#dracula adaptations

[miss-nerd-alert]

Got asked if I was interested in seeing the newest Dracula movie, and since I hadn’t heard much about it I decided to do some research on it and…

My kingdom for a book-accurate Dracula adaptation 😔

[lauralot89]

Choose the most egregious Dracula adaptation sin

Making Mina the reincarnation of Dracula's wife

Conflating Dracula with Vlad the Impaler*

Ignoring Renfield's character arc

Making Arthur and/or Jonathan abusive or dismissive

Leaving out one or two of Lucy's suitors

Not including Dracula's lizard fashion

Making Lucy promiscuous to victim-blame her

Sidelining Jonathan or leaving him out completely

Making Dracula the hero

Switching Lucy and Mina's names

Cutting out the Demeter sequence

Leaving out Dracula's straw hat

Voting ended onFeb 2, 2025

*We know that Bram Stoker learned the name Voivode Dracula from a book on Romanian history, as well as learning that Dracula fought the Turks and was betrayed by his brother. Up to this point in his research, Stoker had named his antagonist Count Wampyr but then changed it to Dracula, mentioning in his notes that "Dracula" meant "devil" according to that book. It seems that he used the name and a couple of details of Vlad Dracula's life rather than completely rewriting the character as Vlad the Impaler. Count Dracula is never mentioned in regard to impalement, for example, which his namesake was famous for, and there is no mention of Vlad Dracula's wives or children. Also in Stoker's notes, the Count would originally be from Hungary (this is why he mentions being descended from Attila the Hun, whom Vlad Dracula was not related to).

The current scholarly consensus is that Sir Henry Irving was the chief inspiration for Count Dracula. However, in the time before Stoker's notes were available, people understandably assumed that the fictional Romanian nobleman named Dracula who fought the Turks was meant to literally be the real Romanian nobleman named Dracula who fought the Turks. These days, it's common pop culture knowledge that "Dracula is Vlad the Impaler" and so much media portrays them as the same man that he kind of is Vlad the Impaler, no matter Stoker's intentions.

[wiliecoyotegenius]

Modern Dracula retellings of any media tend to erase Lucy's mother, in favor of making Lucy more grown up (and thus her encounters with Dracula to be hot), more sexually forward (only to get punished for it), and an independent woman. Often claiming that this "fixes" her story.

However, Mrs Westenra is important to exist partly because it makes Lucy such a Persephone figure.

A daughter (kore/κόρη) on the cusp of adolescence and adulthood, taken forcibly away from the living to the land of the dead by the lord of Death, to marry him (white clothes in her tomb, when she was supposed to be in a bridal dress soon), to dwell in darkness for eternity under his ultimate power.

Lucy also dies/"goes to the underworld" on the Autumn Equinox, signaling winter coming and light (the meaning of Lucy's name) fading for darkness to reign.

Peresphone's abduction to the underworld, a girl taken away by death too early, mourned, was meant to be a tragedy. And so is Lucy's story.

[keptinshorthand]

I hate that despite Jonathan’s journal being of upmost importance for the plot, must often than not it loses its relevance on adaptations, either by being completely overlooked or just being used as a reference without giving it proper use for the narrative.

I think that giving the journal the same consideration it receives on the novel not only would help the narrative as plot device, but could also be used to enhance the tension that exists in the castle Dracula section of the story: by showing Jonathan’s fear of the journal being discovered and destroyed and the lengths he is willing to go in order to keep it safe from Dracula.

[thegoatsongs]

Mina: "Scandalously, Jonathan was holding my arm, but I didn't care"

Comic adaptations: don't worry we will make it Proper

Also they should be wearing mourning clothing smh

[another-chaotic-bisexual-vampire]

"Oh look, there's another Dracula movie coming out - 'Abraham's Boys' - I wonder what it's about..."

What It's About: After Jonathan Harker dies, Mina marries Van Helsing and --

[ibrithir-was-here]

I HAVE GAINED THE HOLY GRAIL OF DRACULA ADAPTATIONS

Look at this full color art with Jonno front and center and Mina supporting Lucy 😭

Look at this gorgeous art!

Look at Jack's good forehead! XD

Look at Arthur's terriers!

Look at Jonmina getting their due!

And Yeeharker giving Dracula his!!

Look at the booooooy 😭😭😭

So happy to have scored this

[starstrider-productions]

🦇 Dracula: 2004 premieres on the 4th October 2025 🦇

Listen to episode one at Midday GMT 04/10/25 wherever you get your podcasts.

Dracula: 2004 is a brand-new twist on a 127-year-old theme... when a young solicitor named Jonathan Harker is invited to Castle Dracula in the year 2004, our heroes must use the power of friendship, garlic and dial-up internet to prevent the nefarious Count Dracula from gaining a foothold within the unwitting people of London.

Care to take a bite?

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