From Nosferatu in 1922 to Christopher Lee’s TEN outings: Cinema’s obsession with Dracula

Since its publication in 1897, Dracula has been adapted on screen hundreds of times.

Bram Stoker’s novel, which tells the story of the villainous blood-sucking Count’s journey to Victoria Britain, has an enduring appeal that shows no sign of waning.

The latest Dracula film, Renfield, which stars Nicolas Cage as the vampire, comes more than 100 years after the first, albeit unofficial, depiction of the Count on screen.

Since 1922’s Nosferatu, there have been a string of hugely popular iterations, including Bela Lugosi’s outing in 1931 and Christopher Lee’s portrayal in ten separate productions.

Also a hit was Gary Oldman’s Count in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 film Bram Stoker’s Dracula, as was Klaus Kinski’s inhabiting of the role in 1979 production Nosferatu the Vampyre.

In Stoker’s novel, Dracula attempts to move from his home in Transylvania to England so that he can find new victims.

He plagues Whitby before he is hunted down by a group led by Abraham Van Helsing.

The novel also stars English solicitor Jonathan Harker, who falls prey to Dracula when he stays at his home.

Speaking of Dracula’s enduring appeal, Dr Lindsay Hallam, a film lecturer at the University of East London, hinted at the semi-sexual element of the character.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: ‘When you think about Dracula and vampires, they seduce and they kill. 

‘The idea that he brings his victims to him, the biting is almost like kissing. 

‘Over time it went from being a monstrous figure to this romantic figure.

‘And then certainly, the 1990s version, Bram Stoker’s Dracula with Gary Oldman, that really leans in to the almost tragic romantic aspect of Dracula.’

The first film adaptation of Dracula came in 1922 with German silent film Nosferatu, which was directed by F.W. Murnau.

In what was a loose adapation of Stoker’s novel, lead character Count Orlock – played by Max Schreck – was seen preying on the wife of his estate agent.

However, because Nosferatu was an unofficial re-telling of the story, Stoker’s heirs sued and a court ruled that all copies should be destroyed. 

Thankfully, several survived and the film has gone on to be regarded as a classic of the horror genre. 

Nosferatu’s bald head, pointed ears, hooked nose and hunched shoulders – a figure described by one critic as the ‘strangest and most hideous leading man of all cinema’ – remains instantly recognisable. 

The character provided the inspiration for several other on-screen creations, including the blood-suckers in Guillermo del Toro’s Blade 2, as well as the Pale Man in the director’s 2006 film Pan’s Labrynth. 

There has been much speculation about what inspired the creation. 

Producer Albin Grau, a lover of the occult, claimed that, during the First World War, a Serbian peasant had told him of encounters with real vampires.

The man allegedly said: ‘You can laugh about this superstition, but I swear on the mother of God, that I myself knew that horrible thing of seeing an undead… or Nosferatu, as vampires are called over there.’ 

The next Dracula adaption that stood the test of time was the 1931 American version, starring Bela Lugosi as the Count. 

His performance – complete with black slicked back hair and sinister cape – is still regarded by many critics as the best, even though his appearance differed sharply from the cadaverous white-haired old man of Stoker’s novel. 

Lugosi, who had already portrayed Dracula on stage, was in fact second choice for the role. The first, Lon Chaney, died as the film was going into production. 

But the choice of Lugosi proved to be a masterstroke, thanks in part because he heralded from Hungary and his halting English fitted the character perfectly.

Some of his most famous lines in the film entered into folklore, such as: ‘I never drink… wine.’ 

His portrayal also established the character in popular culture and helped to inspire successive adaptations, including Christopher Lee’s portrayals.

Lee’s first outing as the Count ultimately kicked off a stint in the role that spanned a total of ten films. 

The 1958 version helped to establish producing studio Hammer Films as the leading maker of horror cinema.

The film starred Peter Cushing as Dracula’s nemesis, Dr Van Helsing, whilst John Van Eyssen played stricken solicitor Jonathan Harker. 

US publication Harrison’s Reports said it was ‘so great that it may well be considered one of the best horror films ever made.

Six further Dracula films starring Lee were to follow before he made Dracula A.D. 1972, which, although harshly reviewed by critics, had a big impact on the genre. 

The production brought Lee’s Count to in swinging 1970s London, marking the first real time that Dracula had been taken out of his Victorian setting and put into modern life.

Cushing also made a return as Van Helsing, his first appearance in a Dracula film since The Brides of Dracula in 1960. 

The pair had not starred together in a film about the Count since the original 1958 production.

But this time, Dracula had a hippie disciple – no so cunningly named Johnny Alucard – who made it his mission to bring the vampire back after he had been killed off by Van Helsing at the start of the film.

A Satanic rite performed in a churchyard – alongside Dynasty star Stephanie Beacham – duly brought the Count back.

Famed critic Roger Ebert wrote of the film at the time: ‘This isn’t a terrific rationale for another horror flick but, given Miss Beacham’s ability to heave, and her bosom to heave with, it will have to do.’

However, other contemporary critics were far more scathing, pointing out that the quality of Lee’s outings had been declining steadily with each new production.

But Mark Gattiss, the co-creator of the BBC’s Sherlock Holmes series, admitted that he has ‘always loved’ the film, because it is ‘so wrong’.

Speaking to the BBC, he added that it has a ‘wonderful naffness’ to it. 

In the decades since its release, it has acquired a cult following among ordinary viewers.

The film also provided an opening for successive filmmakers to bring Dracula into the modern setting, or to create other modern-day vampire stories. 

Lee would star in just one more Dracula film – the Satanic Rites of Dracula in 1973 – before calling it a day as the blood-sucker.  

Nosferatu made his own comeback in 1979 film Nosferatu the Vampyre, which was directed by acclaimed German director Werner Herzog.

Starring Klaus Kinski as Count Dracula and Bruno Ganz as Johnathan Harker the film is a re-make of the 1922 Nosferatu.

Like its predecessor, Nosferatu the Vampyre was a success with both viewers and critics. 

Ebert, praising the appearance of Dracula, wrote: ‘Here is a film that does honor to the seriousness of vampires.  

‘No, I don’t believe in them. But if they were real, here is how they must look.’

The BBC’s Mark Kermode added that Kinski was ‘unsurpassable’ in his portrayal of Dracula. 

The dramatic make-up returned in 1992 with Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which starred Gary Oldman as the Count. 

Featuring alongside him was Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing, Keanu Reaves as Jonathan Harker and Winona Ryder as Harker’s wife Mina.

Unlike most previous iterations, the film brought an element of romance into Dracula’s life, as he and Mina fell in love.

In one scene, he told her: ‘You are the love of my life. Yes, you are the one I lost. I have crossed oceans of time to find you.’

Coppola said at the time of the film’s release: ‘We’ve tried to depict feelings so strong they survive across the centuries. 

‘Feelings like Dracula’s love for Mina, or the idea that love can conquer death, or worse than death – that she can actually give the vampire back his lost soul.’ 

Certainly, the twinning of gore with romance proved a hit with audiences, as the film raked in millions of dollars in its first week. 

In total, it grossed nearly $216million at the box office and sparked a series of novel spin-offs, a commic book and collectible cards.

Giving his view, Ebert wrote: ‘Oldman and Ryder and Hopkins pant with eagerness. The movie is an exercise in feverish excess, and for that if for little else, I enjoyed it.’ 

This month, viewers were treated to Cage’s more light-hearted depiction of Dracula with the release of Renfield, which focuses on his servant, played by Nicholas Hoult. 

Giving the film three stars, the Daily Mail’s Brian Viner said: ‘To say that Cage sinks his teeth into the part would be an understatement. He consumes it completely, just as it consumes him.

‘Cage has built a fine career out of over-acting, and has generally had the nous to choose characters that fit his heroically unsubtle style. That was never truer than it is of Dracula.

‘Apparently, Cage even agreed to have his teeth shaved down so that his alarming set of vampire dentures would fit properly. 

‘It is an extravagantly full-blooded performance in every sense, a camply sinister hoot, and on its own worth the price of admission.’