Bram Stocker's Dracula, part 9

Here is part 9 of the movie:

Siskel & Ebert Review of Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

this is an interesting review of Dracula (1992) (Bram Stoker's Dracula). the relationship between the undead Prince Dracula and Mina, the object of this ancient obsession after loosing his wife in the 15-th century is the main subject of Stoker's book, as well as the movie

Bram Stocker's Dracula, part 8

Lucy dies transforming herself into a vampire.
Mina sends a letter to Dracula, explaining that she's going to marry her fiance in Romania.
Is interesting the presence of the German book remembering of 15th century the manuscript where Vlad Dracula is described as one of the most evil man on earth

Bram Stocker's Dracula, part 7

Pure romantic moments between Dracula and Mina. During a rainy night Jonathan falls of the cliffs and reaches Sister Agatha. He asks Mina to join him and marry her imediatly.

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) part 6

The sixth part is where the myth of the white wolf comes back into attention.
The vampires strikes in London:

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) - part 5

Here is part 5 of the film Bram Stoker's Dracula. After a terrible storm, is the scene where Dracula meets Mina, in London:



<< Part 4

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) - part 4

Part 4. Count Dracula (Gary Oldman) speaks Romanian again (where from does he know Romanian ?). It sounds very funny for a Romanian. Sometimes his accent is quit good, other times, his Romanian language is almost impossible to understand.
Again, a spooky moment when some eyes watch Mina and Lucy from the sky.



<< Part 3 | Part 5 >>

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) - part 3

here is the part 2 | Part 4 >>

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Second part of F.F. Coppola's movie. Transylvania is presented as misty, full of vampires, scary shadows in the cemetery, generally spooky.

"Welcome to my home", wishes Count Dracula to Jonathan.



Part 3 >>

Snagov Monastery and Bran Castle

This amateur video presents images from Snagov Monastery, where Vlad III Dracula was allegedly been buried, as well as from Bucegi Mountains, seen from the national road and from Bran Castle.

Two places presented as "Dracula places", but which probably where only visited by Vlad Ţepeş once. We know Snagov is very probable NOT the burial place of Vlad Ţepeş. Also, the images from Bran Castle are nice, so they help having an idea about the look of the castle, seen from outside but also pictures from the castle's inner court and from the rooms.

The Night Attack

Here is a video of a nice celebration in Târgovişte, capital city of Vlad Dracula. It re-creates Vlad's night attack against Turks in June, 16-17 , 1462


The same scene can be followed in an artistic movie, Vlad Ţepeş (Romania, 1979)

Sighişoara

Sighişoara is, according to all proofs, the birth town of Vlad III Dracula.
While I never had a video-camera with me while visiting Sighişoara, I finally found one good documentary about the medieval town. The best video presentation I found about Sighişoara so far.


Thanks Angela, for letting the documentary embeddable, and congratulations to you and Dani for all the work you do in presenting the beautiful places in Romania!

Check here a short history of Sighişoara.

Museums' Night in Sighişoara

Last week it was museum night in Romania, including Sighişara, Vlad Dracula's birth place. Medieval atmosphere was revived for a couple of hours:

Dracula movie

just another sequence from the 1931 movie, with Bela Lugosi. The quality is bad, but the movie is very interesting for the atmosphere they managed to create with the technical possibilities of that time.

Son of Dracula

Here is the trailer of a Dracula movie, "Son of Dracula" (1943):

Short Dracula Documentary

This is a short documentary I found on the web today.
Basically, it tries to distinguidsh the historic Vlad III Dracula from Stoker's Count Dracula:

Clock Tower in Sighişoara

Work is going on in Sighişoara, digging under the clock tower, few meters away from the house where Vlad Dracula is supposedly born:
As no specialist from "protection of cultural heritage" is on spot, and some approvals from the Ministry of Culture seem to be missing, this is really concerning.

The Amazing Race near Bran Castle

The Amazing Race went to Romania. Even if they present Bran as Dracula's Castle, I linked to the video because it gives opportunity to see the places around Bran, the way a hiking trail look, as well as the castle itself, seen from all angles:





Once more, for Romania Dracula proofs to be the most powerful brand so far.

Hunedoara Castle and Dracula

Hunedoara Castle and Dracula

Just a set of images of Vlad III Dracula and the Castle in Hunedoara where he was held prisoner by Matthias Corvinus, after his second reign:

Transylvania - The Vampire

Here is a short artistic movie: the story of a vampire. A young soldier executed by Vlad Dracula in Făgăraş, after being accused of pillage and rape, swears revenge. So he comes back from time to time under the form of a young kid.

View from Poienari Castle

360 degrees view from Poienari Castle, Dracula's Real Castle :


Here you can find more details about Poienari Castle, it's history and the way is was built. Find out how it made it over the centuries in a rich seismic area ?

Bran Castle - the myth of Dracula's Castle

I just found this short presentation of Bran Castle, together with it's history as well as (lack of) connections with Dracula or the Bram Stoker's novel. I don't agree at all with the introduction saying "this is one of the very few tourists attractions in Transylvania". No shit ! Transylvania has an unbelievably rich medieval history, with fortified citadels in almost each village (some of them being really well preserved, a gorgeous natural landscape (and I'm not thinking only about Făgăraş Mountains - also called "The Transylvanian Alps" but also to sub-Carpathian hills, to Apuseni (the western mountains and), to medieval towns like Sighişoara or Sibiu. Is true that Bran Castle is maybe the most famous of the attractions, but all are interesting attractions and tourists do go there every year.

I'll still present the movie 'cause some the information about the castle is useful:



Other posts about Dracula Castle

Later edit: two mistakes in only two seconds, that's a good candidate for a record: The sequence at 1:36 - 1:42 is shot in Bucegi Mountains.
If you look closely, the movie says "Transylvania, 1746", but they are riding the horses on the Bucegi Plateau, (at about 2000 m.a.s.l) towards south or south-east, probably somewhere above Valea Coştilei (Coştila Valley). So that's in Wallachia. (OK, close to Transylvania, but still Wallachia).
More than that, even more funny is that you can see the Caraiman Cross at 1:34 - 1:35. However the Cross was erected in 1926-1928 to honor and celebrate the memory of soldiers that died in WW 1. So ..."only" 180 years later than "1746". And no Transylvania :)

Dracula 1931 review

Just found a short review of the 1931 movie, that I consider the best Dracula movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mSa9Bsg5Dk

Dracula Documentary - Voyager

Here is the third part of the Documentary in Italian, made by RAI Due about Vlad Dracula. They went to Snagov Monastery to find out the truth about the burrial place of Vlad III. Altough a body has been found, wearing royal clothes, the truth is still unknown:

History of the Vampires

Part 2 of the documentary by RAI Due (Voyager)

While the stories seem to be true (more or less ), they continue presenting Bran Castle as Dracula's Castle, while nowadays we know quite clear that Vlad did not live in the castle.

Anyway, a very interesting short history of the vampires deserves all attention:

George Hamilton on Dracula

this is a parody of George Hamilton on the myth of Dracula, as introduction to a documentary.
I would really doubt on the number of 100000 (people killed by Vlad Dracula), but the introduction is funny

Dracula Documentary - Voyager

I know this site is in english and I should write and put documentaries in english, but Voyager is one of the best (if not the best) science TV shows in Italy. Also, some readers might know/understand italian, so today I propose this documentary:



Basically, it presents the Dracula of the literature, "born" in 1897 when Bram Stoker's novel was published. Stoker mentioned that the book's idea come after a small disturb generated by a crabs/seafruit salad. But we know that he studied books and maps in British Museum, looking for legends and traditions about the vampires. Seems like his interest in vampires started when he found out about the Wallachian ruler Vlad III (Vlad Dracula). The presentation of Vlad III (well, here I disagree with the expression Vlad Tepes III while Vlad III has been given the names Tepes and Dracula. So there was no Vlad Tepes I or Vlad Tepes II ) starts at min. 2:54, with the presentation of Sighişoara, were Vlad was born in 1931.
Life of Vlad Dracula is then placed in the historic context, all presented with maps of the XV-th century Europe. Seizing of the Wallachian throne is than presented.

Then Bran castle is presented as Dracula Castle, with mention that he used to impale people in front of the castle. In my research I never found any proof that Dracula would've spent longer time in Bran. As we know today, his princely residence was at Târgovişte and then in Bucharest, never at Bran.

BBC Count Dracula 1977

A high quality movie, the BBC's Dracula of 1977. The movie has a good grade on imdb (7,8 /10 by the time I write this post) and almost 400 votes. So the grade is relevant and it reflects the quality of the movie.

Dracula is played by Louis Jourdan. The first sequence in the movie where we see Dracula:



Check more sequences of Dracula 1977 here

Dracula's Curse (2006) part 12

the final part of this movie is here:



<<< Part 11 here

Dracula's Curse - part 11

Dracula comic book series

Dynamite Entertainment will release a new comic book series "that tells the complete story" of Dracula. Five issues written by John Reppion and Leah Moore, joined by the painter Colton Worley, each issue featuring 32 pages of story and graphic art.

Also, as a bonus, you'll find script pages, annotations and samplings of the original text by Bram Stoker!
I like this style: "As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me... a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal."
-- Bram Stoker's Dracula

Find the editors page here

Dracula's Curse 2006 - part 10

We're getting close to the last parts of Dracula's Curse. (I kinda like this presentation in daily episodes). Well, maybe is not the most interesting Dracula movie but I'm preparing something more interesting for the coming week.

Dracula Illustrated

This is a strange post.
I was about to present a link where you can download the "Dracula (Saddleback Illustrated Classics)", made upon the novel of Bram Stoker, "Dracula". However, I'm not sure about the copyright issues. And as I don't encourage warez in any form (I try to respect the intellectual property as much as possible 'cause I know how tough is to create), I won't post it here.

Instead, from the same series I found a free sample of Frankenstein, offered by the editor. Here is the download link.

Dracula's Curse - part 9

OK, so let's continue with this Dracula's Curse movie.
Here is the part 9. Sometimes it looks like it's only connection with the Bram Stoker's story of Dracula is vampirism.

Else, a lot of useless violence.



Part 10 of the movie is here.

Dracula's Curse - part 8

here is the part 8 of what was considered the worst Dracula movie ever. Just check the IMDB rating for details :) :



see part 7. << and part 9. >>

Dracula's Curse - part 7

See part 6 . << and part 8. >>

Dracula's Curse (2006) part 6

The sixth part of the same movie , Dracula's Curse is here :



See thepart 5 here. << and part 7 here. >>

Dracula Audio Book

I just found a great resource for audio books. What is of interest there is the Dracula Book, there are 11 chapters there, with well-chosen images, according to the subject of every chapter. Start from the first chapter here.

I downloaded few of them and listened the first one. And I can say the quality of the mp3 is very good.
Enjoy, as I did :) !

dracula's curse, part 5

Dracula's Curse - part 6

Dracula's curse. part 4

See Dracula's Curse - part 5

Dracula's Curse part 3

here is the third part of the movie Dracula's Curse:



Dracula's Course - part 4

Making a Dracula Costume

Well, while I never did a Dracula Suit myself (I look like Dracula naturally :) ), I found an interesting page about the subject. This one

And if you don't know where to take the fangs from, here is the hint:

Dracula's Curse - part 2

the third part is here

Was Dracula a Real Person ?

I've seen a lot of people recently are trying to find if Dracula was real. Was he a real person or just a legend ?

Well, to make things clear here are the facts: Vlad III Dracula was a ruler of Wallachia (Southern part of the current Romania) that lived in the 15th century. He was born in Sighişoara in 1431 and took the throne for the first time when he was 17. Here is a detailed presentation of his life.
He died killed in a battle in 1476.

Count Dracula, as people knows him, is a fictional character of Bram Stoker, inspired by the 15-th century bloody ruler. Bram Stoker's novel inspired a long series of movies, and you can see part of the Dracula movies here.

That's about all.

Dracula's Curse (2006) part 1

Part 2 of Dracula's Curse here

Bran Castle

Here is a video of two ladies that went to Romania and visited Dracula-related places: Bran Castle, Poienari Castle, etc.

Dracula's Real Castle

Here is another presentation of Poienari Castle, that I and many others consider to be Vlad Dracula's Real Castle:



Unlike many "presentations" done from the comfort of a sofa and an Internet connection, seems like Teresa and Carolyn took the plane to Romania, hired a guide and have done some intensive research on the spot. Congratulations, girls !

Just a remark, Teresa: Vlad was not "a king of Romania". He was a ruler, called "voievod" in Romanian (voyvod) and he ruled Wallachia, laying in the south of the modern-days Romania.