From Bela Lugosi in Dracula to Tom Cruise in "Interview with a Vampire," vampires have found success on the big screen. But if popularity, longevity, and the number of film credits it has received mean anything, then Bram Stoker's creation -- Dracula -- is the biggest of the bigs.
Stoker wrote Dracula in 1897, towards the end of the late nineteenth-century craze for Gothic fiction. The book's popularity lasted longer than the Gothic fad, and was transfered into many screenplays, from 1922's Nosferatu to 1992's Bram Stoker's Dracula. Below is a list of some of the vampire movies that may be lurking in your neighbourhood video store.
1922 - Nosferatu - This silent German film by F. W. Murnau is perhaps one of the most faithful adaptations of Stoker's book. However, it was completely unauthorized, and when Stoker's wife sued, the court ordered that all prints of the film be destroyed. Luckily some survived.
1931 - Dracula - The film that defined Bela Lugosi's career was billed as "The Strangest Love Story of All." Tod Browning directed.
1936 - Dracula's Daughter - An early sequel, at least it wasn't called Dracula II.
1958 - Horror of Dracula - Christopher Lee goes back to Stoker for inspiration. The first in a series of movies where Lee played the Count.
1979 - Love at First Bite - George Hamilton plays Dracula for laughs.
1983 - The Hunger - David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve are stuck in an immortal love.
1987 - The Lost Boys - Kiefer Sutherland leads a pack of teenage hoodlum vampires.
1992 - Bram Stoker's Dracula - Francis Ford Coppola goes back to the original for his version of the classic.
1994 - Interview With The Vampire - The screen is filled with a star-studded cast playing at Anne Rice's oh-so-sexy vampires.
source: Superstar Facts & Pix No. 27 1992