Vampires & Werewolves & Others [information]

LEGENDARY BLOOD DRINKERS

In Chapters 16 and 17 we offer up an extensive vampire filmography and highlight a number of works running the gamut from dramatic to comedic to action-adventure to science fiction, but before exploring the cinematic world of the undead, there are a coffin-full of performances and films worth noting for the characters and storylines they bring to life and the immortality they bring to the horror genre. This includes a host of legendary blood drinkers, like Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee, who most would readily agree are grade A, or shall we say the type A, of cinematic vampire consumption. Pun intended.

~I Vant to Suck Your Blood!~

Since the inception of vampiric cinema, dozens of actors and actresses have taken on the challenge of playing the most famous bloodsuckers in history. Some, like Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Frank Langella, and Gary Oldman, to name a few, have left a permanent bite on the genre. Others failed to achieve the same critical acclaim. But it's fair to say that playing a character so embedded in lore, literature, and film is no easy stroll through the cemetary.

For most of us, selecting your favorite Dracula is akin to choosing your favorite James Bond. Some folks prefer the almost balletic and traditional performance of the legendary Bela Lugosi, while others lean toward Christopher Lee's seductive but utterly ruthless Dracula. In the modern era, with the growing sophistication of computer graphics, makeup techniques, and creative camera work, horror fans have the benefit of being treated to more upscale bloodsuckers such as Gary Oldman's seamless vampiric changling from young man to old and then into rats and wolves. Still others would prefer Frank Langella, Willem Dafoe, Stuart Townsend, Jonathan Frid, John Carradine, Kate Beckinsale, Barbara Steele, George Hamilton, or any number of thespians who grabbed a set of sharp canines and took their best shot at proclaiming: “I never drink … wine.” Or in the case of Gerard Butler in Dracula 2000, the very modernized: “I never drink … coffee.”

For sheer artistry and panache, it must be said that every actor and actress who's portrayed a vampire has brought some measure of charm and idiosyncrasy to his or her undead alter ego, and all of their portrayals — the good, the bad, and the ugly — have offered up another crystal to the kaleidoscope of silver screen vampirism. With Max Schreck in his 1922 turn as Count Orlock in Nosferatu, a precedent was set for the vampire as both ugly and predatory — a distinct homage to the vampires of folklore. Few would argue that as the film progressed, Orlock, by whatever magic of lighting, makeup, or our own imaginations, became more grotesque and repugnant. For Lugosi, coming at the crossroad of silent film to talkie gave him the added advantage of having been more in tune to his physical movement. What is often termed his intentional almost balletic motion, which with his menacing and arguably exaggerated facial contortions, made him quite an intense Dracula.

For many horror aficionados, Christopher Lee is the quintessential Count Dracula; his statuesque appearance coupled with impeccable British mannerisms and lithe good looks make him the perfect immortal. With a smoldering and undeniable sexuality, and well-portrayed bloodlust, Lee, unlike any other Dracula, showed the world time and time again that his depiction was a force to be reckoned with. Let us focus, then, on some of the most famous of the silver screen players, beginning with Bela Lugosi.

The 1931 version of Dracula was released on Valentine's Day weekend 1931, which happened to be Friday the thirteenth. Rumor had it that female cinemagoers were fainting in the theater aisles and that men were running from the building! In a final tribute to his legendary portrayal, Lugosi, who died on August 16, 1956, was buried in his Dracula costume.

<<Bela Lugosi>>

In 1931, in what many consider to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest vampire film of all time, Bela Lugosi introduced the public to Count Dracula in the first official version based on Bram Stoker's novel. For Lugosi, it is arguably the role of a lifetime, one that secured his legacy in the kingdom of silver screen horror and one that was a long time in the making. Given the ferocity with which Stoker's widow, Florence Stoker, fought to have the 1922 “unauthorized” film Nosferatu literally destroyed, the rights to Stoker's novel were finally secured when Florence sold them to Universal Pictures.