31 Days of Horror: Day 25 Movie: Dracula (1992)

Every year we have a tradition in the Forto house where we celebrate the greatest month of the year, October, with scare your socks off, hide under the covers, turn on all the lights, sleep with one eye open, fright fest, movie marathon every night of the month! We call it 31 Days of Horror.

 

31 Days of Horror: Dracula

Day 26 Movie: Dracula

Dracula has been one of the most re-made characters in the history of film. In fact when Bram Stoker wrote the epic novel in 1897, very few even cared that existed.

Bram Stoker was a very interesting character. He put his whole life into his work as the manager of the Lyceum Theater in London and literally dote after the biggest star of the  era, a man by the name of Henry Irving. Think of Tom Cruise, or Brad Pitt or Denzel Washington of the late 1800’s – early 1900’s. It was said that Stoker wrote Dracula for  Irving to play in the theater but he promptly turned him down. Stoker was devastated.

Bram Stoker

For years after Dracula was published Stoker wrote many more books and short stories and was said to get his inspiration from when he was a boy and bed-ridden and unable to walk until the age of 7. During this time his mother would read young Bram horror stories and scary tales.

Stoker died in 1912 and said to of passed away from syphilis.

Interesting facts:

The first film adaptation of Dracula was released in 1922 and was named Nosferatu,  which was our 31 Days of Horror: Day 3 movie. This was not an approved version of the book by the Stoker family, hence some of the names were changed.

In this 1992 version, directed by Francis Ford Coppola that we are watching tonight follows the book quite a bit. In fact it is said that most people think they know the story of Bram Stoker’s Dracula but few have read the book. Most of the public’s view is the stylized version seen in films.

This film is a virtual who’s who of Hollywood including stars: Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker, Gary Oldman as Count Dracula, Winona Ryder as Mina, and one of my favorite actors, Sir Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing.

Coppola considered at one point of giving the film the title, “D” in order to distinguish it from previous Dracula adaptations.

Plot: This version of Dracula is closely based on Bram Stoker’s classic novel of the same name. A young lawyer (Jonathan Harker) is assigned to a gloomy village in the mists of eastern Europe. He is captured and imprisoned by the undead vampire Dracula, who travels to London, inspired by a photograph of Harker’s betrothed, Mina Murray. In Britain, Dracula begins a reign of seduction and terror, draining the life from Mina’s closest friend, Lucy Westenra. Lucy’s friends gather together to try to drive Dracula away.

What is your favorite scary and/or Halloween movie? I would love to hear from you!

Day 1 Movie: Trick ‘r Treat

Day 2 Movie: The Exorcist

Day 3 Movie: Nosferatu

Day 4 Movie: White Zombie

Day 5 Movie: The Serpent and the Rainbow

Day 6 Movie: Creepshow 2

Day 7 Movie: The House of 1000 Corpses

Day 8 Movie: The Blob

Day 9 Movie: The Devils Rejects

Day 10 Movie: The Shinning

Day 11 Movie: The Omen

Day 12 Movie: The Thing

Day 13 Movie: Embrace of the Vampire

Day 14 Movie: (Stephen King’s) Desperation

Day 15 Movie: Dracula (1931)

Day 16 Movie: The Wolfman (1941)

Day 17 Movie: The Amityville Horror

Day 18 Movie: Frankenstein (1931)

Day 19 Movie:  Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Day 20 Movie: Halloween (1978)

Day 21 Movie: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Day 22 Movie: The Creature from the Black Lagoon

Day 23 Movie: ‘Salem’s Lot

Day 24: Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007)

Day 25 Movie: Dracula (1992)

Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Dog Doctor Radio | Denver Dog Works

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Dr. Robert Forto is a musher training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the popular radio shows, Mush! You Huskies and The Dog Doctor Radio Show