Dracula Untold
Dracula returns to the big screen this week in Dracula Untold, a brand new spin on the story that we all know so well.
Dracula Untold is an origins story, sees Gary Shore in the director's chair, and Luke Evans in the central role of Vlad Tepes.
Dracula has been a character that we have seen on the big screen many times over the years, and we take a look at some of the best performances.
- Christopher Lee - Dracula (1958)
Dracula (1958) is the first in the series of Hammer Horror films. Directed by Terence Fisher, Dracula (1958) stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Melissa Stribling, Carol Marsh and Michael Gough.
Lee would return to the role of Dracula many times over the years, with performances in the likes of Dracula: Prince of Darkness, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, and Taste the Blood of Dracula.
While Lee played this role several times over the years, it was Dracula - or Horror of Dracula as it was known in the U.S. - that remains one of the best British horror movies of all time.
For a generation, Lee was the actor that everyone thought of when asked about Dracula, and his works remains some of the most iconic.
- Bela Lugosi - Dracula (1931)
Along with Christopher Lee, Bela Lugosi is another of the actors who is synonymous with the role of Dracula.
Released in 1931, this was the first time that Dracula had been brought to the big screen and was based on the 1924 stage play Dracula by John L. Balderston and Hamilton Deane.
The Tod Browning directed movie really did set the standard for all of the Dracula movies that came after it, and it really is a timeless piece of horror cinema.
Dracula is the role for while Lugosi will always be remembered, and it really is the greatest performance of his acting career.
- Gary Oldman - Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1993)
Hard to believe, but Bram Stoker's Dracula has already celebrated its 20th anniversary... yes; it was really released back in 1993.
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the movie was based on the novel by Bram Stoker and sees Gary Oldman in the central role of Dracula.
The movie follows Dracula as he comes to England to seduce a visitor's fiancée and inflict havoc in the foreign land.
Francis Ford Coppola was not afraid to put his own stamp on the Dracula story, and this was unlike any other interpretations that had hit the big screen.
However, Oldman delivered a dark performance as a character that was driven by more than merely bloodlust.
- Frank Langella - Dracula (1979)
Frank Langella is one of the best actors of his generation, and he is another actor who has also tackled the role of Dracula.
In fact, the role of Dracula was perhaps his best-known part at the beginning of his career, having successfully played him in the 1977 Broadway production of Dracula.
He made the transition from stage to big screen in the 1979 film version of the film, where he reprised the title role.
John Badham was in the director's chair for the movie, while Laurence Olivier and Kate Nelligan were also on board.
The movie itself was not the biggest critical success of Langella's career but his central performance was a riveting one.
- Leslie Nielsen - Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
As you may expect, Dracula has not always been the subject of serious movies, as Leslie Nielsen played the Count in the mid-nineties.
Dracula: Dead and Loving It is a comedy horror that parodied the novel by Bram Stoker and the films that have been inspired by it - you won't be surprised to know that it was directed by Mel Brooks.
Brooks joined Nielsen in the film, while Peter MacNicol, Steven Weber, and Amy Yasbeck also starred.
Dracula: Dead and Loving It was not a critical or commercial success, but that doesn't mean you can't have some fun watching it.
- Luke Evans - Dracula Untold (2014)
Dracula Untold is a brand new re-telling of the original tale by Bram Stoker.
Starring Evans in the title role, this is an origins story that explores the lengths that Vlad Tepes would go to to protect his son and his people.
Gary Shore is making his feature film directorial debut with Dracula Untold, while Dominic Cooper and Charles Dance are on board.
Dracula Untold promises to be a Dracula movie for a new generation... it is always great see a new spin put on these classic tale.
Other actors who have played Dracula over the years include Gerard Butler, Dominic Purcell, Richard Roxburgh, Jack Palance, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
Dracula Untold is on at Empire Cinemas from Friday 3rd October.