I’ve decided to do something special for Halloween this year, and since vampires are my favorite monsters, and Halloween is my favorite holiday, I’m smashing them together into a monster mash of blood, guts, romance, and movies. Can’t ask for more than that, right?
Each day I’m going to feature a different vampire movie, in no particular order, culminating in my most favorite vampire movie being revealed on Halloween itself! I’m pulling from my collection, so its going to be all over the place, from the mainstream to stuff you could only find on Cinemax in the early 90s in the wee hours of the morning. But hopefully you’ll find something new or rediscover an old classic!
And on that note, we’ll start Day 1 with The Horror of Dracula.
This is one of the greats, y’all. It’s Sir Christopher Lee’s first foray as the Count, and its every bit as good a gothic as you’re ever going to find. From the moment Lee’s Count first appears at the top of the stairs, looming over poor Jonathan Harker (and by extension us, the humble viewer), he takes command of the movie and holds it by the throat until Peter Cushing’s Van Helsing burns him to ash by ripping a curtain from the wall in true swashbuckler fashion and forcing him to face the brilliant light of dawn. Lush set design, a ominous musical score, fabulous costumes (I still want Peter Cushing’s coat), likable characters, and a script that takes certain liberties but keeps the feel of the original book a lot better than most Dracula movies that followed, this is one of my all-time favorite vampire movies.