Dracula | Blumhouse

[Mjolnir Reborn]

I'm very ready to see a vampire that's scary again. One that is a powerful, intelligent monster.

I like Bram Stoker's Dracula, but now the romantic image of the vampire has been overplayed. I like Blade, but I don't really want to see vampires be cannon fodder. What makes the vampire scary is that you aren't going to best it in a direct confrontation, and you're going to have a hard time outsmarting it. It may toy with you a bit, but it won't pity you.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I do find it a little odd that they called it "Bram Stoker's Dracula", suggesting that they were focused on the book, and then made up Dracula's motivation and backstory and camped it up at times. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein earned the title more; of course, Frankenstein up to that point was a very loose adaptation of the novel.

For me, Horror of Dracula is the best movie and best movie version of the character (even though I'll grant you Oldman gave the strongest performance), but there hasn't been a definitive version. There are things Bram Stoker's Dracula did so right and then other things it messed up. I don't know that I can ever expect a One True Dracula since each version now has to mix it up in one way or another.

I think I remember hearing that they titled it that way because Universal has the rights to the actual title “Dracula” so they had to do something to differentiate it. I might be wrong though.

Anyway, even though that version is more faithful than a lot of others, I honestly never cared much for it. I remember the trailers making it look scary as hell but it was really just campy and cheesy in a lot of parts. I generally defend Keanu when people call him a bad actor but WOW was he terrible in that. Anthony Hopkins also seemed like he was just collecting a paycheck. Oldman was good though.

 

[Fincher]

Yeah, I don't think it's that good, overall, but it's atmospheric and shows how a movie made nowadays could improve on the more simplified classics. I don't know why they didn't have faith in the material and had to camp it up.

 

[divan]

I'm very ready to see a vampire that's scary again. One that is a powerful, intelligent monster.

I like Bram Stoker's Dracula, but now the romantic image of the vampire has been overplayed. I like Blade, but I don't really want to see vampires be cannon fodder. What makes the vampire scary is that you aren't going to best it in a direct confrontation, and you're going to have a hard time outsmarting it. It may toy with you a bit, but it won't pity you.

I think it's a problem stemming from vampires in recent years becoming, for whatever reason, action movie characters, a genre personally I'm not sure they're suited towards.

Personally a trope I'm not really fond of is the vampires-as-zombies thing that works like The Strain try to pull off. Like, it's somewhat okay in places, but what makes vampires unique from other monsters is that they're still very human-like in terms of personality and intelligence, independently of what that corruption has done to them, and robbing them of that element makes them feel generic.

 

[DarkKnight88]

I think that stems back to the love of Nosferatu, himself a German Expressionist version of Dracula. Guillermo del Toro especially loves this version of the vampire as witnessed with The Strain and Blade II. The 1979 TV version of Salem’s Lot turned the head vampire Kurt Barlow from cultured like the book to a more beastly Nosferatu.

 

[Boom]

I'm kind of over the grotesque, bestial vampires. What I like about Dracula is that he appears normal at a glance, but the closer you look the more you realize that something isn't quite right about him (pallid complexion with flushed cheeks, hairy palms, long fingernails).

 

[Fincher]

I'm more of a fan of the humanistic / romantic vampire, like The Vampire Chronicles and Underworld. Dracula is more monstrous in general, and I'm cool with that and wouldn't expect it to change, but I still like how Horror of Dracula brought sexuality into it. When The Strain was coming and people talked about it as returning vampires to how they should be, to me it just sounded gross. Not even just ugly like Nosferatu, but straight up nasty when their biology was described.

 

[godisawesome]

I think Dracula as a true predator and fiend lies somewhere between the traditional depictions - it makes sense for him to be able to attract someone as a meal to him or conduct himself in a way to lower someone’s defenses, but the longer they spend with him the more everyone should just feel totally repulsed and horrified.

There’s an awful lot of existential terror that should probably exist in a monster who looks charming, but views humans as a combination of a drug fix and a sex predator’s victims.

And frankly, a lot of that could be communicated just by changing the way victims are directed to react to bites and draining. Fewer pseudo-erotic reactions and more horrified pain.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I think the Strain vampires were needed after years of PG-13 and sparkling vampires. Something more feral, monstrous and scary looking.

I wouldn't mind this new Dracula being a mix of both.

 

[divan]

I think the Strain vampires were needed after years of PG-13 and sparkling vampires. Something more feral, monstrous and scary looking.

I wouldn't mind this new Dracula being a mix of both.

The concept worked at first when chararcters didn't know what they were up against but it grew old very, very fast, in my opinion. By Season 2 you had main characters killing groups and groups of vampires left and right, they didn't feel like a threat anymore and none of them save Eichorst had anything resembling character or personality. Vampires should be malevolent, but they need to resemble and/or remind you of the person (personality-wise) they were before at least a little bit, otherwise any "confrontation" loses almost all emotional impact - you're putting down a corpse (hence the "zombie" comparision). Ironically, it's this very series in a not-so-good storyline (imo, again) what in my opinion summarizes what a "good vampire" should be character-wise in a simple exchange: Eph finds his turned wife (who's been given back some control due to plot reasons, but still firmly working for the bad guys) and asks her "how much of her is left inside that thing [refering to what's she's been turned into]" and she answers "enough".

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

The concept worked at first when chararcters didn't know what they were up against but it grew old very, very fast, in my opinion. By Season 2 you had main characters killing groups and groups of vampires left and right, they didn't feel like a threat anymore and none of them save Eichorst had anything resembling character or personality. Vampires should be malevolent, but they need to resemble and/or remind you of the person (personality-wise) they were before at least a little bit, otherwise any "confrontation" loses almost all emotional impact - you're putting down a corpse (hence the "zombie" comparision). Ironically, it's this very series in a not-so-good storyline (imo, again) what in my opinion summarizes what a "good vampire" should be character-wise in a simple exchange: Eph finds his turned wife (who's been given back some control due to plot reasons, but still firmly working for the bad guys) and asks her "how much of her is left inside that thing [refering to what's she's been turned into]" and she answers "enough".

To be fair while I liked the show. The book did a better job at keeping the vampires fearsome. At least until Mr Quinlan comes along to even the odds somewhat.

Unfortunately the show just didn't have the budget to match the scale of what happened in the books. Humans were an endangered species by the end of book 2 and barely any city's were still standing.

 

[Motown Marvel]

Has anyone else mentioned that Mads Mikelson would make a great Dracula?

 

[Deck Rickard]

Pretty sure Mads has been mentioned for every villainous role ever known to man, haha. But I agree; he’d be great.

 

[Pennywise]

Jason Blum Shares the Future of Blumhouse, the Possibility of 'Happy Death Day 3,' and the State of Karyn Kusama's 'Dracula' Movie

Karyn Kusama’s Dracula
Another Blumhouse project on the horizon is a new take on Dracula from director Karyn Kusama, the filmmaker behind The Invitation and Destroyer. There are several different Dracula projects at several different studios right now, including one from Oscar winner Chloé Zhao that’s being described as a “futuristic, sci-fi Western; Renfield, an “extremely violent comedy” about Dracula’s bug-eating henchman; and The Bride, which is not a straight adaptation of Dracula, but is partially inspired by the classic vampire book.

Zhao’s film is set up at Universal, which works hand-in-hand with Blumhouse. As a result, when that project was first announced, many wondered if it had driven a stake right through the heart of Karyn Kusama’s Dracula. At the time, I was able to confirm that Kusama’s Dracula was still in the works. But where does it stand now?

While Blum didn’t offer up too many details, he did say, “Well, I just texted [Karyn Kusama] this morning. I’ll say this, it’s in very active development, so we’re getting very close.” I love Kusama’s work, so I hope this all works out in the end.

 

[Sawyer]

I just watched The Invitation recently and that **** was fantastic. That same level of tension-building would work so well here.

 

[emc5466]

I really wish someone would make a faithful adaptation of Stoker’s book because I feel like no one has been able to capture the sinister atmosphere of the novel. The character of Dracula is also totally different, closer to a sexual predator crossed with an evil sorcerer.

 

[The Shape]

I just watched The Invitation recently and that **** was fantastic. That same level of tension-building would work so well here.

That movie is awesome and was a great surprise. Love a good intense thriller like that.

 

[Sawyer]

That movie is awesome and was a great surprise. Love a good intense thriller like that.

I like that she held off for just long enough that I started to believe the horror of the movie would be Logan Marshall Green losing his grip on sanity. And then the last 20-25 minutes happen.

 

[The Shape]

I like that she held off for just long enough that I started to believe the horror of the movie would be Logan Marshall Green losing his grip on sanity. And then the last 20-25 minutes happen.

Yes. It's a movie I wish I had seen in the theater for the first time, rather than at home on streaming or on demand. Would have been an even better experience.

 

[elgaz]

That movie is awesome and was a great surprise. Love a good intense thriller like that.

Haven’t seen it yet but on list now for tonight or tomorrow night, usually enjoy Logan Marshall Greens stuff. Upgrade was brilliant.

 

[Doctor Jones]

The Invitation is an overlooked gem of a movie.

 

[Dweet]

The Invitation is an underlooked gem of a movie.

Agreed. Scariest vampire movie in a long long time.

 

[Black Narcissus]

I really wish someone would make a faithful adaptation of Stoker’s book because I feel like no one has been able to capture the sinister atmosphere of the novel. The character of Dracula is also totally different, closer to a sexual predator crossed with an evil sorcerer.

Tis' already is one. It was the last great masterpiece done by Coppola.

 

[Drizzle]

Questionable stunt casting of Keanu Reeves aside, Bram Stoker's Dracula is the best adaptation out there.

 

[shauner111]

Nosferatu cough.