Dracula Review (1931) Worth Watching?

It's about a count who lives in isolation as a vampire in Transylvania, but moves to England in search of new blood.

Dracula was directed by Tod Browning (who also directed The Devil-Doll and Mark of The Vampire) and stars Bela Lugosi (from Extraordinary Tales, Bride of the Monster), David Manners (from Mystery of Edwin Drood, The Black Cat) and Dwight Frye (from Dead Men Walk, The Vampire Bat).

The story of the strangest passion the world has ever known!

This Dracula is often considered the original Dracula, the movie based of Bram Stoker's novel from 1897. But the actual original is Nosferatu, the silent film from 1922. Nosferatu is about Count Orlok moving to Germany, while Dracula is about Count Dracula moving to the UK. This second movie about Dracula is undoubtedly the more watchable of the two, although I personally think Nosferatu is more scary.

Fun fact about Bram Stoker . He's now of course known for writing Dracula, but back in his day he was only known for being the personal assistant of an actor. And he wrote many stories before and after Dracula which got no love. He was actually a very prolific writer, but only Dracula caught on.

This movie was based off a play and many of the stage actors starred in this movie. Because of this, much the movie feels like theater, as many early movies do.

Dracula was played by the legendary Bela Lugosi who really nails the role of a creepy rich guy. The people around him seem to accept his eccentricities, but only because his wealth makes him important. If Dracula were blue collar, he would have probably spent most of his time slashing in the streets like a common lunatic.

This iconic horror film reminds me a lot of Phantom of the Opera . It doesn't really feel like the horror it's billed to be, it's more drama than anything else, but it's still iconic enough to be worth your time.

And it gives you this...