9 ‘Dracula’ Adaptations to Stream This Halloween
Spooky season is here, which means it’s time for movies featuring all manner of ghouls, creeps, and monsters. And there may be no monster more famous than Count Dracula, the blood-sucking vampire introduced in Bram Stoker’s gothic horror novel Dracula. He’s appeared onscreen countless times in various iterations – far too many to list here. But here are a few notable Dracula adaptations to sink your teeth into this Halloween.
‘Nosferatu’
Vampires have fascinated filmmakers since the early days of cinema. Director F.W. Murnau’s 1922 Nosferatu is an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula. (Dracula’s name was changed to Orlok, and some plot details were simplified or altered.) The movie was nearly lost to history when all copies were ordered destroyed after Stoker’s widow sued for copyright infringement. But a print survived, and the movie has gone on to become an influential classic. (The Witch director Robert Eggers’ remake is due out later this year.)
Nosferatu is streaming for free on Tubi, Pluto TV, Crackle, Kanopy, and The Roku Channel.
‘Dracula’ with Bela Lugosi
Nosferatu may have gotten there first, but when it comes to the image of the vampire in the popular imagination, it’s hard to dispute the impact of 1931’s Dracula with Bela Lugosi. The original sexy vampire is suave and sophisticated, a supernatural creature who mesmerizes his unwitting victims. It’s a character that spawned a million Halloween costumes, as well as multiple sequels and spinoffs, and though the movie itself can seem dated at times to modern audiences, it still manages to entertain.
Dracula is streaming on Prime Video.
‘Dracula’ with Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee put his own stamp on the iconic vampire in 1958’s Dracula (aka Horror of Dracula). It was the first of several Hammer Horror films that featured Lee’s “heroic, erotic, and romantic” take on the character and was notable for being bloodier and sexier than the earlier, more restrained adaptations.
“I never thought of him as a vampire, ever … Here’s a man who is immortal,” Lee said of his approach to playing Dracula in a 1990 interview with NPR. “Here is a man who, through being immortal, is a lost soul. Here is a man who experiences the loneliness of evil, something he can’t control, who wants to die but there is a force in him, a malefic force, which drives him to do these terrible things.”
Dracula is available to rent or buy on Prime Video, Apple TV, and other streaming platforms.
‘Nosferatu the Vampyre’
German director Werner Herzog’s love of Murnau’s Nosferatu inspired his 1979 movie, a reimagining of the earlier film. His frequent collaborator (and nemesis) Klaus Kinski plays Dracula as a weary being for whom immortality has become a burden. (It’s not an approach that works for everyone.) When Dracula travels from Transylvania to Wismar, Germany, he brings the plague with him, and the scenes of the desperate townspeople dancing feasting in the town square as Lucy (Isabelle Adjani) attempts to explain the source of the disease are memorable and chilling.
Two versions of Nosferatu the Vampyre were released. The English-language version is streaming on Prime Video, Tubi, and The Roku Channel. The German-language version is streaming on Kanopy.
‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’
Lurid and at times campy, Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of Dracula is a stylized, over-the-top spectacle. Gary Oldman plays Dracula, who falls in love with Winona Ryder’s Mina, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the Count’s centuries-dead wife. Keanu Reeves plays Mina’s fiancé Jonathan Harker, and Anthony Hopkins is vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing. While not a straight adaptation, Coppola’s film also preserves several elements of Stoker’s book that are left out of most film versions of the story.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is streaming on Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
‘Shadow of the Vampire’
In the mood for something meta? The 2000 movie Shadow of the Vampire is a fictionalized account of the filming of the original Nosferatu. The twist? Murnau (John Malkovich) wants to make his vampire movie as real as possible, so he has hired actor Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe), an actual vampire, to play Count Orlok.
Shadow of the Vampire is available to rent on Prime Video.
‘Hotel Transylvania’
On the hunt for a not-too-scary Halloween-themed movie to watch with little ones? Hotel Transylvania might be just what you’re looking for. While it’s not technically a Dracula adaptation, the famously fanged villain (voiced by Adam Sandler) is a key character in this animated flick. Dracula is the owner of a hotel that caters to the world’s monsters. He’s also dad to a daughter named Mavis (Selena Gomez), who falls for a human who mistakenly visits the hotel.
Hotel Transylvania is streaming on Peacock.
‘Last Voyage of the Demeter’
One of the most memorable sections of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel concerns Dracula’s journey from Transylvania to England on a boat called the Demeter, told through entries in the captain’s log. The 2023 movie The Last Voyage of the Demeter adapts that section of the novel into a close-quarters horror film, following the doomed crew on the final, fatal voyage.
Last Voyage of the Demeter is streaming on Paramount+.
‘Renfield’
Nicolas Cage had long wanted to play Dracula, and he finally got his chance in Renfield. The 2023’s comedy-horror film tells the story of Renfield, the count’s faithful familiar, played by Nicholas Hoult. Years after the events of the novel, Renfield has grown tired of catering to the demanding Dracula’s whims. But will he be able to break free from his narcissistic boss?
Renfield is streaming on Peacock.
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