“The Last Voyage of the Demeter,” which spotlights the doomed ship in Bram Stoker’s oft-adapted 1897 novel, is the second Dracula film released in 2023 after “Renfield.” Both take generous liberties with the source material, which brings up the question: Out of the 200-some films about the famous Count, which ones are the most faithful?
Here’s our ranking of some of the most popular, and a few lesser-known, Dracula adaptations.
8. Renfield (2023)
Pretty much the only thing this horror comedy has in common with the novel is Nicholas Hoult as the bug-eating title character and a delightfully campy Nicolas Cage as his bloodthirsty boss. The movie brings them both into the 21st century, makes Renfield an ass-kicking hero and swaps out Lucy and Mina for Awkwafina’s incorruptible cop.
7. Dracula 2000 (2000)
The film begins with a shot of the wrecked Demeter and footprints in the sand as Dracula (a beefy, often shirtless Gerard Butler) heads to town. The action then shifts to present-day where Van Helsing (Christopher Plummer) is an antique collector who has just been robbed of a sealed metal casket containing one undead vampire. The much-panned movie supplies an inventive origin story for the immortal count and a surprisingly effective resurrection scene aboard a plane. The object of Dracula’s affection is named Mary (Justine Waddell) and her best friend is Lucy (played by ’00s singer Vitamin C), whose last name is now Westerman.
Universal Pictures
6. The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023)
The film from “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” director André Øvredal takes a chapter from the novel that is often left out — the terror experienced by the crew of the ship that carries Dracula to London — and fleshes it out into a whole movie. While the names of some of the characters do match up with those in the book, several, including Corey Hawkins’ doctor and a stowaway played by Aisling Franciosi, are created just for the film. Another key difference: This Dracula preys very loudly and messily on the crew while in the novel, they simply disappear one by one until the captain (played in the movie by Liam Cunningham) himself sees the creature. The most striking detail in the book — the ship arrives in London with no one on board but the body of the captain lashed to the wheel — is also altered.
5. Dracula (1974)
This TV movie from “I Am Legend” novelist Richard Matheson and directed by “Dark Shadows” creator Dan Curtis stars “City Slickers” Oscar-winner Jack Palance. The film starts off accurately enough with Jonathan Harker traveling to Transylvania to help the Count purchase a home in London, but Harker then disappears for most of the movie. (Renfield is also nowhere to be seen.) And Dracula is not after Harker’s fiancée Mina Murray (Penelope Horner), but Lucy Westenra (Fiona Lewis), making Arthur Holcomb (Simon Ward) the default hero: Dracula only sets his sights on Mina after losing Lucy. Unlike many adaptations, the final showdown takes place back in Dracula’s native land, as it does in the book.
4. Horror of Dracula (1958)
Christopher Lee made his debut as the Count in this British classic that was followed by several sequels. It begins with Jonathan Harker meeting Dracula at his castle and then revealing that he not only knows the truth about him, but he’s there to kill the vampire. This version also quickly dispatches with Harker and finds Mina (Melissa Stribling) married to Arthur (Michael Gough) instead. Van Helsing is, of course, played by Peter Cushing, one of his many matchups with Lee.
4. Dracula (1931)
“Nosferatu,” the striking 1922 silent horror film, was the first movie to be based on Stoker’s novel, but it was not authorized and did not use the name Dracula. The first official Dracula movie enshrined Bela Lugosi as the classic movie monster, introducing us to lines like, “I never drink… wine,” and, “Listen to the children of the night.” It also set the mold for future adaptations by eliminating several characters from the book, including some of Lucy’s suitors. Lucy’s last name is changed from Westenra to Weston and Mina is now the daughter or Dr. Seward, who runs the insane asylum near Carfax Abbey. Dwight Frye has the role of a lifetime as the crazed Renfield, who, unlike the book, is the only person to be found on the derelict ship when it arrives in London.
3. Dracula (1979)
John Badham’s adaptation, starring Frank Langella, switches out Lucy and Mina’s characters: Mina is now the daughter of Van Helsing (Laurence Olivier) and is killed first, but Dracula’s main interest is in Lucy (Kate Nelligan), who is the one engaged to Jonathan Harker (Trevor Eve). Breaking from earlier adaptations, Lucy is very much in love with Dracula, who is defeated on board a ship as the lovers try to flee. The mysterious arrival of the Demeter on the English coast is very much as described in the book.
2. Count Dracula (1977)
This BBC miniseries starring French actor Louis Jourdan is so faithful to the 19th century novel, many have found it unwatchably slow and dry. One of the changes it makes is that Lucy and Mina are not friends but sisters.
- Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Francis Ford Coppola’s lushly visual epic hews very closely to the novel, reinstating Lucy’s bevy of suitors (played in the film by Cary Elwes, Richard E. Grant and Billy Campbell) and, as in the novel, relying on Mina’s letters and Jonathan’s diary to tell its story. The origin story of Dracula (a never more dashing Gary Oldman) as Vlad the Impaler is not in the book, of course, nor is the “I have crossed oceans of time” love story between the Count and Mina (Winona Ryder).
