In the movies, Dracula said, “Listen to them…children of the night. What music they make…”
Of course, the reference was to bats and other creatures of the night. It certainly wasn’t a romantic association, but Dracula seemed to be a dark but romantic creature. The image he portrayed may have struck terror, made us fear leaving windows slightly ajar after nightfall, but if you read between the lines of the story you will find a grief-stricken creature.
The story by Bram Stoker tells us that while his character was away at war, the woman he loved was delivered a message that said that he had been killed. In a fit of despair, she threw herself from the uppermost ramparts of the castle, plunging to her death in the moat below. When he returned from the war–very much alive–he was told of her tragic death, and in a fit of rage, called upon the Dark Forces. The result was that he became a vampire, a creature that inspired so many other stories and movies.
A couple of recent film portrayals come to mind.
The Francis Ford Coppola re-telling of the classic Bram Stoker tale that I gave you the essence of, and that starred Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder. At its heart was a love story that crossed the centuries. The other was the film version of the Anne Rice classic, “Interview With The Vampire” that starred Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. One can’t help but get caught up in the very dark but also somewhat romantic direction her story took. It was on late-night TV just last night. The movie was filmed in New Orleans. I saw the streets where the great fire was staged. It was, of course, movie magic.
My wife and I went on a vampire tour in New Orleans some summers back. We saw some of the locations used for the movie. We were quite surprised to discover that New Orleans has a long history of vampire stories, some romantic, others not-so-romantic, chilling in fact.
We also toured one of the Cities of the Dead, the above-ground cemetery where those scenes were shot. Even though it was not even close to Hallowe’en, one couldn’t help but feel the inspiration that the authentic locations must have lent to the actors, as they tried to bring Anne Rice’s moody immortals to life.
You can even go back to the film versions that starred Frank Langella, and, of course, who can ever forget Bela Lugosi in his evening clothes, and the soft, melodic voice that so hypnotized his victims. There are very few creatures of the night and the silver screen that had such a depth of character as the one portrayed by Lugosi. It was his one crowning achievement on screen. He would never eclipse this portrayal in any other role.
The date was October 20th, 1844 when Bela Lugosi was born.
It was ironic and a sad commentary at the end of his life, that he was buried in the very same costume that his character wore, when he retired every day at sunrise, in a coffin filled with the earth of Transylvania.
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Don Jackson
I was never scare of Dracula and never belived in him eather but sometime i wondered when my daughter would go to Moot Camps with guiding and scouting some of the kids would come dressed in black and red caps and they looked like vampires ….lol but super kids very nice i liked them all they were so nice to talk to and I looked forward to seeing them every camp ………again a great show…………Karon
- Karon Hill