Best Dracula in movies

[acedrake]

Of all the actors portraying Dracula, the best for me is Gary Oldman's portrayal. Wich do you preffer and why?

 

[kronos251]

Christopher Lee (Dracula A.D. 1972)

'cause he scares the bejeevers out of me. even in black and white.





or





The real Count Dracula (Dracula 1974)

'cause he scares the bejeevers out of me. even in black and white.



and foam.

 

[KALEL114]

Gary Oldman is mine. A close second would be.....

Spoiler

The Leslie Neilson

 

[SuperFerret]

Lugosi

 

[Lex Luthor]

Christopher Lee

Just seemed like an actor who really enjoyed playing the part, and for that I've always liked his portrayal. As it's one I also grew up watching as well thru several films.
Lugosi is another that falls into this catagory as well.

 

[cryptic name]

Lugosi

and Duncan Regher from Monster Squad

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Frank Langella

 

[Drizzle]

Gary Oldman

 

[Lighthouse]

Max Schreck

 

[Nivek]

Chris Lee or Gary Oldman.

Honorable mention...

Bela Lugosi
Gerard Butler
Duncan Regehr
John Carradine

Love the book, but I always liked more Animalistic Dracula's over the classy "I found my lost love" sappy Drac's (which wasn't in the original story). Gary came close to getting on my nerves with that, but in other parts he was damn sinister it made you forget about the poo-poo crap.

 

[Joker]

Schreck (even though he wasnt called Dracula) or Lugosi.

 

[November Rain]

dude in van hellsing.

 

[Rac]

dude in van hellsing.

I thought he was one of the worst.

But bests are:
Chris Lee
Max Schreck

 

[bullets]

 

[chamber-music]

Gerard Butlers Judas/Dracula wasn't that good. He was more Ann Rice vampire than the count

 

[Jackasscoley15]

Max Schreck and Gary Oldman.

 

[Nivek]

Gerard Butlers Judas/Dracula wasn't that good. He was more Ann Rice vampire than the count

Compared to others who have plated Dracula, he wasn't that bad. Better than that Goth/Emo clown in Van Helsing.

another name of note, Louis Jordan in that BBC series from the 80's that was close to the book.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

dude in van hellsing.

LOL, if Bram Stoker had witnessed that he would have never written the damn book

 

[fu manchu]

Christopher Lee

 

[Figs]

Lugosi
Oldman
Lee

In that order.

 

[LastSunrise1981]

Oldman
Lugosi
Lee

 

[Drizzle]

dude in van hellsing.

Are you kidding? That was probably the worst incarnation of Dracula ever!

 

[Deck Rickard]

Bumping this ancient thread because I was thinking about all the Dracula performances I’ve seen over the years and tried to determine the best and the worst ones. I was going to create a new thread but this one was already here. Here’s my list:

BEST

1. Bill Skarsgard - Nosferatu (2024). Probably the creepiest, most unsettling version of Dracula (or Orlok). This version stays true to the character’s roots in many ways but also manages to introduce new ideas. Loved the performance and the movie.

2. Claes Bang - Dracula (BBC/Netflix). I’m a bigger fan of Claes and while this isn’t his very best villainous performance (check on Bad Sisters for that, holy ****), I really loved what he brought to the role. He felt like a mix of Bela Lugosi, Gary Oldman and something new entirely. The show itself was a bit… weird but Bang was awesome.

3. Gary Oldman - Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I’ve never cared much for this movie as a whole, and not just because of Keanu’s accent. Honestly, I feel like the entire movie looks like a cheap stage play and while it strives to adapt the Stoker novel pretty faithfully, this is one of those times where I wonder if sticking closely to the source material is actually a bad idea. That said, Oldman’s performance is great and is probably the best thing about the movie. While I’m not a fan of his old-woman-with-hairbuns look early on and I think that iconic red armor he wears at the very beginning looks like a ridiculous, Oldman himself really gives it his all.

4. Graham McTavish (Castlevania). This series is one of the best video game adaptions of all time (for a while, it was the ONLY good one) and McTavish’s Dracula is a big reason why. While the games make Dracula a one-note, evil bad guy, the show made him much more complex and sympathetic (sometimes a little too much perhaps, but that’s okay). McTavish does a great performance in the role and the character design is one of my favorites. Definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of the games or just like great fantasy/vampire stories.

5. Max Schreck - Nosferatu (1922). The OG! Much credit much be given to the first and one of the most iconic Dracula performances (or again, Orlok). Still creepy to this day.

6. Bela Lugosi - Dracula (1931). Perhaps the most iconic portrayal of Dracula of all time and the one that shaped future portrayals for decades to come, much credit must be given to the great Béla Lugosi for this performance. This was the first Dracula movie I ever saw when I was a kid and it remained my favorite for many years after.

7. Christopher Lee - Dracula (1958), various other films. Arguably the most iconic Dracula performed next to Lugosi, Christopher Lee put his own stamp on the character in the dark and imposing way that only he can. While Lee will always be Saruman first and foremost to me, his Dracula is another great performance.

8. Duncan Regher - The Monster Squad. While this movie is cheesy as hell, it’s also a ton of fun and was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid. And Regher’s Dracula scared the hell out of me back then. I loved that he looked like the classic Lugosi Dracula but was genuinely frightening and viscous. I wouldn’t mind seeing this movie get a remake or legacy sequel.

9. Nicolas Cage - Renfield. Nic Cage as Dracula? Hell yes! This ultraviolet horror comedy is a ton of fun and Nic goes full Cage as the prince of darkness. It’s a shame it wasn’t a hit because I would have loved to see a sequel.

10. George Hamilton - Love at First Bite. I haven’t seen this movie in decades but I remember it being hilarious. I’ll have to revisit it again soon.

WORST

1. Dominic Purcell - Blade Trinity. Just abysmal. I don’t know what they were thinking.

2. Gerard Butler - Dracula 2000. He looks like if Michael Hutchence was a vampire. And the performance is laughable.

3. Richard Roxburgh - Van Helsing. Everything about this movie sucks, and this Dracula performance is among the worst things.

4. Leslie Nielsen - Dracula: Dead and Loving It. I know this one is just a parody but casting Nielsen in the role was about as lazy as you could get. At this stage in his career, he was just the first guy you call if you were making a cheap parody movie.

5. Garry Chalk - Captain N. I’m only including this one because this show was an example of how NOT to adapt video games and what they did to the Castlevania series was the most egregious sin. While Dracula’s portrayal wasn’t nearly as offensive as what they did to Simon Belmont or (shudder) Alucard, it wasn’t good and they never even called him Dracula for some reason.

A few I still haven’t seen and probably need to:

Nosferatu the Vampire (Klaus Kinski)

Dracula (Frank Langella)

Blacula (William Marshall)

Penny Dreadful (Christian Carmago)

Dracula (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers)

Also, apparently Andy Warhol made a couple Dracula movies (one of which featuring Batman!). I need to see these.

 

[Drizzle]

I'm still gonna compartmentalize Dracula and Nosferatu even though they're very similar. Gary Oldman is still # 1 for me as far as Dracula goes but Bill Skarsgard's Orlok might be the best performance of them all. That falls in line with Heath Ledger's Joker where I wouldn't even know it was Skarsgard if I went in to the movie completely blind and didn't know who was playing Orlok.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yeah, it’s fair to split the two of them out if you want but the new one especially leaned into the real Dracula’s history (that was the whole reason for the mustache and other things), so I figured it was fair to include him. I guess Willem Dafoe in Shadow of the Vampire also might(?) count as a version of Dracula or at least a version of Orlok if you do consider them two separate characters. Dafoe was definitely good in that role, though I found the movie to be boring as hell.