These actors don’t suck: The best movie Draculas, ranked
From Gary Oldman to Bela Lugosi to Adam Sandler, sink your teeth into our list of stars who gave life to the original vampire
Film Features Love At First Bite
Count Dracula is one of the most adapted characters in history. In fact, more actors have taken on the role of Dracula than any other horror character. When author Bram Stoker unleashed the Count upon the world in 1897, little did he know that he had created the most iconic vampire of all time, a figure subject to unofficial and official film adaptations, parodies, follow-up novels, cereal mascots, a Sesame Street Muppet, TV shows, anime, a Marvel comic character, and all the media translations that public domain has allowed.
It’s a lot to sift through, even for the most well-versed of Dracula fans. And there’s no slowing the Count’s grip on pop culture, with The Last Voyage Of The Demeter being the latest to take a bite out of the box office. So let’s look back at the actors who best donned the long, black cape and—probably didn’t—say “I vant to suck your blood!”
106 Comments
The Udo Kier Dracula movie is ridiculous. Turning green from drinking non-virgin blood is funnier than anything Leslie Nielsen did.
No.
If you’re including Dominic Purcell then this is more just a list of “look at all these Draculas we could remember from the movies” and not any kind of best, because that was a bruiser-bro FAIL from Blade: Trinity that needs no inclusion.You might as well just throw in a few of the better television Draculas if you really want a longer slideshow. Claes Bang’s, for example, was a delight to watch, especially in contrast to a feisty nun.
The first 2/3rds of Gatiss/Moffats Dracula was great ..the last 3rd…not so much.
I thought the ending was absolutely beautiful, but yeah, overall that final episode was a big letdown. The Lucy stuff was so awful that I can’t even listen to “Angels” when it comes up on shuffle anymore.
Sure is good that Dracula decided the new character who we’re pretending is the same character we’d been following for two episodes was his soulmate or whatever after she got him to overcome his single fear and didn’t like… stride out and go conquer the world or whatever.
The soulmate thing isn’t uncommon in Dracula lore, though (it was pretty much the driving force in the 1992 film, for example), so that’s not something that was particularly jarring or out-of-bounds IMO.
Exactly. After the time jump, it was awful. Oh, well.
So, a standard Moffat production, then.
Claes Bang’s Star Wars name is Claes Bang.
Remember Some Guys Draculas
Willem Dafoe in Shadow of a Vampire was amazing. Though, I guess he’s not necessarily Dracula. The way it goes from comedy to one of the best horror movies in the 3rd act is pretty wild.
And it can’t be found anywhere to stream. Awful.
I had to shell out for a halfway decent copy from EBay. Rather hard to get as well.
I guess we’re excluding made-for-TV movies, because I remember seeing that 1970s BBC version of Dracula as a kid, and Louis Jourdan was absolutely terrifying in the title role. He brought a kind of dispassionate cruelty to the role that you can also see when he played Kamal Khan in Octopussy.
Louis Jordan was incredible as Dracula. Sophisticated, ruthless and urbane – but not extra charming. Which made him scary as hell – he only cared slightly if people thought he wasn’t apt to kill them at any minute…The article points out that Jack Palance’s look was the inspiration for Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula Dracula, which tracks. I never heard that, but I can see it. [Among all the Dracula pastiches, book, film or tv, Marvel’s is one of my favorites. It had Gene Colan penciling with Tom Palmer inking, and some great story work from Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman and others.]
I misread that as “Leslie Jordan” and was then sad that we never got to see that movie.
He’s included on this list from yesterday:https://www.vulture.com/article/dracula-movie-performances-ranked.htmlMarc Warren from the 2006 BBC Dracula is on neither list, as the film was forgotten for good reason. I only watched it as a completionist of the AVGN’s “Dracula Dozen”:https://thepopculturists.blogspot.com/2022/07/this-weekend-in-pop-culture-july-15-17.html#comment-5919655920
Thank you for not only noting Kinski’s performance but ranking it highly. Nobody films nature as a force like Herzog does, it his Nosferatu is fantastic and the first time I didn’t really need to suspend disbelief to accept that such a creature existed. His villagers and their fear, the infestation of rats from Nosferatu’s voyage, and — as you say — that sense of the creature’s condition as sickness were palpable. The opening credits with the mummies (if I remember right) kicked things off with that sense of dread which would pervade the film. Truly an underrated picture, I think.
Kinski also has the distinction of being the only actor to play both Count Dracula and Renfield in a different film, Jesus Franco’s 1971 film “Count Dracula”
If we stretch it a bit, I’ll bet he and Defoe are the only two to play Nosferatu and sorta-Jesus, too.
Tangent time: there’s a documentary out there called ‘Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers’, which is about the place of garlic in cuisine and culture. At one point they’re talking about garlic as one of the vampire’s classic weaknesses and the director interviews Werner Herzog to ask him why he thinks this bit of mythology was created. Herzog gives a long, in depth answer and then finally says, “Why are you asking me this?”I love that he was confused by the question but that this didn’t stop him expounding on it for some time.
Bless his heart. I wonder if the shoe he ate was prepared with garlic. They really did go to some length to make it palatable.
Technically not a cinematic performance, Suzanne Muldowney’s interpretive dance of Vlad is still breathtaking. BEWARE!
“These actors don’t suck” Proceeds to list 12 performances that suck
Really? All 12?
They are all Dracula…
Maybe half.
The fuck does “Lee’s Dracula is a preserve nightmare” mean? He’s been pickled and put in a Mason jar?
Dracula canonically never added lemon juice and the pips in a muslin bag to his strawberry jams. No pectin. Terrible set on them. More just a fruit syrup than a jam.
Unnecessary – he’s immortal!
The fuck does “Lee’s Dracula is a preserve nightmare” mean? He’s been pickled and put in a Mason jar?Either the writer or editor is a jam enthusiast. Autocorrect got to “perverse.”
Don’t forget Count Floyd!
“This film, like Stoker’s book, made the count and Vlad the Impaler one and the same”Um, no. The book has absolutely fuck all to do with Vlad and it’s debatable whether Stoker took ANY inspiration from Vlad whatsoever beyond using the name Dracula.
Plus, Stoker’s Dracula isn’t even Romanian (or Wallachian), he’s from a Transylvanian Hungarian minority group.
He was also a prince not a count. Elizabeth Bathory though was a countess and she had family in Transylvania and was Hungarian, plus there’s a lot more myth of blood with her then with Vlad.
Well, the novelization of the film Bram Stoker’s Dracula included the Vlad the Impaler connection.
Uh, respectfully, so what? The movie did, too. But the original article states that Stoker made the connection. Which he didn’t.
But it says “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” right on the cover. ;)PS It wasn’t meant to be a serious response.
Curse you, Coppola! (I find it deeply weird that they made a novelization of a movie that was based on a novel that has the name of the original author in the title of the new novel which isn’t actually the novel that the original author wrote.)
See also Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Its generally agreed its the name nothing more. Now what his inspiration is well that’s a fun debate with people like Elizabeth Bathory maybe playing a larger role directly or indirectly.
While I’m not certain it was intentional, Stoker’s description of Dracula (along with a few other notable passages in the book) always triggered my anti-semitism-o-meter, so I’ve suspected that was an influence. At a minimum there are a lot of parallels to the “blood libel.” It might be coincidence, or it might be unintentionally using general tropes with antisemitic origins (like Dickens with Scrooge in A Christmas Carol), but either way it always made me uncomfortable.
You are not the first to point that out but it’s hard to say if Stoker was intending to invoke antisemitic tropes or if he was just using the typical Victorian England tropes of “othering” Eastern Europeans, which probably have roots in anti-semitism. Being Irish, Stoker should have been aware of the fact that the English will basically say anyone who isn’t them are shady, evil and untrustworthy but being an Irish Catholic in the 19th century he also could easily buy into the whole scary Eastern European narrative. Stoker most likely found a name that sounded cool, incorporated some Eastern European monster lore and tied it together with default English racism
I saw Dracula Dead and loving it in the theater when it came out and my friends were all so mad at me as it sucked. I was the one who wanted to see it and they didn’t and boy they were right, what a trash non funny movie.I saw 1979 Dracula in a theater in Times Square at age 5 with my parents. It’s one of the 1st movies I can remember seeing in a theater.
It would’ve been bad enough if that had been Leslie Nielsen’s final film, but Stan Helsing, somehow an even worse film, has that mantle.
I never saw that but I can only imagine how awful it is.
I don’t know what I was on at the time (whatever it was, it wasn’t booze or drugs so I have no idea) but I vaguely remembered it as a movie that was objectively not good, but funny enough and ultimately harmless. I put movies like Men at Work in that category.I watched it again a year or so ago and I could not have been more wrong. It is genuinely terrible on so, so many levels.
It was pretty dire. I remember laughing exactly once during that film, and that’s when they’re staking the one vampire, causing multiple massive geysers of blood.And while we’re at it, Robin Hood: Men in Tights is pretty bad too. Better than Dracula: Dead and Loving it, but man, that film was a hell of a lot funnier to me when I was 13. (Exception: Blinkin. There’s not a moment where he’s not hilarious.)
The only part of dead and loving it that we all laughed at (me and my 5 other buddies) was when Renfield ran in a square and said something “ha I lost them, I’m so smart!” it was so silly and dumb it cracked us up but man that was close to it.Agreed on Robin Hood Men in Tights, I never rewatch it because it’s so bland.
I remember the Evil Dead level blood gag when they finally stake Dracula got a chuckle from me.
I agree. Robin Hood: Men in Tights is only good in comparison to Dracula: Dead and Loving It. Its popularity was aided greatly by the popularity of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves but standing on its own there’s very little to enjoy about it.
Too bad Love At First Bite is so forgotten (and hard to find on streaming), because it’s a much better and funnier cheesy dumb Dracula comedy than Dead And Loving it, despite the fact I like Leslie Nielsen just as much as the next guy. I know the trailer oversells the “Drac in the disco 70s!” bit (and that dancing-to-Alicia-Bridges scene drags quite a bit), but it’s actually got a number of laughs. And it was my first-ever introduction to the very idea of Renfield, with Arte Johnson’s obsequious, frantic-for-his-bug-snacks take shading my preconception of the character from then on (and I suspect some writers of later interpretations).
I had seen Love at First Bite when it came out, then later taped it when it was on television. I was shocked that they replaced “I Love the Night Life” with a completely different song. It wasn’t even the same tempo, more of a ballad. The dancing still seemed to fit, so I guess it was an alternate scene, rather than just a music swap.
Yeah, I saw love as 1st bite as a kid in the theater as well and it was actually fun! George Hamilton was so much fun and how smart was it to release it the same year as Dracula 1979.
I remember renting it with my friends and even drinking, taking mood enhancing chemicals and MST3king the thing couldn’t make it watchable. I also saw Van Hellsing opening weekend in a theater in Singapore with coworkers. They were mad at me for making them go see it.
It’s funny when you know you picked a bad movie and your friends want to throw their soda or popcorn at you!
Good list. I would have had Duncan Regehr in the top five but otherwise not really much to disagree with
Gary Oldman’s version of Dracula is not better than Bela Lugosi’s.
Nor any of the others on this list – that film is dogshit.
From the original to the fairly recent, Nosferatu (Count Orlock) and Blade are my stand-out vampires, possibly because they’re so profoundly mysterious (on a bad day I’d call them “uncommunicative” lol).
Blade communicates. He has opinions re Motherfuckers and ice skating
I guess my current avclub pet peeve is the use of ‘we’ when there’s only one writer in the byline. Whose this ‘we’ you’re talking about?
They do that constantly, especially at Kotaku. I think it’s a thing meant to make it look like the writers are all hanging out in the office having a fun time and sharing opinions on everything as opposed to the reality. “We’re super psyched for this! We can’t wait for this game to come out!” etc. At least neither site is as annoying about it as Birth Movies Death was.It’s funny when people seem to take it seriously and then can’t comprehend when one writer trashes a movie that got a positive review from some other writer, ex the other day with Renfield’s review really trashing Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, which got a good review on this site from some other writer.
Was Dracula 2000 not set in the year 2000? If it was, then that’s not the 21st Century.
That’s one of my favorite pedantic hills to die on. Centuries start in year 1, not year 0! x00 is the 100th year of a particular century.
This only really applies if you believe there was an actual “Year 1″, which started when Jesus was born. In which case, why isn’t Christmas celebrated on January 1st?
The start of the new year was established by the Romans well before Jesus existed (it had been March 1 previously).Christmas is celebrated when it is because the Romans wanted to co-opt pagan winter solstice celebrations; there are competing theories regarding why that date was chosen but I’m a cynic. :DDon’t quote me on this but IIRC Jesus was most likely born around April of whatever year he was born, which was likely several years after 1 CE.
Ugh, how exhausting. I’m old enough to have been excited for the Y2K New Years party . January 1, 2000 is when everyone celebrated the start of the 21st century. Newman booked his sad party one year later, on January 1, 2001, which was just like any other New Years Day.
I always enjoy the scene in The West Wing when they’re discussing this and Toby is being Toby and all pedantic and snotty about it and Sam just kind of lamely says “Yeah, but… we’ve made all these plans.”The whole thing was just an excuse for a knees-up anyway. Time is an abstract concept.
Im disappointed in this comment because we really need to be discussing what century Dracula 3000 took place.
“…Hamilton, who dove into the part and was willing to play the fool while still retaining his rich, Corinthian dignity…”Richie, why are you alluding to *Ricardo Montalban’s* famous Chrysler-pitch catch-phrase while discussing an entirely different actor?
It’s a joke about his tan.
That Van Helsing movie is one of my greatest disappointments. Jackman and Beckinsale at their absolute hottest,. Wenham coming off the Faramir run and a killer concept that should have been a franchise.
As for Roxburgh, he was a thing for a hot second. Bad guy in MI:2. That movie gets hate, but the scene where he plays Cruise playing him is top 5 of that entire franchise. Then a bad guy in Moulin Rouge, the bad guy in the unfortunate LXG and bad guy in Van Helsing and before you know it, he’s Elvis’ dad.
He was in a very popular Australian TV show called ‘Rake’ that ran for five seasons and was remade (although I believe unsuccessfully) for American TV.
I want to image that “The Rake” is a sequel to “The Slap” where things escalated and someone hit a kid with a garden tool.
Just ‘Rake’, no “the”. It’s cleaner.
There was a real moment there when people for some inexplicable reason kept casting Richard Roxburgh as reimaginings of beloved 19th century fictional characters; as well as Dracula, he was Moriarty in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and was also Holmes in a lame version of The Hound of the Baskervilles.
You can see the tools. Handsome without being overly pretty. Can do menace. Tall and athletic. Certainly Jackman before him and Hemsworth after him shows Australia can bring action heroes.
Just got too many of the wrong projects right in a row.
Van Helsing gets my vote as the worst studio film every made. Not because there aren’t objectively worse movies ever made, but because on paper it should have been so easy to make that film at least watchable… but at every turn they make creative decisions that are just terrible.
Compared to what it SHOULD have been – a Bond franchise with public domain monsters instead of SPECTRE – you could be right.
My favorite terrible part of that movie is when they are fighting in a carriage and it burst into flames for absolutely no reason. Like someone cut the 2 second shot of a lantern breaking in the edit but without that context the scene literally cuts from a carriage to an on fire carriage for no reason. I also believe it may go from being in fire to not and back on fire during the fight. It’s editing like a terrible Cannon film but without the charm and crazy that a Cannon film brings
Well, Lee was absolutely magnetic-sexually charged, commanding and ferocious. Lugosi was apparently was exotically alluring to women of the thirties and he could project a menacing, almost feral quality that is still effective and he’s still the default depiction of Dracula so that counts for something. Schreck was certainly iconic but he’s always struck me as a one-dimensional Boogeyman. Kinski is…all right. Kind of creepy/pitiful. I’d actually throw a bone to Jack Palance for giving us the first tragic/romantic Dracula years before Oldman. As someone else pointed out here, Louis Jordan is also well worth checking out even if he looks like no one’s idea of the character (especially in a period setting). I really can’t buy Oldman-I thought his performance was just dinner theater awful.
It seems like you’re imitating Vulture:https://www.vulture.com/article/dracula-movie-performances-ranked.html
There is an air of tragedy associated with him that is hard not to think about when it comes to watching his Dracula Sad life all around. At one point Lugosi was offered the role of Frankenstein’s monster (he was a big star, Karloff pretty much unknown). Lugosi turned it down, mainly because he didn’t want to be hidden by all that makeup.And then one of his next roles was as the Sayer of the Law in Island of Lost Souls, where he was completely unrecognizable (as human, let alone as Bela Lugosi).
For a moment, I was like, how did I miss Trent Reznor as a vampire?
Hammer had the best Dracula and the best Van Helsing. I couldn’t agree more, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing were the best the material could ever hope for.
Monster Squad Dracula is severely underrated. His genuine sadness that his only friend, Frankenstein, doesn’t remember him and betrays him. His pure and terrible rage when he picks up the little girl by her face. Just an awesome evil monster.
Kind of disappointed that Carlos Villarias, who played Dracula in the 1931 Spanish-language version of Dracula (famously filmed at night on the same sets and utilizing the same costumes as Browning’s version) was not mentioned at all.
While he himself does not give a better performance than Lugosi, I do think the Spanish version, as a whole, is the superior film.
HOW IS MAX SCHRECK NOT THE SCARIEST???!!!
I will forever cherish Wes Craven Presents Dracula 2000 because of Entertainment Weekly’s awesome dis of Gerard Butler: With his long black coat and incisory overbite, he’s like Neo in ”The Matrix” played by one of the Bee Gees.
How very dare you people. You left out the best one.
I don’t think he counts.
Maybe this is nostalgia but Dead and Loving It is iconic to me. I loved it when I saw it as a child. I was so stunned by how many people thought the new Renfield movie is rip-off of Guillermo when I haven’t been able to get Leslie Nielsen shouting “Renfield!” outta my head for like 20 years.
I’m impressed. No clickbait rankings in the top three here, and the reasonings for where each landed make sense.
Christopher Lee places Dracula so definitively that after you see him as Dracula it’s really hard to not see him as the count in other movies. Like when I watch the Star Wars prequels or Lord of the Rings my brain is like “Why is Dracula here”. That’s not a knock on his skills as an actor or even saying his characters are written the same. It’s just that the way he moves and especially his voice just somehow wraps around that Dracula persona to me. Even when he did that metal album my brain was like “Dracula is talking on this metal track”.
The AVClub website is known for its extensive coverage of movies, TV shows, music, and pop culture. Among the many topics that it covers, vampires have been a popular theme in many articles. In this article, we’ll take a look at the 10 best slideshow-based vampire articles on the AVClub website.“The 20 Best Vampire Movies, Ranked” – This article features a list of the best vampire movies of all time. The list includes classics like “Dracula” and “Nosferatu,” as well as modern favorites like “Let the Right One In” and “What We Do in the Shadows.”“10 Great Vampire TV Shows You Need to Watch” – This slideshow lists the best vampire TV shows that you should check out. From “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” to “True Blood,” this list has something for everyone.“The 15 Best Vampire Novels of All Time” – If you’re a fan of vampire literature, this article is for you. From Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” to Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire,” this list covers the best vampire novels ever written.“The Best Vampire Documentaries to Watch” – If you’re interested in learning about the history and lore of vampires, this article is a great starting point. It features documentaries like “Vampire Legends” and “Bloodsucking Cinema.”“The 10 Best Vampire Video Games” – Did you know that there are plenty of vampire-themed video games out there? This slideshow lists the best ones, from “Castlevania” to “Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines.”“The Best Vampire-Themed Episodes of TV” – If you’re a fan of TV shows with a vampire theme, this article is for you. It features episodes from “Supernatural,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and “The Vampire Diaries.”“10 Vampire Movies You May Have Missed” – This slideshow lists the best vampire movies that you may have overlooked. From “Only Lovers Left Alive” to “Thirst,” this list will introduce you to some hidden gems.“The Best Vampire Songs to Sink Your Teeth Into” – Did you know that there are plenty of songs with a vampire theme? This article features tracks like “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” by Bauhaus and “Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)“ by Concrete Blonde.“The Best Vampire Makeup Tutorials” – If you’re looking to dress up as a vampire for Halloween, this article is for you. It features makeup tutorials that will help you perfect your vampire look.“10 Vampire-Themed Cocktails to Sip on” – If you’re hosting a vampire-themed party, this article is a must-read. It features recipes for cocktails like the “Vampire’s Kiss” and the “Blood Orange Margarita.”In conclusion, the AVClub website has a wealth of vampire-themed content, from movies and TV shows to books and cocktails. Whether you’re a die-hard vampire fan or just looking to learn more about the topic, these 10 best slideshow-based vampire articles are a great place to start.
Your comment was good, but it would have been much better as a slideshow.
AVClub is known for its entertainment and pop culture coverage, but the website has also delved into serious topics from time to time. Unfortunately, there have been instances when AVClub had a bad take on something serious. Here are the top 10 instances when AVClub missed the mark on important issues.The misguided take on mental health in the movie “Joker”AVClub published an article praising the movie “Joker” for its portrayal of mental illness, which many readers found problematic and harmful. The article failed to acknowledge the film’s glorification of violence and stigmatization of mental illness.The insensitive coverage of the Pulse nightclub shootingIn the aftermath of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, AVClub published an article that made light of the tragedy and was deemed insensitive by readers. The website later issued an apology for the article.The inappropriate take on sexual assault in “Game of Thrones”AVClub published an article that defended a controversial rape scene in “Game of Thrones” and downplayed the seriousness of sexual assault. The article was widely criticized for being insensitive and promoting rape culture.The problematic take on Black Lives MatterAVClub published an article that criticized the Black Lives Matter movement and dismissed the concerns of marginalized communities. The article was seen as insensitive and tone-deaf, particularly given the ongoing issue of police brutality against Black people.The tone-deaf take on immigration in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”AVClub published an article that praised the film “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” for its portrayal of immigrant communities, which many readers found to be tone-deaf and insensitive. The article failed to acknowledge the reality of anti-immigrant sentiment and the harm it causes.The misguided take on body positivityAVClub published an article that criticized the body positivity movement and promoted unhealthy weight loss practices. The article was seen as insensitive and harmful to those struggling with body image issues.The inappropriate take on the #MeToo movementAVClub published an article that downplayed the severity of sexual assault and harassment in the wake of the #MeToo movement. The article was widely criticized for being insensitive and promoting rape culture.The insensitive take on mental health in “13 Reasons Why”AVClub published an article that praised the show “13 Reasons Why” for its portrayal of mental health issues, despite the fact that the show was criticized for its graphic depictions of suicide and lack of mental health resources.The problematic take on cultural appropriationAVClub published an article that defended cultural appropriation and downplayed the harm it causes to marginalized communities. The article was widely criticized for being insensitive and promoting cultural insensitivity.The tone-deaf take on COVID-19AVClub published an article that downplayed the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and criticized public health measures like social distancing and mask-wearing. The article was seen as insensitive and dangerous, particularly given the high number of deaths and hospitalizations caused by the virus.In conclusion, while AVClub is known for its entertainment coverage, the website has also covered serious topics with mixed success. It’s important for media outlets to be thoughtful and sensitive when covering important issues, and to be open to criticism and feedback from readers.
Wait…Christopher Lee played a werewolf? Oh, and Chaney played the *son* of Dracula, who was undoubtedly a disappointment to his dad.
I am deeply disappointed that you neglected Louis Jordan in “Count Dracula” and David Niven in “Old Dracula”.
I liked the Claes Bang version on Netflix. I’m not sure where it should be on the list, if at all, but it was fun to watch.
it’s debatable whether Stoker took ANY inspiration from Vlad whatsoever beyond using the name Dracula I’m old enough to remember when the book In Search of Dracula by McNalley and Florescu came out (I think 1976 or so). Vlad’s life and history were fascinating, and I think that they claimed Stoker was inspired by the real guy, but… nah. There’s nothing in the novel that bears that out.
No love for Nick Cage, huh?