That’s honestly one of the best parts about film and successfully endeavors to be a valid, viable, and reputable art form and medium–the ability to rework, redo, revisit, and revamp a story or character. Everything from the Bible to iconic comic book heroes such as Batman, you see multiple versions, freshening up the ideas. For instance, something like Charleton Heston’s “The Ten Commandments,” and then zip forward several decades to Dreamworks’ “Prince of Egypt.” Same story, different style.
Speaking of revamping, let’s talk vampires–most notably the legendary Dracula as portrayed by Bram Stoker. Can we even count how many versions there are? Let’s start….
- “Dracula,” 1931, Director Tod Browning, starring Bela Lugosi.
- “Nosferatu,” 1922, Director F.W. Murnau, starring Max Schreck.
- “Nosferatu the Vampyre,” 1979, Director Werner Herzog, starring Klaus Kinski.
- “Blacula,” 1972, Director William Crain, starring William Marshall.
- “Dracula,” 1992, Director Francis Ford Coppola, starring Gary Oldman.
- “Dracula 2000,” 2000, Director Patrick Lussier, starring Gerard Butler.
- “Dracula: Dead and Loving It,” 1995, Director Mel Brooks, starring Leslie Nielsen.
Just to give you a taste (not of blood) of how amazing this list really is, here’s one fact: these movies as a whole touch on almost every type of genre–satire, racial undertone, drama, and classic horror. Moreover, you must understand that in the history of film, the character Dracula has actually been portrayed in 161 movies! These seven are some of the most memorable.
That’s a lot of movies for one character; but that’s the film industry for you, a never-ending melting pot of characters re-hashed and reinvented a million times over to tell some of the most imaginative stories through the use of motion picture entertainment. You can hardly hate the film industry, you know?