Who's your favorite big screen Dracula?

[Brian Braddock]

Dominic Purcell.



Just kidding. It's hard to tell who was a worse Dracula... him in Blade 3 or Gerard-Butler-as-Michael-Hutchence-as-Dracula in Dracula 2000.

Anyway... I'd probably go with Bela Legosi too but I have a soft spot for whoever played Drac in The Monster Squad. That guy terrified me as a kid.

Ah, Monster Squad - now theres a movie where they got the Universal monsters right.

 

[dude stannis]

For me it has to be Gary Oldman. I've seen that film countless times.

 

[Tequilla]

Nosferatu.

 

[StarLord]

Frank Langella from 'Dracula' (1979).

He was a real charismatic and charming bastard in that movie.

 

[Rorschach2012]

Oldman!!!

 

[Rorschach2012]

i actually really liked Van Helsing when it came out. I was like ten tho. Sweet concept, bad execution. I still think they should do a reboot of that concept with a better script.

A Dracula reboot has to happen at some point. Sawyer's Tom Hardy suggestion would work perfectly.

Cumberbatch would make an excellent Dracula too.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Ah, Monster Squad - now theres a movie where they got the Universal monsters right.

Indeed. That was a great film.

Van Helsing was some of the worst crap I've ever seen in my life. I should have demanded my money back.

It's a shame too, because I think at least Hugh Jackman might have been great in the movie had the script not been utter ****. Roxburgh and his vampire gremlin pods were the worst part of that movie, and that's saying a lot given how much was awful.

 

[Eddie Dean]

The ending with Kate Beckinsale's face in the clouds is incredible, though

 

[redfirebird2008]

My God, yes.

Hammed it up something rotten and looked less like Dracula and more like the Childcatcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Saying that, was it actually his fault or that of Stephen Sommers - who pretty much f'd up all the Universal monsters in Van Helsing. Seriously, how do you get the characters such as the Universal monsters wrong, in almost every aspect? I'd never have thought it possible. Unless of course, you mess around with them too much, which is what Sommers did.

I'm just mad that they did the stupid black and white parody of the classic films at the very beginning.

 

[Rowsdower!]

The ending with Kate Beckinsale's face in the clouds is incredible, though

 

[marcvader]

Leslie Nielsen

 

[Brian Braddock]

Indeed. That was a great film.

Van Helsing was some of the worst crap I've ever seen in my life. I should have demanded my money back.

It's a shame too, because I think at least Hugh Jackman might have been great in the movie had the script not been utter ****. Roxburgh and his vampire gremlin pods were the worst part of that movie, and that's saying a lot given how much was awful.

I'm just mad that they did the stupid black and white parody of the classic films at the very beginning.

They changed Van Helsings christian name from Abraham to Gabriel because it sounded tougher, apparently. Shades of the Incredible Hulk TV show where they changed Bruce to David. Idiots.

 

[gwynplaine]

Just kiddingt:

 

[Gort Baringa]

Christopher Lee could have been a great Dracula, but after the first film I understand that Hammer wanted to employ his talents cheaply. He had very little screen time and no dialog in a couple of the sequels. This is a shame because Lee is an excellent actor.

 

[DarkSovereignty]

They changed Van Helsings christian name from Abraham to Gabriel because it sounded tougher, apparently. Shades of the Incredible Hulk TV show where they changed Bruce to David. Idiots.

They thought Abraham wasn't tough enough a name...so they changed it to Gabriel?

 

[PalmerTheThing]

Lee and Oldman instantly come to mind when I think "Dracula".

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Lugosi. His impact is to the Count is as equal as Karloff is to the Frankenstein monster. He, along with Dwight Frye and Edward Van Sloan, carry that movie but Lugosi is what makes the 1931 Dracula a classic. To this day, Draculas and vampires on television do Lugosi impressions, mostly the voice, but the look is often copied, too. Lugosi didn't become Dracula, Dracula became Lugosi.

"I am Dracula."

 

[Rowsdower!]

How about Jonathan Rhys-Meyers?

I haven't watched much of that show yet, but I've heard he's good in it. HE does seem like better casting than any other actor who has landed the role recently (Purcell, Butler, Roxburgh).

 

[redfirebird2008]

How about Jonathan Rhys-Meyers?

I haven't watched much of that show yet, but I've heard he's good in it. HE does seem like better casting than any other actor who has landed the role recently (Purcell, Butler, Roxburgh).

He's very good. It's a pretty big departure though. His Dracula pretends to be American.

 

[DACrowe]

Lugosi. All other Draculas are compared to him and for good reason. Our entire image of Dracula is not Bram Stoker's, it is Bela Lugosi's interpretation of the character as visualized by Tod Browning. It arguably changed vampires from an image of death to an image of sex in pop culture and makes an early talkie still worth revisiting 80 years later.

Next is a toss up between Lee and Oldman. Lee is fantastic and combines the look of Lugosi's Dracula with the mannerisms and monstrosity of Stoker's writings. However, other than his first film, his movies were hampered by being rather campy fan and exploitation (in a PG-way, for the most part). Oldman, while a huge departure from the book, brought back a level of menace and nastiness not see in the character for decades (going to some dark places that even Nosferatu wouldn't) while also being able to genuinely provide pathos to the character. If you don't mind that Dracula is turned into a tragic villain bordering on anti-hero (depending on the scene), then it is strong, if intentionally operatic stuff.

The rest do not really hold up unless you count the Nosferatu films. But that is another discussion.

 

[Young Superman]

Lugosi. His impact is to the Count is as equal as Karloff is to the Frankenstein monster. He, along with Dwight Frye and Edward Van Sloan, carry that movie but Lugosi is what makes the 1931 Dracula a classic. To this day, Draculas and vampires on television do Lugosi impressions, mostly the voice, but the look is often copied, too. Lugosi didn't become Dracula, Dracula became Lugosi.

"I am Dracula."

Agreed

 

[Breogan]

Just kiddingt:

LOL!... Win for most outrageous portrayal.
He was actually a pretty hysterical Dracula.
Man did Hamilton know how to camp up a role?
His other self parody cape wearing creature of the night: (although in his case he dressed for day)
-Zorro's overdressed brother.

Bunny Wiglesworth.

And in a strange twist -

 

[CountOrlok]

Lugosi.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Lee loses cool points for me because most of the time he doesn't even talk. Dracula, in my mind at least, is a charmer who lures his victims with his faux-gentleman character. Also, he couldn't transform into a bat or wolf or even mist, which is just standard Dracula stuff.

 

[gwynplaine]

LOL!... Win for most outrageous portrayal.
He was actually a pretty hysterical Dracula.
Man did Hamilton know how to camp up a role?
His other self parody cape wearing creature of the night: (although in his case he dressed for day)
-Zorro's overdressed brother.

Bunny Wiglesworth.

And in a strange twist -

t:

Lee loses cool points for me because most of the time he doesn't even talk. Dracula, in my mind at least, is a charmer who lures his victims with his faux-gentleman character. Also, he couldn't transform into a bat or wolf or even mist, which is just standard Dracula stuff.

Lee loses cool points for me because of this:

(A comedy about Dracula and his bumbling idiot son that truly suckedt



_ The Count in "Fearless Vampire Killers" was a great "Dracula-esque" vampire: