Drac-Attack
Article by Bindi Lavelle

In 1897 Bram Stoker’s Dracula hit the shelves, this book proved to be something more than another gothic novel; Stoker’s work shaped the future of horror and introduced one of its most highly regarded villains.

Portrayals of Dracula have vary greatly from the campy euro-trash version performed by Bela Lugosi in 1931 to Gary Oldman’s dark and seductive version in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Dracula has become a pop-culture figure of proportions rivalled by few literary characters. His status has removed him from his original source material. Dracula has featured in a plethora of films, comics and TV shows, with each appearance Dracula morphed beyond (and in some cases contrasting) Stoker’s original novel. But Francis Ford Coppola brought Dracula back to his gothic origins in 1992.

Coppola is an amazing director, and given his masterpiece Apocalypse Now, you know the dude can handle a horror film. This incarnation of the classic novel had the least artistic licence; Coppola’s adaptation closely followed the novel, even using the often ignored multiple perspective.

This film succeeds were so many variations have failed by simply sticking to the original story. Coppola’s film focuses on what makes Dracula horror’s quinti cental villain: great storytelling.