The Birth of Vampires in the Horror Genre

The vampire myth has been a part of human culture throughout recorded history. It has

existed in some form all over the world, predating ancient Egypt and persisting through modem

times. There has rarely been a person on earth who did not incorporate into their legends this

idea of a creature that absorbs the life of another into itself through the blood. The earliest

recorded evidence comes from Persia and Babylon, but the myth is found in all comers of the

world, from the Aztecs in Mexico to the Inuit in Alaska (Marigny 14). Whether or not these

cultures were in contact with each other or with anyone at all, the myth is present. The belief

seems to have originated independently as a response to unexplained phenomena common to

most cultures (Melton 100). The famous Professor Van Helsing says so quite plainly in Bram

Stoker's Dracula: "For, let me tell you, he is known everywhere that men have been" (245).

Horror has been as much a part of mainstream filmmaking as of independent and schlock

production, and considered one of the pre-eminent figures of the classic horror film, the vampire

has proven to be a rich subject for the film and gaming industries. Dracula is a major character in

more movies than any other but Sherlock Holmes, and many early films were either based on the

novel of Dracula or closely derived from it. These included the landmark 1922 German silent

film Nosferatu, directed by F. W. Murnau and featuring the first film portrayal of Dracula—

although names and characters were intended to mimic Dracula's, Murnau could not obtain

permission to do so from Stoker's widow, and had to alter many aspects of the film. In addition

to this film was Universal's Dracula (1931), starring Béla Lugosi as the count in what was the

first talking film to portray Dracula.

The vampire myth is full of symbolism. Vampires have been seen as

a metaphor for everything from AIDS to addictive behavior.

Over time, vampires have changed through literature and movies. In their origin, vampires were

seen as real threats to the Greeks, Romans, and the Ancient Egyptians. The fear spread to Europe

where vampires were some of the most intimidating figures in the Europeans lives. In these

times, vampires killed people and animals. They caused plagues and were associated with the

devil. Around the times of Stoker, when vampires started to become more popular, people took

their existence less seriously and soon they were seen only on film and on paper. Stories of

vampires are one of the oldest horror legends that are known to man, although they have been

modified over time, it has been great literature and films that have kept the myth alive.
Vampires as Oppressor of Women

Victorian Era was represented by such 19th-century ideals as devotion to family life,

public and private responsibility, and obedience to the law. Despite the great leadership showed

by a female leader in this era, women remain as passive component of the society. They became

the most common victims of vampires in novels and films. Their obedience and gentleness are

abused by vampires; thus, they became representation of weakness.

The Milieu and Vampire Portrayal of Nosferatu (1922)

Nosferatu is motion picture based on the novel Dracula by British writer Bram Stoker.

Released in 1922, this German silent film was directed by F. W. Murnau and stars Max Schreck

as Count Orlok which is the director’s own version of Dracula. This was an unlicensed version of

Bram Stoker's Dracula, based so closely on the novel that the estate took legal action and won,

with all copies ordered to be destroyed. The well-known story involves a real estate agent who

travels from Britain to Transylvania, Romania, to broker a deal on behalf of a wealthy and

mysterious count who wishes to buy a second home in England. The count turns out to be a

vampire, a supernatural creature who maintains immortality by drinking human blood. He also

possesses superhuman strength and the ability to change into a bat, a rat, or a wisp of fog. In spite

of his diabolical powers, exposure to the rays of the sun is the undoing of this creature of the

night.

In this film, the depiction of the vampire, which is true to Eastern European legend—an

ugly, grotesquely, disfigured ‘living corpse’— was shown literally. Jonathan Harker sees the

mysterious nobleman (Count Orlok) as a strange, ancient, almost rodent-like man, with large
ears, pale skin, sharp teeth and long fingernails. This is how vampires were considered to have

looked in reality according to myth and legend.

The screen's very first vampire film, Nosferatu (1922), presented Count Orlock as a

"walking skeleton" of horror. His domed hairless scalp, pointed ears, and long tapering fingers

contributed to the "living corpse" appearance. As the film proceeded, Orlock's looks became

progressively more repellent; this, no doubt, was due to the vampire's surroundings of the

trappings of death—"funerals, disease, pestilence, even hordes of crawling rats following in his

wake" (Iaccino, James F.).

The novel, which is the basis of the film, emphasizes the expected roles of men and

women in Victorian times. Women were expected to be gentle and ladylike and, most of all,

subservient to men. For example, the count has three wives (commonly referred as The Three

Female Vampires), who obediently serve and follow his commands. The three unnamed vampire

women first appear during Jonathan Harker's stay at Castle Dracula. They try to bite Jonathan but

are stopped by Dracula, who gives them a baby to eat instead. Near the end of the novel, they

leave the castle to try to coax Mina into joining them. However, Professor Van Helsing drives

them away and goes to the castle the next day, where he kills all three vampires. In addition to, in

one of her letters, Lucy notes, "My dear Mina, why are men so noble when we women are so

little worthy of them?" Lucy is frustrated that she has to choose between her three suitors and

does not wish to hurt any one of them by saying no. Lucy says, "Why can't they let a girl marry

three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble? But this is heresy, and I must not say

it." Women are expected to live for their husbands, so much so that Mina practices her shorthand

while Jonathan is away so that she can assist him when he gets back. Mina says, "When we are

married I shall be able to be useful to Jonathan."

 Even more important than a woman's devotion to her husband was the idea that women,

at least gentlewomen, should be pure. As part of this, men were expected to respect a woman's

privacy and never burst in on her when they might catch her in an undressed state. Quincey notes

this when Professor Van Helsing says they need to break down the door to Mina's room. Quincey

states, "It is unusual to break into a lady's room!" However, as Van Helsing notes, in situations

where the woman might be in mortal danger, this rule should be broken. Van Helsing is worried,

rightly so, that Dracula might be attacking Mina. So he replies to Quincey, "You are always

right; but this is life and death."

The Social Implication of the Film

There is a part of a film wherein the lonely Count is enchanted by a small portrait of

Jonathan's wife, Lucy, and immediately agrees to purchase the Wismar property, especially with

the knowledge that he and Lucy would become neighbours. Lucy later has an encounter with the

lonely Count Dracula. Weary and unable to die, he demands some of the love that she gave so

freely to Jonathan. Later on, Lucy finds that she can overcome Dracula's evil by distracting him

at dawn, but at the expense of her own life. Although at first Lucy rejects the count, she then later

lures the Count to her bedroom, where he proceeds to drink her blood. In accordance with the

mythology, Lucy's beauty and purity distract Dracula from the call of the cockerel, and the Count

is killed by the first light of the day. Van Helsing arrives to discover Lucy, dead but victorious.

He then finishes the Count off with a stake through the heart.

This shows that women are starting to gain power. They are not just suppressed,

especially by men. They prove that they are also capable of doing things those men can do and
that they deserve equal rights as of men’s. And during the 1920’s, Women’s Rights were made,

rights that establish the same social, economic, and political status for women as for men and

guarantee that women will not face discrimination on the basis of their sex.
Vampires as Image of Fascism, Nazism and Stalinism

In the 43 sequels, remakes and adaptations of Stoker's novel, Transylvania's most famous

son (Nosferatu) rarely appears the same way twice. He has evolved with the society around him.

His physical traits, powers and weaknesses have morphed to suit cultural and political climates

from the Victorian era to the Cold War, wherein international politics were heavily shaped by the

intense rivalry between these two great blocs of power and the political ideologies they

represented: democracy and capitalism in the case of the United States and its allies, and

Communism in the case of the Soviet bloc.

The Milieu and Vampire Portrayal of Dracula (1931 and 1958)

The next classic treatment of the vampire legend was in Universal's Dracula (1931)

starring Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula. This horror film is about the Transylvanian vampire

Count Dracula, adapted from a play based on Bram Stoker’s novel. Released in 1931, the film

features Bela Lugosi as Dracula, the role that launched his movie career. Dracula purchases an

estate in England and terrorizes the family who live next door until vampire fighter Dr. Van

Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) drives a wooden stake through his heart.

The traditional Bela Lugosi figure - and aging aristocrat with fanglike teeth, a black opera

cloak and an easy to parody East European accent - was someone to be feared, perhaps even

respected. The "impeccably groomed Bela Lugosi" as the Lord of the Undead, possesses all the

charms and social graces of the Stoker, Old World nobleman (Everson, More Classics 32). His

eastern European accent allowed Lugosi to emphasize every word with a theatrical abandon. He
also invested a good deal of energy in the count's role, most notably in the assorted hand gestures

(which have become the vampire's trademark) and the penetrating eyes upon the victim's neck.

Vampires have been a fixture of film since Bela Lugosi brought Bram Stoker’s Dracula to

life on the big screen in 1931. Count Dracula has taken many forms over the years, but it was

Bela Lugosi's turn as the Transylvanian terror that set the bloodlust benchmark most closely

followed for the next 80 years. Often considered the first Hollywood horror movie with sound, it

scared the bejezus out of everyone and made a Drac attack the height of terror on film and off it.

Lugosi's seamless inhabitation of the count/creature as a beast with slicked back hair, big cape,

hokey accent and dramatic posturing made him a legend.

If Bela Lugosi gave Dracula a sense of style it was Christopher Lee who gave him a face

to remember. Although he has more than 266 screen credits to his name, Lee remains the modern

vampire du jour - he has appeared as the toothy count more than 10 times and the character has

influenced all his other roles.

It was not until the late 1950s that the vampire would resurface in another interpretation,

this time from the London Hammer Studios. Actor Christopher Lee made a conscious effort not

to recreate the Lugosi characterization in his Horror of Dracula (1958). Rather, he gave his

version a more restrained type of sophistication, coupled with an almost superhuman strength

when confronting his enemies.

Dracula was reincarnated for a new generation in the celebrated Hammer Horror series of

films, starring Christopher Lee as the Count. The first of these films Dracula (1958) was

followed by seven sequels. Lee returned as Dracula in all but two of these.
 The comparison between these two films is much more intriguing to the actual vampire

buff—they are both masterpieces of their time. The original 1931 Dracula in it haunting portrayal

of a romantic Dracula who pursues the virginal Mina, becoming bat and wolf alike to reach her.

This horror flick was a first in cinema in creating a near state of hysteria in the theaters; some

places banned its showing even. The lines proved it a blockbuster and Bela Lugosi became a

lifelong typecast as the Count. It was primitive and low budget, using possums and armadillos as

giant rats in the Carfax Abbey where the Count slept in his coffin—but for its day it piqued the

imagination of a generation, spawning many imitators and different vampire films, none really

doing the portrayal of Dracula as romantic and hypnotic as Lugosi’s. Christopher Lee came

close, but will always be eclipsed by Lugosi’s eternally mesmerizing portrayal, a truly immortal

performance of the Count (http://www.uh.edu/~hkbigley/2321/holloway/research_paper.html).