CHAPTER 8 Counting on the Count

While Count Dracula dies at the end of the 1931 film, the interest in vampires certainly didn’t. Bela Lugosi made another vampire movie in 1935 for a different studio. And in 1936, Universal released its second Dracula movie, Dracula’s Daughter. The count does not appear in the film. Instead, it focuses on his daughter, Countess Zaleska. Dracula’s Daughter was so scary, one newspaper warned parents to not bring their children to see it.

During the 1940s, Universal made several more movies about Dracula, with different actors playing the famous vampire. One of those actors was Lon Chaney Jr. He had already played the Mummy, the Wolf Man, and Frankenstein’s monster for Universal Pictures. In 1943, he starred in Son of Dracula. The movie was not as popular as the original, but the character of Dracula went on to appear as one of many monsters in the Universal films House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula. John Carradine played the count in both movies and in some later Dracula films as well.

In 1948, Bela Lugosi once again played the part that made him famous. Lugosi appeared as Count Dracula in Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein. Abbott and Costello were a popular comedy team at the time. The film also featured other monsters such as the Wolf Man and Frankenstein’s monster. The movie was a combination of comedy and horror that scared audiences and also managed to make them laugh.

By the 1950s, US film companies were not making many vampire movies. But the British company Hammer Films thought people were still very interested in horror movies. Hammer made a deal with Universal Pictures to begin making movies about Dracula in England. In 1958, English actor Christopher Lee played the vampire. But filmmaking had changed since the first Dracula movie had been made. Many films were now in color. In Horror of Dracula, moviegoers saw bright red blood dripping from Dracula’s fangs for the first time.

In Horror of Dracula, much of the story focuses on Van Helsing and his hunt for the count. Dracula does not have all the spooky powers he has in Bram Stoker’s book. He does not turn into a bat or disappear in a cloud of mist. But he is still hungry for blood, and he bites both Lucy and Mina. In the end, Dracula turns to dust when Van Helsing pulls back a curtain to let in sunlight.

Bela Lugosi was the most famous Dracula on-screen, but Christopher Lee might have been the scariest. The actor was six feet four, towering over both his victims and his hunters. And with his fangs dripping blood, no one could forget what Dracula craved most. Lee made his first movie in 1948 and appeared in many movies and TV shows before playing Dracula for the first time. Fans loved him in the role, and he went on to play the count a total of ten times. Years after Lee’s last Dracula film, one fan bought a cape he wore as Dracula for about $41,000!

Christopher Lee is well known for playing Count Dooku in two Star Wars films. He also played the evil wizard Saruman in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies.

The movie opened first in England and was just called Dracula. A sign outside the theater used red lights to make it look like blood was dripping from Dracula’s teeth. Another sign warned people: “DON’T DARE SEE IT ALONE!” A few months later, Universal showed the film in the United States. It was now called Horror of Dracula. Through the early 1970s, Hammer Films made many more Dracula movies, with Christopher Lee usually playing the vampire.

In 1972, an African American cast starred in Blacula, the story of an African prince who is turned into a vampire by Dracula. William Marshall played the new vampire, named Blacula, who comes to Los Angeles and meets a woman who was his wife in a past life. Blacula turns her into a vampire, hoping they can live together forever. A second Blacula movie titled Scream Blacula Scream followed in 1973.

In 1979, Universal Pictures returned to Dracula. Two years before, New York producers had staged a new show of the play that had been such a hit during the 1920s. The new Dracula starred Frank Langella as the count.

The sets were in black and white and had images of bats and skulls painted on them. Universal then made a film based on the play, with Langella again playing Dracula. This count does not have fangs, but he does crawl down his castle wall, as in the book. It shows Dracula struggling with being undead. This Dracula is part horror story and part love story. And it reveals how people keep finding different ways to tell the tale of Bram Stoker’s vampire.