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