SON OF THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF HALLOWEEN! DAY 8: WHEN VAMPIRES WERE VAMPIRES...

One of my all-time favorite films is Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula," for many reasons. I'll detail those in my review of the film in a later entry in this SON OF THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF HALLOWEEN!, but for right now, I want to share my favorite scene.


THIS is how vampires are done, if you will. In this time of sparkly, emo, "can't we all just get along?" bloodsuckers, we need to be reminded that the original version of the vampire we know today began in Abraham Stoker's wonderful novel, Dracula. Drac himself, along with his brides, were monsters. They were vicious, manipulative, blood-hungry living corpses who possessed devilish cunning and intellect. Dracula's goal in the novel, if not in the movies based on it, was to make the world one giant graveyard for the undead, starting with London.

All the aspects of film production come together in this scene to create an experience I have never forgotten. I still find myself transfixed with fear and awe when I watch this scene, just as I was when I first saw it in the theater almost twenty years ago.

If you're queasy or don't like blood, well...you've been warned.