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Dracula is Having a Pop-Culture Moment
CBR.com ^ | MAR 22, 2020 | Bea Caicoya

Posted on 03/31/2020 6:58:33 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Dracula-centric projects, from Universal's remake to Renfield to the series The Brides are blooming. But what brought the Count back?

Vampires are at the top of the horror-movie monster pyramid, and their fans have enjoyed watching them onscreen almost since the dawn of film as a medium. In the past decades alone, interest has peaked with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, True Blood and The Vampire Diaries. However, despite being adapted many times, Dracula hasn't been a huge deal in pop culture since Francis Ford Coppola took the Count out for a spin in 1992, when the director adapted Bram Stoker's epistolary novel into a sweeping historical action-romance.

That seems to be changing, though. Not only did Netflix and BBC premiere a Dracula miniseries in January, but before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic shuttered many movie and film productions, there were three Dracula-inspired projects ready to start. Universal was working on a new movie focused on Renfield, Dracula's servile ghoul. While Blumhouse had started developing another adaptation centered on Dracula himself. And there was even The Brides, a TV show about the women Dracula turned into vampires. And that's just TV and film: in the realm of comic books, Captain America is already battling Vlad Tepes in Marvel's Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula #1 and Image Comics announced a pulpy '70s retelling in Dracula, [Explitive]!


TOPICS: Books/Literature; History; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: bramstoker; dracula; vampire
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1 posted on 03/31/2020 6:58:33 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway
People have gotten sick of zombies?

I was expecting killer robots to come back first but maybe that was "Westworld".

Everything in cycles.

2 posted on 03/31/2020 7:00:10 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Leave it to me to be holdin' the matches when the fire truck shows up & there's nobody else to blame)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

I was never a big fan of zombies. Mainly because a lot of movies and shows lately will often make them fast and clever—which zombies (traditionally) are not.

Dracula/Vampires I like more as a monster villain, but the entertainment medium is still over-saturated with them in movies and shows.


3 posted on 03/31/2020 7:05:13 PM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

I recently watched ‘Shadow of the Vampire’ and it was a real hoot! Willem Dafoe was outstanding.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0189998/


4 posted on 03/31/2020 7:06:27 PM PDT by ArtDodger
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear
I was expecting killer robots to come back first but maybe that was "Westworld".

There's a Russian series on Netflix that is really good if you can handle subtitles. "Better Than Us"

5 posted on 03/31/2020 7:07:00 PM PDT by SanchoP (Secede!)
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To: nickcarraway
Dracula has never really faded, just bounced around from prominence in books to movies then to video games, then manga or comics.

His appeal is the same as Cthulu.
Copyright has run out and the intellectual property is free.

6 posted on 03/31/2020 7:09:01 PM PDT by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
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To: nickcarraway
Dracula has never really faded, just bounced around from prominence in books to movies then to video games, then manga or comics.

His appeal is the same as Cthulu.
Copyright has run out and the intellectual property is free.

7 posted on 03/31/2020 7:09:02 PM PDT by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
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To: nickcarraway
Honestly there are more scarier stuff. Working on a script now;

They walk among us.
They are inconspicuous!
They will steal from you and your children!
...when they are not killing them.
They lie and swear its the truth.
They will call you a Nazi when in fact they stand for everything the Nazis stood for.
They control your media and your childs education.

MARVELous crap presents, your worst nightmare


8 posted on 03/31/2020 7:10:08 PM PDT by Bommer (I am a MAGA-Deplorian! It is the way! It is the only way!)
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To: SanchoP

Youtube has taken the English-subtitled version down, but there was a 2013 Russian series that did a different and clever take on Sherlock Holmes. I think you can find some episodes from it, but only in the original Russian.

The old Soviet Union did a series of Sherlock Holmes films from 1979-86 that can easily be found on Youtube and with English subtitles. Those were also fun.

Sorry, no vampires.


9 posted on 03/31/2020 7:13:20 PM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Next up: Killer robots with AI.


10 posted on 03/31/2020 7:14:43 PM PDT by Ken H (Best SOTU ever!)
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To: nickcarraway

Make Wallachia Great Again.


11 posted on 03/31/2020 7:15:06 PM PDT by Gman
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To: Ken H

Didn’t they just do a Terminator movie???


12 posted on 03/31/2020 7:15:38 PM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: nickcarraway
Netflix dropped a mini-series about the Count a couple of months ago. Evidently it was less than stellar.

Netflix’s new take on Dracula is here to suck the life out of vampire stories

The Sherlock team’s newest show will make you wonder if you ever liked Sherlock


There are two big problems that arise when you decide you’re going to tell a story about Dracula.

The first one is simple: he’s the most famous vampire in all of fiction, perhaps the most widely known horror villain in the world. This makes surprising people difficult.

The other is that everyone thinks they know what Dracula is about, so each take is battling against dozens of other ideas at any given moment that range from goofy cartoon characters to Hollywood legends. This generally means any Dracula portrayal should, at the very least, have a clear idea of what it wants to be, even if it isn’t very different. 

Dracula, the new Netflix / BBC series from the creators of Sherlock, absolutely does not.


 


13 posted on 03/31/2020 7:16:31 PM PDT by Bratch (“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.)
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To: nickcarraway

I’m more interested in what the real vampires are up to.


14 posted on 03/31/2020 7:17:40 PM PDT by CheshireTheCat ("Forgetting pain is convenient.Remembering it agonizing.But recovering truth is worth the suffering")
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To: Bratch
I'm waiting for Wokeula.
15 posted on 03/31/2020 7:19:44 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Vampires have been around for a while, just not Dracula. I think people were happy to get away from him and have new stories with teen and young adult vampires. Drac was too dead, white, and male, and no longer as sexy as our grandmothers thought. Now that he’s back, does that mean the industry has run out of new ideas again?


16 posted on 03/31/2020 7:23:50 PM PDT by x
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To: nickcarraway

“Dracula is Having a Pop-Culture Moment”

Dracula knows how popular culture sucks.


17 posted on 03/31/2020 7:24:29 PM PDT by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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To: nickcarraway

18 posted on 03/31/2020 7:26:22 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: BradyLS

Zombies used to be dead persons controlled by witch doctors.


19 posted on 03/31/2020 7:51:01 PM PDT by kaktuskid
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To: nickcarraway

In the novel, Mina was the most competent member of the Scooby gang.

But since her strength was the result of her strong faith and morality, that aspect has always been overlooked in the movies.


20 posted on 03/31/2020 7:57:45 PM PDT by Bratch (“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.)
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