsCarlos VillaríasLupita TovarBarry NortonCenturies-old vampire Dracula preys upon the innocent Eva and her friends.Filmed at nights while the English-language version listed above was made in the days, Universal's Spanish-language version is an interesting take on the same script and sets but by another cast and crew. In some ways better and in other ways worse--and in still other ways just different--, it remains the best adaptation of the Catholic proselytizing in Stoker's novel because of its Spanish-language orientation.
My Full Review - DirectorMehmet MuhtarStarsAnnie BallCahit IrgatAyfer FerayAzmi is a lawyer from Istanbul. Drakula of Romania has assumed a new title. Azmi travels to Romania for legal matters. He is warned of Drakula but Azmi is a strong believer of goodness.Another case of the orientation of the filmmakers and intended audience providing a greater context to an aspect of Stoker's book, "Drakula Istanbul'da" might be the first and only Dracula movie to benefit from mentioning the historical Vlad the Impaler, whose minor influence on Stoker has since been blown out of proportion. But, for this Turkish production, it adds resonance to the invasion threat of this fictional descendant of the real man who gruesomely killed thousands of Turks. Being a low-budget, non-Hollywood production, for a primarily non-Christian domestic audience, it also adapts the familiar story in other interesting and sometimes amusing ways.
My Full Review - DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingChristopher LeeMichael GoughWhen Jonathan Harker rouses the ire of Count Dracula for accepting a job at the vampire's castle under false pretenses, his friend Dr. Van Helsing pursues the predatory villain.Hammer shook up the vampire movie indefinitely with its blood-and-bosoms formula and red-blooded color filming introduced here, its first of nine Dracula movies. It's a bare-bones and action-paced adaptation and remains the best in the Hammer series, introducing Peter Cushing as Van Helsing and Christopher Lee as Dracula. It also introduced elaborate make-up-enhanced visual effects and the makeshift-cross trope to vampire movies.
My Full Review - DirectorPaul MorrisseyStarsJoe DallesandroUdo KierVittorio De SicaAn ailing vampire count travels to Italy with his servant to find a bride.Campy, exploitative, grotesque and well-made low-budget reworking of the Dracula tale, sending the vampire to Italy in search of virgin blood. This Count is more concerned with chastity than is the Church, and his aristocratic ways meet their match in a rapacious Red working man with an axe to grind.
My Full Review - DirectorPere PortabellaStarsChristopher LeeHerbert LomSoledad MirandaAn analysis of the construction mechanism for the magic in dominant narrative cinema though the filming of Count Dracula (1970), a commercial film by Jesús Franco.An experimental documentary following the making of Jesus Franco's poor international 1970 Dracula, listed much farther below, "Cuadecuc vampir" is a mostly silent rendition that retells much of the Dracula narrative, which kind of makes having watched Franco's bad movie worth it, and it includes the best mirror scene of any Dracula film in its only talking sequence.
My Full Review - DirectorStan DragotiStarsGeorge HamiltonSusan Saint JamesRichard BenjaminAfter being evicted from his castle in Transylvania, Count Dracula and his assistant Renfield travel to New York to find a woman who the Count believes is the reincarnation of the woman he has loved for all eternity.The funniest Dracula parody out there, tanned George Hamilton is a hilarious vampire, who reluctantly invades America after the Communists evict him from his Romanian castle. And I love this play on Stoker's line, "Children of the night, shut up!"
My Full Review - DirectorBob KelljanStarsWilliam MarshallDon MitchellPam GrierThe vampire Mamuwalde (a.k.a. Blacula) is resurrected by voodoo and forced to kill again.A sequel that's better than the original, it continues the themes of race and a racist police force from the first "Blacula," while dropping the stupid reincarnation romance and replacing it with a strong Mina-type heroine and Voodoo religious leader (played by Pam Grier)--probably the best reworking of Stoker's religion since the 1931 Spanish-language "Dracula" and one of the more anti-sexist Dracula-type films made.
My Full Review - DirectorPeter SasdyStarsChristopher LeeGeoffrey KeenGwen WatfordAfter killing his disciple, three English gentlemen unwittingly resurrect Count Dracula, who seeks to avenge his servant by making the trio die by the hands of their own children.The best of Hammer's Dracula sequels, this fifth rendition in the series aptly merges Stoker's exploitation of Victorian England's sexual hypocrisy with Hammer's catering to its target audience of Vietnam-era youth. This time, the Count is like the Id monster from "Forbidden Planet" (1956), fulfilling the wishes of a rebellious youth movement against the duplicity of their fathers.
My Full Review - DirectorStephen SommersStarsHugh JackmanKate BeckinsaleRichard RoxburghThe famed monster hunter is sent to Transylvania to stop Count Dracula, who is using Dr. Frankenstein's research and a werewolf for nefarious purposes.Hugh Jackman is more X-Men's Wolverine than Stoker's Van Helsing here, but at least its Dracula is more like Stoker's Count than the weak or lovesick vamps that comprise much of the rest of this list. This monster rally is also over-filled with characters and CGI, but it employs the camera to some use within the action and is, thus, more fun to watch than the prior year's "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," listed far below.
My Full Review - DirectorLew LandersStarsBela LugosiFrieda InescortNina FochWhen an errant bomb unearths the coffin of a vampire during the London Blitz, a gravedigger unknowingly reanimates the monster by removing the stake from his heartIf not concerned with copyright infringement, this Columbia shocker could've been named, "Dracula Meets the Wolf Man." Lugosi plays the vampire again, and this time he's an allegory for German invasions in WWI and WWII. Might be the first movie to resurrect a vampire by removing a stake from his heart, which was reused in "House of Frankenstein" (1944).
My Full Review - DirectorWilliam CrainStarsWilliam MarshallVonetta McGeeDenise NicholasAn 18th-century African prince, turned into a vampire by Dracula, finds himself in modern-day Los Angeles.The camp doesn't mix too well with the social commentary in this blaxploitation flick, but the allegory of vampirism to racism in urban America is a worthy translation of Stoker's themes to the exploitation genre.
My Full Review - DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsGary OldmanWinona RyderAnthony HopkinsThe centuries old vampire Count Dracula comes to England to seduce his barrister Jonathan Harker's fiancée Mina Murray and inflict havoc in the foreign land.Highly stylized--even gaudy--and definitely not a faithful adaptation of Bram Stoker's "Dracula." It adapts the reincarnation romance from the 1974 TV movie listed far below, as well as from "Blacula" (1972), and it takes some other non-Stoker elements from other Dracula films. On the plus side, Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation doesn't shy away from the source's sex, and the film introduces the then-new invention of cinema to a story that featured several then-new inventions--although the filmmakers miss the reason for these inventions: for Stoker, they were used to defeat the ancient Count; here, they're merely part of the film's decorations.
My Full Review - DirectorÉdouard MolinaroStarsChristopher LeeBernard MenezMarie-Hélène BreillatIn the 1700s, a vampire has a son from a normal woman. The mother dies, and he spends two centuries trying to teach his meek son how to be a proper vampire but no avail. Now they have to flee from Transylvania, and they end up in France.A light and sometimes amusing, if poorly plotted, vampire parody with Lee is his last Dracula-esque role. The otherwise-tired reincarnation romance is reinvigorated here by turning it into an Oedipal complex and love triangle involving the Count and his son. There's also some self-reflexive scenes where Lee plays a vampire playing a vampire in a film-within-the-film.
My Full Review - DirectorPaul LandresStarsFrancis LedererNorma EberhardtRay StricklynAfter a vampire leaves his native Balkans, he murders a Czech artist, assumes his identity, and moves in with the dead man's American cousins.Dracula invades suburban California in this poverty-row production where vampirism becomes a metaphor for contemporary Cold War politics. Czech-born Frances Lederer had the best accent for the role since Lugosi. It might be the first movie to show that vampires can't be photographed.
My Full Review - DirectorErle C. KentonStarsBoris KarloffLon Chaney Jr.J. Carrol NaishA deranged scientist escapes from prison and recruits Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and the Wolf Man to get revenge on his behalf.John Carradine's Dracula is an afterthought in this light but fun monster-rally sequel to Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943).
My Full Review - DirectorCharles BartonWalter LantzStarsBud AbbottLou CostelloLon Chaney Jr.The Wolf Man tries to warn a dimwitted porter that Dracula wants his brain for Frankenstein monster's body.Sure, the humor is largely outdated, but this trend-setting monster-rally comedy is still a lot of fun. That Dracula's reflection is seen through the mirror in one scene, however, is a continuing source of frustration for me (otherwise, I'd rank this higher).
My Full Review - DirectorRichard WenkStarsPeter LoewyBarry GomolkaKaren TullDracula travels to New York for a change of scenery.A short Dracula parody that's similar to the same year's feature-length "Love at First Bite" listed above. Both extend Dracula's Western travels all the way to New York, where they're assisted by Renfield, and both are full of rapid-fire, if sometimes dated, gags. A musical number and moments of breaking the fourth wall are highlights.
My Full Review - DirectorAnthony HickoxStarsDavid CarradineMorgan BrittanyBruce CampbellReclusive vampires lounge in a lonely American town. They wear sun cream to protect themselves. A descendant of Van Helsing arrives with hilarious consequences.Another Dracula-related comedy, this one mixes the vampire and western genres, while ignoring Stoker's book entirely except to steal a couple character names. It's fun in a goofy B-picture kind of way--just don't expect anything especially witty.
My Full Review - DirectorFred DekkerStarsAndre GowerRobby KigerStephen MachtA group of young monster fanatics attempts to save their hometown from Count Dracula and his monsters.This kiddie monster rally has some charm and is well paced except for the slow movements of its hardly-menacing monsters, which include the entire gang of Dracula, Frankenstein's creature, the Wolf Man, Gillman, the Mummy and three vampire brides.
My Full Review - DirectorAnna ProcházkováStarsIlja RacekJan SchánilecKlára JernekováJonathan Haker travels to Transylvania to seal a business deal with the mysterious Count Dracula.At one-hour-and-a-quarter length, this Czech TV movie is the best option if one merely wants to get the gist of Stoker's story in a relatively short movie. It even manages to retain some of the book's epistolary plotting by focusing on the diary entries and narration of Jonathan Harker. Otherwise, the poor production values are what you'd expect from a 1971 TV movie, but at least it doesn't over extend itself like a couple of other 1970s TV movies listed below.
My Full Review - DirectorWerner HerzogStarsKlaus KinskiIsabelle AdjaniBruno GanzCount Dracula moves from Transylvania to Wismar, spreading the Black Plague across the land. Only a woman pure of heart can bring an end to his reign of horror.Werner Herzog's remake of the 1922 "Nosferatu" suffers from turning the Count into a heavy-breathing, lovesick clown (as played by Klaus Kinski) and from its deathly-slow pacing and stiff acting. Otherwise, the drab cinematography fits well with the plague theme.
My Full Review - DirectorRoy Ward BakerCheh ChangStarsPeter CushingDavid ChiangJulie EgeIn China, Professor Van Helsing helps eight kung fu-trained siblings reclaim their ancestral mountain village, now the domain of seven powerful vampires and their army of undead slaves.Hammer ended its Dracula series on a mixed note with this 9th incarnation--mixing the horror genre with that of kung fu. It's best when appreciated as camp.
My Full Review - DirectorAlbert BandStarsJosé FerrerMichael PatakiJan ShutanCommunist soldiers accidentally unleash the part-vampire servant of Dracula, as well as Zoltan, his vampire dog, during excavations in Romania. Together, they set out for America to find the last living direct descendant of the great Count. Meanwhile, said descendant, unaware of his true heritage, goes on vacation with his family and their dogs, not knowing they are in great danger. Fortunately, a vampire hunter is also on the case and is tracking down the servant and his dog, as well as the descendant, in order to destroy the former and protect the latter.So-bad-it's-good film that is surprisingly average technically but predictably ridiculous in its premise of a vampire dog, who along with his Renfield-type master, are on a quest to turn the last of the Dracula clan in modern-day USA into their vampiric overlord.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsLon Chaney Jr.Robert PaigeLouise AllbrittonWhen Katherine, a beautiful Southern girl obsessed with thoughts of eternal life, invites Count Alucard to come to her mansion in the U.S., she unleashes a Pandora's box of horror on unsuspecting relatives and neighbors.Another Dracula film that erroneously reveals the Count to have a reflection, this updating of Dracula to the American South is a mixed bag. Contrary to some critical opinions, the mustached and super-strong Lon Chaney Jr. is a decent Count, and he's more faithful to Stoker than the suave renditions of Dracula started by Lugosi. The use of mist as a vampiric form and the foggy floating swamp scene are standouts.
My Full Review - DirectorPhilip SavilleStarsLouis JourdanFrank FinlaySusan PenhaligonThe vampire count leaves his Transylvanian home to wreak havoc across the world.Possibly the most faithful adaptation of Stoker's novel, this TV movie is otherwise not that good. It suffers from its poor TV production values, but the not-so-Stoker exaggeration of Dracula as a cult leader struggling as a counterweight to Catholicism, and Renfield's struggle between the two forces, is well conceived.
My Full Review - DirectorTerence FisherStarsChristopher LeeBarbara ShelleyAndrew KeirTen years after his demise, Count Dracula is resurrected by his servant and preys on four unsuspecting English tourists who have taken shelter in his castle.So-so third installment in Hammer's Dracula series sees the return of Christopher Lee as the Count in one of the series' most graphic scenes. Dracula's daring raid on a monastery reworks Stoker's Renfield subplot unused by Hammer's '58 adaptation. This is also the first of Hammer's films to invent water as a weakness of vampires--as if Hammer's vampires weren't already weak enough.
My Full Review - DirectorErle C. KentonStarsOnslow StevensJohn CarradineLon Chaney Jr.The Wolf Man and Count Dracula beg Dr. Edelman to cure them of their killing instincts but Dracula schemes to seduce the doctor's nurse.Universal's Dracula, Frankenstein monster, Wolf Man, a mad scientist and a hunchback return again in this sequel that inconsistently respects or disregards where the last movie left off. Although Dracula gets more screen time this go around, and the mad scientist adds a variation on Jekyll/Hyde to the mix, the lack of the journey plot from "House of Frankenstein" makes this one feel slightly more episodic and lacking.
My Full Review - DirectorRick SchmidlinStarsLon ChaneyMarceline DayAndy MacLennanA reconstruction, made from still photographs, of the lost 1927 Tod Browning film London After Midnight (1927) starring Lon Chaney .A reconstruction of the lost 1927 silent film, this is the closest thing to seeing what looks to have been an interesting film. Mostly relying on stills, however, this reconstruction is itself rather non-cinematic.
My Full Review - DirectorHarry HurwitzStarsNai BonetJohn CarradineYvonne De CarloDracula's granddaughter falls in love with a disco guitarist and runs away to New York City with him.Forget the vampire-human romance about Dracula's granddaughter trying to be human through disco dancing and just try to bare through the bad dialogue and acting, to get to the groovy soundtrack. If you don't like disco music, then I wouldn't recommend this one. It doesn't really have anything else going for it.
My Full Review - DirectorLambert HillyerStarsOtto KrugerGloria HoldenMarguerite ChurchillWhen Countess Marya Zaleska appears in London, mysterious events occur that lead Dr. Von Helsing to believe that the Countess must be a vampire.Dull sequel to the 1931 "Dracula," it features some psychobabble and a misogynist narrative, but Gloria Holden is a worthy successor to Lugosi, and the homosexual overtones of same-sex vampire biting is more explicit this time.
My Full Review - DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingMartita HuntYvonne MonlaurVampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing returns to Transylvania to destroy handsome bloodsucker Baron Meinster, who has designs on a beautiful young schoolteacher.Another dull Dracula sequel, this time from Hammer's followup to its '58 film. Despite its misleading title, it neither features Dracula, nor his brides; instead, we get kid-vamp Baron Meister, but, at least, Peter Cushing returns as Van Helsing.
My Full Review - DirectorGenndy TartakovskyStarsAdam SandlerKevin JamesAndy SambergDracula, who operates a high-end resort away from the human world, goes into overprotective mode when a boy discovers the resort and falls for the count's teenaged daughter.Like Count Chocula, it's a mere caricature of Stoker's Dracula, overly sweet and not very good for you.
My Full Review - DirectorGary ShoreStarsLuke EvansDominic CooperSarah GadonAs his kingdom is being threatened by the Turks, young prince Vlad Tepes must become a monster feared by his own people in order to obtain the power needed to protect his own family, and the families of his kingdom.Batman Begins. A superhero origins story for Dracula which goes all-in on Stoker's slight suggestion that the Count was originally the historical Vlad the Impaler. A potential sequel is set up via a reincarnation romance, and it's racist in a watered-down "300" (2006) kind of way.
My Full Review - DirectorFreddie FrancisStarsPia DegermarkThomas HunterYvor MurilloAn American actress inherits a castle in Transylvania. What she doesn't know is that her ancestor, the Baroness Catali, was in actuality a vampire countess, and emerges from her tomb to ravage the nearby village and Catholic seminary.A bad movie that's derivative of Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), but the film indicates that the filmmakers had no pretensions otherwise. Might be worth a look if you enjoy intentionally bad sex comedies, and at least it's better than the same director's "Dracula has Risen from the Grave" (1968), listed below.
My Full Review - DirectorAlan GibsonStarsChristopher LeePeter CushingMichael ColesIn 1974, Professor Lorrimer Van Helsing investigates a satanic cult on behalf of Scotland Yard, only to discover a plot by Count Dracula to commit global genocide.The 8th film in Hammer's Dracula series has a promising premise involving the Count as the head of a corporation and a Satanic cult in the present day, but gets tangled up by Hammer's typically weak vampires.
My Full Review - DirectorMel BrooksStarsLeslie NielsenMel BrooksPeter MacNicolMel Brooks' parody of the classic vampire story and its famous film adaptations.Another bad vampire parody, Mel Brooks failed to recapture the glory of "Young Frankenstein" (1974), which isn't to say this one's without a few laughs, too.
My Full Review - DirectorDan CurtisStarsJack PalanceSimon WardNigel DavenportDracula is searching for a woman who looks like his long dead wife.The first Dracula adaptation to include a reincarnation romance, which is nowhere to be found in Stoker's novel, and to blow way out of proportion the book's connection to the historical Vlad the Impaler. But, sadly, not the last.
My Full Review - DirectorJohn BadhamStarsFrank LangellaLaurence OlivierDonald PleasenceIn 1913, the charming, seductive and sinister vampire Count Dracula travels to England in search of an immortal bride.This disco adaptation of Stoker's story suffers from being made into a dime-romance novel and from being based on the same play as the 1931 films. Also, a vampire's reflection appears in water, while the same vampire and Dracula don't cast ones in mirrors. A boyishly-handsome Frank Langella is way too suave as the Count. And, it's sexist.
My Full Review - DirectorRoy Ward BakerStarsChristopher LeeDennis WatermanJenny HanleyA young man is murdered while spending the night at Count Dracula's castle, prompting his brother to come to the small town where all the traces end to look for him.Hammer's sixth Dracula film includes a few particulars from Stoker's novel, including the Count climbing walls, but it doesn't do anything interesting thematically beyond redecorating the interiors of Castle Dracula in a red theme befitting of his blood lust. Otherwise, it's sexist and full of cheap fake bats.
My Full Review - DirectorAlan GibsonStarsChristopher LeePeter CushingStephanie BeachamIn 1972 London - a century after his final battle with Professor Van Helsing - Count Dracula is resurrected by occultist Johnny Alucard, and goes after his archenemy's descendants.In Hammer's seventh film in the series, hippies resurrect Dracula in the present day... and that about sums it up.
My Full Review - DirectorAlbert DeMondStarsMorton LowryMae ClarkeLawrence GrantA wisecracking narrator mocks footage featuring Frankenstein's monster and Count Dracula.An early attempt from Universal (prefiguring the Abbott and Costello monster rallies) at making fun of its own monsters. A narrator makes lame jokes over cannibalized clips from "Nosferatu" (1922), Frankenstein (1931) and the lost-film "The Cat Creeps" (1930) and pretends the first on-screen meeting of Dracula and Frankenstein's monster.
My Full Review - DirectorDario ArgentoStarsThomas KretschmannMarta GastiniAsia ArgentoAsia Argento stars in horror legend Dario Argento's sexy spin on the classic tale about the sharp-toothed count who craves human blood.For all its gratuitous nudity, cheesy visual effects and 3D crudity, which could've made for some fun camp, this is an unfortunately dull, cluttered and derivative adaptation that removes a lot of the best parts of Stoker's book.
My Full Review - DirectorPatrick LussierStarsGerard ButlerJustine WaddellJonny Lee MillerA group of thieves breaks into a chamber expecting to find paintings, but instead they release the count himself, who travels to New Orleans to find his nemesis' daughter, Mary Van Helsing.Like "Dracula A.D. 1972," of above, this is an obviously updated Dracula that focuses on youth culture, specifically Van Helsing's daughter. This one makes some other bad alterations to Stoker's original, features a young-adult cast mostly known for TV work, with the exception of Christopher Plummer, has a sexy Drac derivative of Frank Langella's 1979 version and contains blatant and repeated product placement for Virgin Records. Followed by two direct-to-video sequels.
My Full Review - DirectorWilliam BeaudineStarsJohn CarradineChuck CourtneyMelinda CaseyDracula travels to the American West intent on making a beautiful ranch owner his next victim. Her fiance', outlaw Billy the Kid, finds out about it and rushes to save her.The worst thing about this film is that despite its goofy premise, pitting a historical Western gunfighter against a supernatural vampire, is that instead of being unintentionally funny, it's a bland and relatively competently made B-picture.
My Full Review - DirectorJesús FrancoStarsSoledad MirandaDennis PricePaul MullerAn erotic horror tale about a vixen vampiress seducing and killing women to appease her insatiable thirst for female blood.Another try at Stoker's story by director Jesus Franco, this one benefits from being a looser reworking of the novel than the relatively-faithful 1970 Dracula listed farther down, and it also has lots of nudity and lesbians. It sucks otherwise.
My Full Review - DirectorJerry WarrenStarsRobert ClarkeSteve BrodieCameron MitchellWhen a hot-air balloon crashes on a remote island, the crew discovers Dr. Frankenstein's ancestor carrying on the family work, along with a race of mutants and a population of Amazons.Well, Van Helsing is in it, and he's teamed up with the ghost of Dr. Frankenstein in some cockeyed Dr. Moreau-like cross-species experiments, including, ironically, blood transfusions to keep the nearly-200-years-old Van Helsing alive. Arguably either one of the worst films ever made or a film so bad it's good, I rate it as not quite either and a bit of both.
My Full Review - DirectorStephen NorringtonStarsSean ConneryStuart TownsendPeta WilsonIn an alternate Victorian Age world, a group of famous contemporary fantasy, science fiction, and adventure characters team up on a secret mission.Well, Mina Harker is in it. She's a vampire and, more inexplicably, a chemist. Meanwhile, Dr. Jekyll and the Invisible Man, apparently, don't perform any chemistry. Go figure. This CGI-bloated nonsense deserves the critical rebukes it received, but at least it has more character development than the other comic-book action movie listed directly below.
My Full Review - DirectorDavid S. GoyerStarsWesley SnipesKris KristoffersonParker PoseyBlade, now a wanted man by the FBI, must join forces with the Nightstalkers to face his most challenging enemy yet: Dracula.The third installment in the Blade series employs Dracula as an underdeveloped, burly supervillain with a ridiculously-convoluted past. The rest of the movie is a mess, too, and worst of all for an action movie, it's dull.
My Full Review - DirectorMichael AlmereydaStarsElina LöwensohnPeter FondaNic RatnerThis ultra-hip, post-modern vampire tale is set in contemporary New York City. Members of a dysfunctional family of vampires are trying to come to terms with each other, in the wake of their father's death. Meanwhile, they are being hunted by Dr. Van Helsing and his hapless nephew. As in all good vampire movies, forces of love are pitted against forces of destruction.Artsy updated reworking of Universal's "Dracula's Daughter" (1936) listed above, this one is partly annoying and partly laughable. Fuzzy, pixelated images from a toy camcorder obscure all of the good vampire stuff, while all of the self-indulgent naval gazing and sophomoric philosophizing of the titular young Goth woman, smoking and hanging out in bars, is what's captured with crisp black-and-white photography.
My Full Review - DirectorBob KelljanStarsRobert QuarryRoger PerryMichael MurphyA couple invites a Count from Hungary, who recently immigrated to America, to conduct a seance for the woman's recently deceased mother, oblivious to the fact that he is actually a vampire.Loose, low-budget Dracula adaptation that moves the story to present-day California and renames the Count, "Yorga." An unmemorable reworking of the novel, and it's also tame in blood and sex compared to contemporary Dracula films--except for a shocking dead cat scene. Followed by a sequel, "The Return of Count Yorga" (1971).
My Full Review - DirectorAugusto CaminitoKlaus KinskiStarsKlaus KinskiBarbara De RossiYorgo VoyagisProfessor Paris Catalano visits Venice, to investigate the last known appearance of the famous vampire Nosferatu during the carnival of 1786.Choppy, stylistically derivative and inconsistent semi-sequel/reworking of Werner Herzog's 1979 "Nosferatu" remake listed above. Klaus Kinski returns to the titular role, sort of--he refused to wear the sad clown makeup this time. And, he was, reportedly, such a terror to work with that the film went through several directors. The result is boring and a mess.
My Full Review - DirectorFred GalloStarsChristopher AtkinsStacey TravisDoug WertWitness the romance and tragedy of one man's undying passion that led him to sell his soul. In this epic horror, Vlad Dracula exchanges salvation for immortality so that he may avenge the brutal death of his true love. Now he journeys to the twentieth century to lay claim to the woman he so desperately loves.Produced by Roger Corman, this low-budget bad movie could've been so-bad-it's-good if the entire production were like its unintentionally-hilarious ending. Piggybacking on the success of "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992) listed above, it also has a stupid reincarnation romance.
My Full Review - DirectorFreddie FrancisStarsChristopher LeeRupert DaviesVeronica CarlsonAfter a Monsignor accidentally brings Count Dracula back from the dead while exorcising his castle, the vampire preys on the holy man's beautiful niece and her friends.The fourth and worst film in Hammer's Dracula series, the production design is claustrophobic in its cheapness, the characters are annoying and look like they're from the late 20th Century as opposed to the film's early-20th Century setting, and the depiction of the atheist is insulting. Worst of all, Dracula has a reflection.
My Full Review - DirectorJesús FrancoStarsChristopher LeeHerbert LomKlaus KinskiCount Dracula, a vampire who regains his youth by drinking the blood of maidens, is pursued in London and Transylvania by Professor Van Helsing, Jonathan Harker and Quincey Morris.A good example of why you shouldn't try to make a relatively faithful adaptation of Stoker's novel if you don't have a budget. Also a good example of why zooming is not an interesting overriding aesthetic framework and why no matter how many times you zoom in and out on taxidermic animals, it won't make them look alive.
My Full Review - DirectorJavier AguirreStarsPaul NaschyRosanna YanniHaydée PolitoffThe Transylvanian vampire searches for a virgin sacrifice to resurrect his long-dead daughter.Cheap, poorly constructed, perverted and weird. And, as good as that sounds, the film is worse. The version with Elvira's interruptions is probably more fun to watch; at least, I don't see how it could be worse.
My Full Review