#//except renfield and john

[vickyvicarious]

Who's Read What in Dracula? Masterpost

This is a little self-assigned project to try and keep track of who has read (as well as written) what documents, and, importantly, when they do so. Last year I spent some time thinking about this and it informed some of my thoughts about specific characters' perspectives and actions in interesting ways. So I thought it could be a neat resource to have for others!

I'm going to update this in time with the novel, so there won't be any spoilers. This post is going to be a master reference, with links to each individual character's posts. I originally wanted to do this as a series of graphs for each character, with color-coded bars for each document they've read, but I'm not savvy enough to figure out a non-confusing way to do so, especially given the number of different authors/documents. Instead, I'm going to have a separate post for each character, and just have the info in written form there. Here are the links to each of those, in order of introduction:

Jonathan Harker

Mina Murray

Lucy Westenra

Jack Seward

Quincey Morris

Arthur Holmwood

Abraham Van Helsing

Some housekeeping notes: Obviously, each character will have read their own writing. I'm not going to update day-by-day for any such things. Instead, I'll only update whenever they access new information by someone else, or begin what I'm counting as a new document.

Most of the time, we know for a fact when characters get access to a new document. However, there are a few exceptions. I have my theories, but I will mark them as speculative whenever that label applies.

I break up documents based on chunks of information and have assigned titles to them as such. The labels may change as time goes by as needed to avoid spoilers. I also try to add in dates, but for any longer accounts it will just be a range of dates rather than every entry.

Below the cut is a list of all the documents, in order of appearance, with dates. I'm using color-coding for all the main authors, which will match the colors used in individual character posts. This too will be updated over time, so no worries about spoilers here either. Unless, of course, you don't want to know if someone who has only written once before will go on to write often... in that case, don't look below.

Castle Dracula Diary (3 May-30 June) - Jonathan Harker

Invitation to Castle Dracula (3 May) - Count Dracula

Letter to Innkeeper (4 May) - Count Dracula *

Letter to Dracula (5 May) - Mr. Hawkins *

Letters to Lucy (9 May, 17 May?*) - Mina Murray

Letter to Mina (2/3 May?) - Jonathan Harker *

Letters to Mina (11 May?, 24 May) - Lucy Westenra

Dictated Letters Home (11 May, 18 May) - Jonathan Harker *

Letters to Various Solicitors (11 May) - Count Dracula *

Phonograph Diary (25 May-?) - Jack Seward

Letter to Art (25 May) - Quincey Morris

Telegram Reply to Quincey (26 May) - Arthur Holmwood

Intercepted Letters Home (28 May) - Jonathan Harker *

Renfield's Notebook (5 June?-?) - R. M. Renfield *

Log of the Demeter (18 July-4 August) - Captain of the Demeter

Whitby Journal (24 July-19 August) - Mina Murray

Message to Lucy (27 July) - Arthur Holmwood *

Demeter Articles (8-9 August) - Daily Graph Correspondent

Letter from Budapest (12 August) - Sister Agatha

Letter to Carter, Paterson, & Co. (17 August) - Billington & Son

Letter to Mina (17/18 August?) - Mr. Hawkins *

Letter to Billington & Son (21 August) - Carter, Patterson, & Co.

Post-Whitby Letter to Lucy (24 August) - Mina Murray

London Diary (24 August-17 September) - Lucy Westenra

Whitby Letter (30 August) - Lucy Westenra

Letter to Jack (31 August) - Arthur Holmwood

Telegram to Jack (1 September) - Arthur Holmwood

Letter to Van Helsing (1 September?) - Jack Seward *

Letters to Arthur (2, 3, 6, 15?* September) - Jack Seward

Letter to Dr. Seward (2 September) - Van Helsing

Telegrams to Van Helsing (4-8 September) - Jack Seward

Telegram to Arthur (8 September) - Jack Seward

Telegram to John (8 September) - Van Helsing *

Telegram(s?) to Vanderpool (10, 13? September) - Van Helsing *

Delayed Telegram to Seward (17 September) - Van Helsing

Lucy's Memorandum (17 September) - Lucy Westenra

Unread Letters to Lucy (17, 18 September) - Mina Murray

Escaped Wolf Article (18 September) - Pall Mall Gazette

Telegram to Quincey (18 September) - Arthur Holmwood

Mrs. Westenra's Death Certificate (18 September) - Jack Seward/Van Helsing *

Telegram to Arthur (18 September) - Quincey Morris *

Telegram to Summon Arthur (19 September) - Jack Seward *

Hennessey's Report (20 September) - Patrick Hennessey

Letter to Mrs. Westenra's Lawyer (21 September) - Jack Seward *

Post-Whitby Journal (22 September-?) - Mina Murray

Telegram to Mrs. Harker (22 September) - Van Helsing

Letters to Mrs. Harker (24-25 September) - Van Helsing

Bloofer Lady Articles (25 September) - Westminster Gazette

Telegrams to Van Helsing (25, 29 September) - Mina Murray

Telegram to Mina (25 September) - Jonathan Harker *

Letter to Van Helsing (25 September) - Mina Murray

Post-Castle Diary (26 September-?) - Jonathan Harker

Carfax Letters (pre-3 May?) - Jonathan Harker *

Letter from Ring (24/25 September?) - Arthur Holmwood *

Note to Jack (24/25 September?) - Quincey Morris *

Undelivered Note to John (26 September) - Van Helsing

Note to Arthur and Quincey (27 September) - Van Helsing *

Message to Billington & Sons (27/28 September) - Jonathan Harker *

Reply from Billington (27/28 September) - Mr. Billington *

Telegram to Jonathan (29 September) - Mina Murray *

Carter Paterson Documents - Carter, Paterson, & Co *

* We know these documents exist, but never get to read them (or in one case, only get a brief excerpt) as they aren't added to the record. Sometimes some of the main characters do get to read them, but not always.

Question marks after a date denote uncertainty, though they're all likely written within a few days of the tentative one listed. When after a dash (-?) they mark an as-yet incomplete document.

Some documents contain others within them. When this becomes relevant for characters reading them, I will list the main document read, then all others included in it with brackets, like this:

Main document [included document one, two]

[ninadove]

Nina reads Dracula 🦇

September 20th

I opened today’s entry thinking I knew what to expect, but apparently I did not:

Report from Patrick Hennessey, M. D., M. R. C. S. L. K. Q. C. P. I., etc., etc., to John Seward, M. D.

A bit of humour in the darkest of nights. And what a power move! I love that even minor characters are given such vivid personalities!

With regard to patient, Renfield, there is more to say. He has had another outbreak, which might have had a dreadful ending, but which, as it fortunately happened, was unattended with any unhappy results.

This is what I mean! Look how this man writes. Completely redundant. He has a unique “voice” and I love it!

I went down to see if I could make out any cause for his anger, since he is usually such a well-behaved man, and except his violent fits nothing of the kind had ever occurred.

I’m starting to think every staff member has a death wish.

It was, I am sorry to say, however, only another instance of his cunning, for within half an hour I heard of him again. This time he had broken out through the window of his room, and was running down the avenue. I called to the attendants to follow me, and ran after him, for I feared he was intent on some mischief.

YA THINK?????

Also, what was I saying about safety protocols the other day?

The other fellow jumped down and struck him over the head with the butt-end of his heavy whip. It was a terrible blow; but he did not seem to mind it, but seized him also, and struggled with the three of us, pulling us to and fro as if we were kittens. You know I am no light weight, and the others were both burly men.

IT’S WORKING!!!!! The DYI vampirism is working!!! Mark me down as scared and strangely proud.

The two carriers were at first loud in their threats of actions for damages, and promised to rain all the penalties of the law on us. Their threats were, however, mingled with some sort of indirect apology for the defeat of the two of them by a feeble madman. They said that if it had not been for the way their strength had been spent in carrying and raising the heavy boxes to the cart they would have made short work of him. They gave as another reason for their defeat the extraordinary state of drouth to which they had been reduced by the dusty nature of their occupation and the reprehensible distance from the scene of their labours of any place of public entertainment. I quite understood their drift, and after a stiff glass of grog, or rather more of the same, and with each a sovereign in hand, they made light of the attack, and swore that they would encounter a worse madman any day for the pleasure of meeting so 'bloomin' good a bloke' as your correspondent. I took their names and addresses, in case they might be needed.

Efficient crisis management. Have a sticker 🦇

Now onto the regularly scheduled horrors…

Only resolution and habit can let me make an entry to-night. I am too miserable, too low-spirited, too sick of the world and all in it, including life itself, that I would not care if I heard this moment the flapping of the wings of the angel of death.

About that —

And he has been flapping those grim wings to some purpose of late—Lucy's mother and Arthur's father, and now.... Let me get on with my work.

Oh so it’s official! Arthur’s father has passed! What a month!

Van Helsing was very kind to him. "Come, my child," he said; "come with me. You are sick and weak, and have had much sorrow and much mental pain, as well as that tax on your strength that we know of. You must not be alone; for to be alone is to be full of fears and alarms. Come to the drawing-room, where there is a big fire, and there are two sofas. You shall lie on one, and I on the other, and our sympathy will be comfort to each other, even though we do not speak, and even if we sleep."

That is very sweet.

There was a full moonlight, and I could see that the noise was made by a great bat, which wheeled round—doubtless attracted by the light, although so dim—and every now and again struck the window with its wings.

Hold on hold on hold on. I think Jack might be on to something here.

So far, we’ve seen Dracula target Jonathan and Lucy specifically and relentlessly. Yes, he also attacked the crew of the Demeter, but that was out of necessity (being stuck in the middle of the ocean with no other source of food) rather than choice; and he doesn’t want to feed on Renfield, who is older and “feeble” both physically and mentally.

So he is attracted to the light, metaphorically: to young people who are full of life and love. Because that’s what he lacks. Argh.

It was certainly odd that whenever she got into that lethargic state, with the stertorous breathing, she put the flowers from her; but that when she waked she clutched them close.

🥺😔

"She is dying. It will not be long now. It will be much difference, mark me, whether she dies conscious or in her sleep. Wake that poor boy, and let him come and see the last; he trusts us, and we have promised him." […]

When we came into Lucy's room I could see that Van Helsing had, with his usual forethought, been putting matters straight and making everything look as pleasing as possible. He had even brushed Lucy's hair, so that it lay on the pillow in its usual sunny ripples. When we came into the room she opened her eyes, and seeing him, whispered softly:—

"Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come!" He was stooping to kiss her, when Van Helsing motioned him back. "No," he whispered, "not yet! Hold her hand; it will comfort her more."

Say what you want about Van Helsing (SISTER), he’s showing incredible amounts of compassion in this chapter.

In a sort of sleep-waking, vague, unconscious way she opened her eyes, which were now dull and hard at once, and said in a soft, voluptuous voice, such as I had never heard from her lips:—

"Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss me!" Arthur bent eagerly over to kiss her; but at that instant Van Helsing, who, like me, had been startled by her voice, swooped upon him, and catching him by the neck with both hands, dragged him back with a fury of strength which I never thought he could have possessed, and actually hurled him almost across the room.

"Not for your life!" he said; "not for your living soul and hers!" And he stood between them like a lion at bay.

The next few entries are going to be fun.

Their eyes met instead of their lips; and so they parted.

Ouch.

"Ah, well, poor girl, there is peace for her at last. It is the end!"

He turned to me, and said with grave solemnity:—

"Not so; alas! not so. It is only the beginning!"

When I asked him what he meant, he only shook his head and answered:—

"We can do nothing as yet. Wait and see."

A heads up would be nice!!!

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[manicpixieyandere]

An Analysis of the Vampire in Film Overtime

(You know what time it is, college essay time).

Vampires have always been one of the most popular monsters in horror. This all started with the release of Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula in 1897. Ever since then, Dracula and vampires in general have been a part of mainstream pop culture. While vampires have extended to other genres beyond horror, they still reign supreme within the genre. As society has gotten more and more progressive, the vampires have been able to be more explicit in their metaphors of lust and desire without giving up their core roots.

In this essay three films from the vampire horror genre will be analyzed over time. All three of these films tie back to Dracula, some more than others. These three films are Dracula (1931), Fright Night (1985), and Nosferatu (2024). All of these films share similarities in the conventions of the genre. All of these films share the plot of a vampire causing many wrongs across town, and the protagonists must stop it while being hunted by the vampire. Within all of these films vampirism is sexualized and used as a metaphor for desire. Common visual indicators of the genre include dark gothic settings, fangs, blood, crucifixes. Vampires are known to blend desire with horror, and all three of these movies show that in their own ways, getting more and more explicit with time.

The 1931 Dracula movie is a condensed adaptation of the original Bram Stoker novel. Many characters were eliminated from the movie all together, such as two of Lucy Westerna’ suitors: Quincey Morris and Arthur Holmwood. Lucy herself had most of her role within the story taken away and given to Wilhelmina Harker (such as the sleep walking). The character of R.M. Renfield within the movie is a combination of the book character Renfield and Johnathan Harker. Specifically taking Johnathan’s role as the real estate agent that sells Dracula his new home. Johnothan Harker is reduced to simply, John and stays the husband of Mina (Wilhelmina).

R.M. Renfield is sent to Transylvania to sell Count Dracula real estate in London. Dracula corrupts Renfield’s mind and the two sail to London together, master and familiar. The two share many scenes with queer coding, but as it was the 1930s; all hints are quite subtle. The two were also queer coded in the original novel. They can be read as a toxic romantic relationship (something expanded upon in the 2023 movie sequel, Renfield). It is also important to note that as stated previously, Renfield plays the role Johnothan Harker originally had in Dracula as the real estate agent trapped in Dracula's castle. Within the original book, Jonathan plays the role of Dracula’s gothic bride. The gothic bride is typically a damsel in distress, being held captive and manipulated by the monster, or are their prey. Johnathan in the book and Renfield in the movie fit this role well, all except of course that they are men.

Upon arriving in London, Dracula sets his focus on Mina while Renfield is locked in a mental ward. He tries to court Mina by biting her and turning her into a vampire. The vampire slayer Abraham Van Helsing (with the help of Dr. John Seward) is able to stake Dracula through the heart before Mina is fully turned. Dracula and Mina have a lot of romantic and sexual tension. For example, Dracula’s place of interest in biting Mina is her breast and he wishes her to be his. Mina though does not seem to be very interested in Dracula all that much. She has slight hints of desire but nothing more. This is as scandalous as the 1931 movie gets.

The movie follows the conventions of the genre quite closely and doesn't differ from them as it is really the inventor of such things in cinema. Or at least, one of the more well known ones. All the typical ones are there, a gothic setting, crucifixes, the vampire's fangs, the lust of vampirism.

Expanding on the genre is Fright Night. Times had drastically changed in the past 54 years between these two movies. While Fright Night is not a direct adaptation of Dracula, many of its characters and plot points come directly from the book / movie. The main character Charley Brewster is the Johnothan Harker of the movie, specifically the one who is there to protect his Mina. In this case the Mina of the story is Amy Peterson. Peter Vincent is a direct play on Van Helsing but with the twist he is really just an actor. Jerry Dandridge as the vampire is of course Dracula with his roommate, Billy Cole being a loose interpretation of Renfield, but instead of being his familiar, he is his golem.

In Fright Night Charley gets a new next door neighbor, Jerry. Many women go into Jerry’s house and are then later seen missing on the news. Charley also sees a coffin brought into Jerry’s home. This leads Charley to come to the conclusion his new neighbor is a vampire. None of his friends (Amy and Ed Thompson) believe him. He eventually gets so desperate he turns to an actor who plays a vampire hunter on TV, Peter Vincent. Peter doesn't believe him either but his friends are so desperate for help that they pay him to convince Charley he's wrong. The entire group soon find out Charley was right and must stop Jerry from killing them all. Jerry takes a particular interest in Amy.

Jerry lusts over Amy just as Dracula did with Mina. Fright Night gets more explicit though as more of Amy’s skin is seen when being bitten, there are also moans that can be read as sexual noises. Amy is also allowed to have stronger desire as she states in the movie she finds Jerry attractive. The queer coding of Jerry and Billy is also stronger than it was in the 1931 movie for Dracula and Renfield. Within the movie Jerry and Billy share a house, or as the kids say “and they were roommates”. They can be read as the weird gay couple next door. There are even scenes of them leaning on each other and wrapped around one another.

This movie breaks some conventions of the vampire genre. Yes, it has the typical vampire hunting the protagonist, crucifixes, fangs, blood, sexual desire, but it also breaks the visual settings. Most vampire stories are set in gothic settings, while Jerry’s house is gothic, the movie often leaves his house. A scene that really sticks out is Jerry hunting Charley and Amy at a nightclub. The scene is lit with neon colors and flashing lights, and yet the scene still retains its horrific elements, setting unease in the audience.

The last film of this essay is the 2024 version of Nosferatu. Ironically enough Nosferatu is a more faithful adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula than the 1931 Dracula movie. Count Orlock is quite clearly Count Dracula. Thomas Hutter is Johnothan Harker (who is both the real estate salesman's and Mina’s husband). The Mina of the movie is Ellen Hutter. Lucy gets her major role back as Anna Harding. Albin Eberhart von Franz is Van Helsing. Dr. Wilhelm Sievers is Dr. Seward. Knock is Renfield (only the part of Renfield who is a patient at a psychiatric hospital). A character eliminated from the 1931 movie, Arthur Holmwood makes his grand appearance as the character Friedrich Harding, Anna’s husband.

The film first follows Thomas as he travels far out of the country to sell Orlock real estate, this time in Germany instead of London. Thomas gets trapped in Orlock’s castle but eventually escapes. It is important to note he played the role of the gothic bride here. Once Orlock is in Germany, the focus of the movie shifts more to Ellen and her connection to Orlock.

Both the lust of the monster and desire of the human have become much more explicit since the last film. Ellen explicitly explains to both Thomas and the audience that Nosferatu is a past lover of hers, a desire she is ashamed of. They even have sex at the end of the movie. Thomas gets a scene near identical to the one Jerry and Amy got in Fright Night. Orlock drinks from Thomas’ chest while Thomas moans: Additionally, Orlock is replaced with visions of Ellen in this scene, implying this is an act one would do with their lover. Ellen even directly states this later in the film. The Renfield character in this movie is also naked as he professes love to his master. All of these things would have never happened in 1931 and would most likely have the audience praying after seeing the film. Society has greatly progressed to allow these things to happen.

The film doesn't jeopardize its main conventions to have this evolution either. The gothic setting is even more intact than it was in Fright Night. The crucifixes, fangs, blood, desire, a vampire hunting the protagonists, it's all there. The movie is without a doubt a vampire horror film.

The main conventions of the vampire horror genre have not changed much if at all over time, but the explicitness of their metaphor of desire and lust has. The straight vampire human pairings do not have to hide their metaphor at all, the coding becomes text. The queer coding of the vampire and male human is still code but is slowly becoming more and more explicit. As the genre develops even more with time it is safe to say it will only get more explicit from here. Both in general and with queer representation. Maybe one day there will finally be a movie where Johnathan takes his rightful place as Dracula's gothic bride.

[ace-fandom-dumbass]

Just read the script of Hamilton Deane's 1924 play adaptation of dracula, actually pretty decent as dracula adaptations go! It's fairly faithful, most changes make sense for the medium change, mainly it compresses the time frame. Going to ramble about it a bit, throwing in a readmore since it'll get long

Major changes:

Dracula is the Harkers' house guest, Jonathan's No Good Very Bad Business Trip doesnt seem to have happened, this is really the biggest and strangest change. Jonathan is still helping dracula with the purchase of property in London, its just all being/been done from London.

Harkers are already married (doesnt specify how long)

Dracula only brought 6 boxes of earth to london. Jonathan managed the purchase of all the properties they were hidden on making finding and sterilizing/destroying them easier.

Quincy is a girl. Shes still Texan, her full name is still Quincy Morris, she still has a gun and is fairly similar overall, but she's a girl. (And since it was the 1920s this means she's no longer one of Lucy's suitors)

Timeline changes (ie things that stay the same/similar but have moved when they happened):

Play starts on the night Helsing arrives

Helsing doesnt arrive until after Lucy died and Mina has fallen similarly ill

As a result of above several moments are nearly identical but with Mina instead of Lucy

The "foul bauble of man's vanity" exchange happens after helsing arrives and is with helsing not jonathan

Lucy first rises/starts killing like the day before they are ready for their confrontation with dracula, they discuss needing to deal with her but it doesn't happen in the show (they specifically say it will be done after they deal with dracula)

Final confrontation is less of a fight and happens in Carfax. Very simple

Overall, a large portion of stuff happens before the play opens and what is covered by the play is compressed into a couple days, but overall not in a way that is too horribly done. Compared to the 1927 "revised version" (technically Deane's script with revisions/changes by John L Balderston) it is far more faithful, even with the compressed timeline and the odder changes.

Things that were essentially the same:

Quincy shoots at Bat!Dracula, spooking the others. She doesn't seem much different at all really besides not being one of Lucy's suitors and at one point saying "well, it guess I'm handicapped, being only a girl — but I can keep my end up" (girl id bet you could more than hold your own against the rest of the crew, dont sell yourself short)

Garlic flowers specifically are used (i know some things use the bulbs) and thrown out (in this case by the maid) endangering (in this case, mina)

Blood transfusions. Seward mentions transfusions were done for Lucy (whole suitor squad including Quincy) and they are brought up to help Mina, with Quincy and Arthur offering in addition to Jonathan.

Mina's "dreams" are basically the same. It cuts the October 3rd incident, but based on the annotations about things Deane originally had that were cut/censored by the Lord Chamberlain that's not surprising.

Van Helsing feels very similar to the book. He talks similarly, he has that difference between how he first enters and (as Red OSP dubbed it) Van Helsing Serious Face. He does mostly stay serious (but again, compressed time frame, so fair)

Renfield. Again his plot points are compressed into this shorter time frame but are rather accurate and generally done pretty well.

Really most of the characters feel very similar to their book version. The one, somewhat disappointing exception is Mina, who is less actively involved in events as a result of already being ill and some her major moments don't happen from other changes (like her helping complile all their information from Jonathan's journal and sewards recordings). Even still, not nearly as bad as how other adaptations have messed up her character, so I'll take it.

Honestly it was pretty good! I picked it as an option for the final in a couple of my classes since I heard it was a fairly accurate adaptation, and im glad I did. I'm definitely going with it as my pick, and now I've got an initial set of notes down I can just work on the projects as I have time throughout the semester (round 2 of notes/personal thoughts, research, planning, etc)!

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

But I also want to take Seward's perspective bc I also think all the "Seward is an absolute monster" people are majorly missing the point of how all this happens. Like alright Renfield has never hurt anyone but the stuff with the flies and spiders and sparrows is relatively damning, and it is fairly natural to wonder if he's planning to take it all the way up the food chain. Renfield gets a lot of sympathy on here (as he should) however I personally believe that's bc he's fictional character. If there was a guy in your community who you watched eat flies and spider and talk about blood and if you heard that he had eaten some sparrows, I do not believe that most of you would befriend him. Speaking for myself I think I would remain polite and give him a wide berth. I probably would be a little afraid of him, even though he'd done nothing to me.

Dr Seward's behavior is human, but it shows how little desire there is within himself to hold himself to a higher standard. He is content to make medical diagnoses on vibes and he doesn't even realize he's doing it. In my hypothetical scenario where Renfield is a guy in my apartment building I know I would adopt the mindset of "wish him the best but this guy needs professional help which I am not equipped to give" and like. 😕 in this story anyway this is a fantasy. The professional help people have all the same tendencies to go with their gut reactions + gut fears.

+ there's the power dynamic here too of course, Seward's little "he's gonna be calling himself God soon" is definitely born of him actually being insulted that Renfield treats him the same as an orderly etc, etc, and the joke about the straight waistcoat is. Horrible, but I am literally begging you all to understand that John Seward has a relatively normal moral compass. He has just become very comfortable + uncritical of the norms of his field. Pair that with exceptional insecurity and you get this particular brand of awfulness but I don't think we're all so very far away from becoming this as we might like to think.

[eldritchsurveys]

1161.

Number of Movies/Documentaries I Watched in 2023: 226 Genre I Watched the Most in 2023: I... don't know. horror, probably. Mike showed me what I was doin wrong with using Lboxd so when I take this for 2024 I should hopefully have stuff like genre stats

1. Best Movies I Watched In 2023? >> from each month, one new-to-me favourite and one old favourite that I rewatched: 1. Hagazussa / Velvet Goldmine 2. Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. / Twelve Monkeys 3. Nanny / The Fly 4. Sugar & Spice / Dead Ringers 5. Rigor Mortis / Birds of Prey 6. Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse / Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story 7. You Won't Be Alone / Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey 8. Swiss Army Man / His House 9. In the Earth / The Woman 10. Perfect Blue / Silence 11. Akira / The House That Jack Built 12. Angel Heart (didn't rewatch a fave in December)

2. Movie I Was Excited About & Thought I Was Going To Love More But Didn’t? >> I wasn't exactly excited about Beau is Afraid but I definitely thought I would enjoy it more than I did. the first 20-30 minutes or so were pretty fun and weird but then it just... *longsuffering sigh* I had also hoped The Blackening would be a bit funnier than it turned out to be. still watchable and I'd still like more Black horror-comedies, but I definitely wanted more guffaws out of it. I'm not even gonna bother talkin about Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania... (at least Kang was good) OH! Renfield! THAT'S the one I was excited for and heavily disappointed by. I knew there was one (also, Last Voyage of the Demeter. not at all my favourite year for Dracula movies, that's for sure)

3. Most Surprising (in a good way) Movie I Watched in 2023? >> I was surprised by both Akira and Perfect Blue because I just assumed they would be a bit inscrutable to me (when a lot of "buffs" speak highly about a work I assume it's some shit I won't understand), but they really drew me in. also surprised by Host (2020) which I'd assumed would be watchable but not really anything to write home about considering the gimmick. but they pulled that one off pretty well!

4. Movie I “Pushed” The Most People To Watch (And They Did) In 2023? .

5. Best Sequel of 2023? Best Ending of a Movie I Watched in 2023? >> Across the Spider-Verse and as for ending I'm just gonna agree with prev "can't beat a dancing naked man" (Saltburn) because that was pretty good

6. Most Action Packed/Thrilling Movies of the Year? >> the John Wick quadrilogy

7. Movie I Watched in 2023 That I Am Most Likely To Re-Watch in 2024? >> In the Earth, The Lodge, maybe Noroi? I might rewatch I Saw the Devil because for some reason I forgot a lot of that one despite enjoying it

8. Favorite Poster for a Movie I Watched in 2023? .

9. Most Memorable Characters/Talent of 2023? >> oof... can I just say Ben Wheatley (director) for talent because he really sucker-punched me with the two movies of his that I watched this year

10. Standout Writing / Directing of a Movie I Watched in 2023? >> obviously that goes to whoever wrote Call Girl Of Cthulhu

11. Most Thought-Provoking/Impactful Movies I Watched in 2023? >> The Vast of Night, Silence, Titane, Perfect Blue, Akira, Aniara. also 2001: A Space Odyssey except the thought it provoked was "why am I still fucking watching this" and the impact it had was "I'm annoyed to the point of anger and I have a splitting headache"

12. Movie I Can’t Believe I Waited Until 2023 To Finally Watch? >> Die Hard lmao. it was way more entertaining than I expected. also how did I go my whole life without ever learning that Alan Rickman was the bad guy in that also Battle Royale and ofc Akira

13. Favorite Scene From a Movie I Watched in 2023? >> oh man this is impossible, give me a break

14. Movie That Shocked Me The Most? (Because of a plot twist, character death, etc.) >> I didn't expect Swiss Army Man to be quite what it was (this is not a complaint, I loved it, but the whole farting business definitely threw me for a loop lol) honestly my bar for shock is seeing Oldboy for the first time last year having never had it spoiled for me and losing my whole ass MIND at the plot twist. nothing has come close to that since

15. OTP (One True Pairing) – You will go down with this ship? >> those two girls from Do Revenge

16. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship? >> the vampire family in Near Dark

17. Best Movie I Watched In 2023 That I Watched Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody? >> Noroi: The Curse but also The Adjustment Bureau was an incredibly solid and cute flick (both Sparrow's recs)

18. Most Exciting Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting? >> ooo let's see... well, I did rewatch The Neverending Story this year :p Rigor Mortis had a really memorable setting for me but I wouldn't call it exciting OR vivid. like, it was just an apartment building lol. it was just... I don't know. I can't explain it. it sticks in ya El Hoyo (The Platform), maybe? definitely an intriguing setup and setting there. A Field in England was literally just a goddamn field in England but man.... I also like the new worldbuilding ideas Hellraiser (2022) brings to the table.

19. Movies That Put A Smile On My Face/Were The Most Fun To Watch? >> Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, The Ref, Cocaine Bear, Sugar & Spice, Airheads, Polite Society, Totally Killer, Do Revenge, D&D: Honor Among Thieves, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, Earth Girls are Easy, both Sister Acts, Call Girl of Cthulhu, Idle Hands, Van Helsing, and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. yeah there were a lot of these this year

20. Movie/Documentary That Made Me Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2023? >> Swiss Army Man and Akira, but also Velvet Goldmine, Do the Right Thing, Crooklyn, and Sister Act 2.

21. Hidden Gem Of The Year? >> not sure how to determine this

22. Movie That Crushed My Soul? >> [insert another snarky comment about 2001]

23. Most Unique Movie I Watched In 2023? >> so many of the movies I've seen this year were incredibly unique to me! let me see if I can find one I haven't already mentioned... ah yes, of course. how could I forget Mad God 💀

24. Movie That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)? >> I will refrain from mentioning That Movie again (although that is the true answer lol) and instead I'll go with... Lake Mungo bc I thought that was gonna be way more interesting than it was just based upon the fact that the tumblr girlies used to be all over that shit back in the day

25. Notable Mentions of the Year? >> some more movies I really liked that didn't get a chance to get mentioned yet: The Banshees of Inisherin, Baskın, On the Count of Three, Hell House LLC, Ringu, and Mad Max 2.

Bonus: Favorite Movie Moment?

Bonus: Five Movies I Am Anticipating in 2024? >> Furiosa, the Joker sequel, apparently there's a new Alien flick coming out? Dune Part 1 was Fine, I guess, so I might as well see Part 2 🤷🏿‍♂️ meh

[myhumaninteractionsafterall]

Jan-Sep in Film

76 and 96 both grew on me and got better as they went to become standouts here.

80 for Brady (2023)

About My Father (2023)

The Addams Family (2019)

Air (2023)

Alice Darling (2022)

Any (2015)

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023)

Assholes: A Theory (2019)

Bachelorette (2012)

Barbie (2023)

Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham (2023)

Belfast (2021)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Blonde (2022)

Blue Beetle (2023)

Borrowed Future (2021)

Butcher's Crossing (2022)

California Split (1974)

Clerks III (2022)

Cut Bank (2014)

Dear White People (2014)

Don't Worry Darling (2022)

The Exception (2016)

The Fabelmans (2022)

Family (2018)

Fast X (2023)

The Flash (2023)

The Ghost Writer (2010)

Ginger & Rosa (2012)

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III (2012)

Gloria Bell (2018)

Going in Style (2017)

A Good Person (2023)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

Here Today (2021)

The Hermit of Treig (2022)

High Flying Bird (2019)

Holidays (2016)

Hypnotic (2023)

Infinity Pool (2023)

Instinct (2019)

The Jesus Rolls (2019)

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

Jurassic World: Dominion (2022)

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)

The King's Man (2021)

The Laundromat (2019)

Lean on Pete (2017)

M3gan (2022)

The Machine (2023)

Magic Mike's Last Dance (2023)

A Man Called Otto (2022)

The Menu (2022)

Mississippi Grind (2015)

Mojave (2015)

Murder Mystery 2 (2023)

Never Goin' Back (2018)

The Object of My Affection (1998)

Obvious Child (2014)

October Sky (1999)

The Old Way (2023)

The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

The Perfection (2018)

Personality Crisis: One Night Only (2022)

Peter Pan and Wendy (2023)

Picture Perfect (1997)

The Pope's Exorcist (2023)

The Post (2017)

Proof (2005)

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

Remember (2015)

Renfield (2023)

Reptile (2023)

The Retirement Plan (2023)

Revenge of the Green Dragons (2014)

Scream VI (2023)

Seneca: On the Creation of Earthquakes (2023)

Sharky's Machine (1981)

Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)

Shotgun Wedding (2022)

Somewhere in Queens (2022)

Song of the Sea (2014)

Stars at Noon (2022)

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Swiss Army Man (2016)

Sympathy for the Devil (2023)

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)

Unicorn Store (2017)

The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart (2023)

Wanderlust (2012)

West Side Story (2021)

When You Finish Saving the World (2022)

While We're Young (2014)

White Noise (2022)

Who Took Johnny (2014)

WUSA (1970)

You Hurt My Feelings (2023)

You People (2023)

I have two jobs now. Everything else is pretty much the same. Just checking in now.

[not-available-for-comment]

That’s because Mina kicks ass 😎

But to be non-shitpost-y for a second: I think it partly has a lot to do with differences in their circumstances. Mina and Jonathan have absolute confidence in their love and respect for each other and seem to know each other extremely well. Deviation from social standards within that context still feels safe because there’s that foundation of love and trust. I think it’s significant that Mina justifies those moments to herself as being *for Jonathan’s sake*.

Jack seems to have a lot more anxiety about his place in society overall. Mina and John are rising in their social position as the story begins and after John’s escape. Jack seems to feel he’s plateaued in his career—that’s how I interpret his desire to turn Renfield into a groundbreaking paper, regardless of the effect it has on Renfield as a patient—and he’s recently been rejected by and then failed to save the life of a romantic interest. (And laying blame in that situation is complicated and ultimately pointless, but having Lucy not only predated but TURNED on what should’ve been Seward’s watch is such a mean emotional sucker punch, on top of the difficult emotions most doctors feel when they lose a patient, particularly after a struggle.)

Jack may be more settled in his career than the Harkers, but it’s pretty clear from his diary that he doesn’t have nearly the same solid emotional grounding that they do. (His relationship with Van Helsing being a possible exception, but the communication is, uh. Not there just now.) He’s always struck me as a deeply lonely character, in spite of his many friends.

Now I’ve made myself sad about Jack “contains medical ableism” Seward 🙄😔

It's kind of interesting how Jack cares about propriety and the Judging Eyes of strangers and about men being "hysterical" more strongly than Mina, teacher of etiquette and decorum, ultimately does...

[astrowrought]

//me: sees a fc with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes aka my coloring

Me: " THEY'RE SO BEAUTIFUL 😢"

[sunshine-zenith]

As a phlebotomist, let me talk about how I think blood draws with the Dracula cast would go (part 2 — part 1 is here)

The Weird Sisters (or Brides of Dracula if you prefer): they’d probably show up together and Insist the blonde one go first before we even think about sticking the other two. They’d probably be really intense about the first draw, but not curious — staring throughout the entire process, but not asking questions and probably talking amongst each other without looking away. I would Cry if I had to redirect the needle (yes, it happens. No, we don’t enjoy it anymore than you do) — I don’t think they’d complain, but they would deffo glare (which like. Valid). After the blonde one went, the brunettes would probably go at the same time. They’d probably have creepily similar veins

Dr. John Seward: he strikes me as the type of person who would Want to have a “reaction” (phleb for the various Oh Fuck I Suddenly Don’t Feel Goods), just so he could see what it’s like (which like. I can’t really talk, my first day of on the job training I donated impulsively and got light headed and I had my trainer talk through the Whys and What to Dos). For some reason I can see him having deep veins. Also, since he is part of the medical care field, there’s be an automatic amused camaraderie on my part, simply because I’d feel like he’d Get the whole (necessary but still) Song And Dance we have to do at work

Quincey Morris: he’d have the rolliest veins, istg. No matter how good a stick you are, you’d have to redirect because they would visibly jump away at the slightest pressure. On the other have, he’d probably be super chill about it, and since rolly veins are usually pretty easy to see, it wouldn’t be to hard to find and catch them again. He’d also probably be a great conversationalist throughout the entire process

Arthur Holmwood: listen this guy is the classic literary equivalent of responding to a long text message with “k.” He’s be quiet and a little awkward, but he’d probably have decent veins and would probably say something if he was starting to have a reaction. Something about him feels like he’d have better hand veins (which you can’t use in donation phlebotomy, but you Can in clinical/lab work phlebotomy)

Also Art, Quincey, and Dr. Seward would absolutely race to see would could fill the blood bag the fastest

Renfield: remember how last time I said Dracula would jump off the table, grab the nearest blood tube, and down it like a shot? Yeah, that but tenfold would Renfield here. Shoot, he’d probably go through the effort of memorizing Order Of Draw just to down the tubes in order

[throwawaydracula]

Readers. Friends. I ask you to pick up your Bibles and please do not turn to John 15:13

Greater love hath no man than to eat bugs, beg for kittens, shank a psychologist, and devote himself body and soul to a scary Romanian guy.

Again, do not turn to that chapter and verse. You have no need to, I've just outlined it for you and that is definitely what it says. You have no need to verify anything because of the bond of trust we share. You all know I would never, ever steer you wrong. Some people will tell you not to trust anonymous randos, and they are absolutely right. But I am not just any anonymous rando: I am an anonymous rando with a vision.

@draculadailybracket is running a contest to find the ultimate Sexyman of Dracula. This is no easy task. Scholars have debated this question for over a century. Nikola Tesla once put all the brilliant intellect to the test searching for the answer, only to determine it was an injured white pigeon. Dr. Sara Josephine Baker was once quoted as saying "Wash your goddamn hands right this minute. Also I'm torn between Renfield and Van Helsing, but unquestionably the sexiest person is Sister Agatha." Marie Curie, along with her husband Pierre, conducted an experiment by which the book was encased in radium in the hope something interesting would happen. It did not. Perhaps most heroically, Elijah McCoy posited the answer could only be confirmed once all the characters were properly and thoroughly lubricated.

My friends, I don't claim to have any more insight than the esteemed thinkers listed above. All I know are the facts: Thomas Bilder is a fine, fine man. He is a good, dutiful man. Not just anyone could flip off Dracula verbally and live to tell the tale.

But he is not R.M. Renfield.

Renfield (full name Royal Majesty Renfield, Roy to his innumerable friends and admirers) is a different sort of man. He doesn't have an interesting accent or ready access to wolves, it's true. But here are some things he does have:

Flies. So many flies.

A box of spiders.

The ability to summon flocks of sparrows at will, like a Disney princess.

The fortitude to eat all those sparrows, something no Disney princess to date has had the courage to do.

A deep reverence for all life, great and small.

The conviction necessary to shank his psychologist, instead of just hanging on for months thinking "I really need to switch psychologists but it's so awkward oh my god, finding a new one is a hassle, OK maybe just a few more sessions, goddamn it, how do I get out of this."

A friendly attitude toward Romanians that technically makes him more progressive in the 19th century than Tesco circa 2020.

He's like. Aged beef.

Seriously, he's a big strong energetic silver fox. I mean. You see where I'm going with this.

He is definitely good at sex is where I'm going with this.

Might be kind of awk being around him if you're menstruating, though.

Or not, if you're into that kind of thing. I know some people are, no kinkshaming here.

This is an inclusive space.

...what was I talking about again?

Oh right.

He's hot.

Hot swole sexy old rat man

Aaaaaa.

Friends, once again pick up your Bibles-- nah, actually let's pick up the Tao Te Ching for a little variety. Please do not read anything from chapter Three:

The wise therefore rule by emptying hearts and stuffing bellies with flies, spiders, and ideally also cats, by weakening ambitions except for drinking your psychologist's blood, and strengthening big sexy silver fox bones.

Again, there is absolutely no need to check for yourself. Because you, my dear reader, trust me. And because you trust me, you know I'm right about this. So please, whatever your feelings about Mr. Bilder, know that Renfield is the right choice. He deserves your vote. He deserves a kitten. And he deserves all the blood he can slurp up off the floor.

I know I can count on you to make the right choice. Thank you.

[ninadove]

Nina reads Dracula 🦇

October 1st

Happy spooky season (for real this time)! 🎃

Let’s stab some vampires!

4 a. m.—Just as we were about to leave the house, an urgent message was brought to me from Renfield to know if I would see him at once, as he had something of the utmost importance to say to me.

It’s the Mina Effect. No one can resist her Cool Secretarial Skills and Knowledge of the Train Schedule.

"Take me with you, friend John," said the Professor. "His case in your diary interest me much, and it had bearing, too, now and again on our case. I should much like to see him, and especial when his mind is disturbed."

"May I come also?" asked Lord Godalming.

"Me too?" said Quincey Morris. "May I come?" said Harker. I nodded, and we all went down the passage together.

GUYS this is not a picnic

"I appeal to your friends," he said, "they will, perhaps, not mind sitting in judgment on my case. By the way, you have not introduced me."

Renfield I love you

"Lord Godalming, I had the honour of seconding your father at the Windham; I grieve to know, by your holding the title, that he is no more. He was a man loved and honoured by all who knew him; and in his youth was, I have heard, the inventor of a burnt rum punch, much patronised on Derby night. Mr. Morris, you should be proud of your great state. Its reception into the Union was a precedent which may have far-reaching effects hereafter, when the Pole and the Tropics may hold alliance to the Stars and Stripes. The power of Treaty may yet prove a vast engine of enlargement, when the Monroe doctrine takes its true place as a political fable. What shall any man say of his pleasure at meeting Van Helsing? Sir, I make no apology for dropping all forms of conventional prefix. When an individual has revolutionised therapeutics by his discovery of the continuous evolution of brain-matter, conventional forms are unfitting, since they would seem to limit him to one of a class. You, gentlemen, who by nationality, by heredity, or by the possession of natural gifts, are fitted to hold your respective places in the moving world, I take to witness that I am as sane as at least the majority of men who are in full possession of their liberties. And I am sure that you, Dr. Seward, humanitarian and medico-jurist as well as scientist, will deem it a moral duty to deal with me as one to be considered as under exceptional circumstances." He made this last appeal with a courtly air of conviction which was not without its own charm.

I am, indeed, charmed

Van Helsing was gazing at him with a look of utmost intensity, his bushy eyebrows almost meeting with the fixed concentration of his look. He said to Renfield in a tone which did not surprise me at the time, but only when I thought of it afterwards—for it was as of one addressing an equal:—

YES!!!!! VICTORY!!!!!

"Let me entreat you, Dr. Seward, oh, let me implore you, to let me out of this house at once. Send me away how you will and where you will; send keepers with me with whips and chains; let them take me in a strait-waistcoat, manacled and leg-ironed, even to a gaol; but let me go out of this. You don't know what you do by keeping me here. I am speaking from the depths of my heart—of my very soul. You don't know whom you wrong, or how; and I may not tell. Woe is me! I may not tell. By all you hold sacred—by all you hold dear—by your love that is lost—by your hope that lives—for the sake of the Almighty, take me out of this and save my soul from guilt! Can't you hear me, man? Can't you understand? Will you never learn? Don't you know that I am sane and earnest now; that I am no lunatic in a mad fit, but a sane man fighting for his soul? Oh, hear me! hear me! Let me go! let me go! let me go!"

OH MY GOD YES he truly is Van Helsing’s equal!!! Not only does he suffer from I Cannot Tell You Shit Syndrome, he also uses what I will now officially refer to as the Dracula Loop™ to evoke his own imprisonment!!!

"You will, I trust, Dr. Seward, do me the justice to bear in mind, later on, that I did what I could to convince you to-night."

Well that sounds ominous. Hopefully no one immediately gets mentioned in a way that strongly parallels a character we’ve just lost in atrocious circumstances —

I went with the party to the search with an easy mind, for I think I never saw Mina so absolutely strong and well.

[Demonic screeches]

"You know this place, Jonathan. You have copied maps of it, and you know it at least more than we do. Which is the way to the chapel?" I had an idea of its direction, though on my former visit I had not been able to get admission to it; so I led the way, and after a few wrong turnings found myself opposite a low, arched oaken door, ribbed with iron bands. "This is the spot," said the Professor as he turned his lamp on a small map of the house, copied from the file of my original correspondence regarding the purchase.

Now is not the time to be facetious Abraham

The whole place was becoming alive with rats.

For a moment or two we stood appalled, all save Lord Godalming, who was seemingly prepared for such an emergency. Rushing over to the great iron-bound oaken door, which Dr. Seward had described from the outside, and which I had seen myself, he turned the key in the lock, drew the huge bolts, and swung the door open. Then, taking his little silver whistle from his pocket, he blew a low, shrill call. It was answered from behind Dr. Seward's house by the yelping of dogs, and after about a minute three terriers came dashing round the corner of the house.

As someone who grew up with a Yorkshire Terrier, this makes me indescribably happy. Good boys 🖤🩶🧡💛

The house was silent when we got back, save for some poor creature who was screaming away in one of the distant wards, and a low, moaning sound from Renfield's room. The poor wretch was doubtless torturing himself, after the manner of the insane, with needless thoughts of pain.

I came tiptoe into our own room, and found Mina asleep, breathing so softly that I had to put my ear down to hear it. She looks paler than usual.

I have no words.

"Don't you know me?" I asked. His answer was not reassuring: "I know you well enough; you are the old fool Van Helsing. I wish you would take yourself and your idiotic brain theories somewhere else. Damn all thick-headed Dutchmen!"

Renfield on the other hand has many words.

"Mrs. Harker is better out of it. Things are quite bad enough for us, all men of the world, and who have been in many tight places in our time; but it is no place for a woman, and if she had remained in touch with the affair, it would in time infallibly have wrecked her."

[Slams head on desk]

If then the Count meant to scatter these ghastly refuges of his over London, these places were chosen as the first of delivery, so that later he might distribute more fully. The systematic manner in which this was done made me think that he could not mean to confine himself to two sides of London. He was now fixed on the far east of the northern shore, on the east of the southern shore, and on the south. The north and west were surely never meant to be left out of his diabolical scheme—let alone the City itself and the very heart of fashionable London in the south-west and west.

JONATHAN HOW CAN YOU BE SO SMART YET SO DUMB

"To hell with you and your souls!" he shouted. "Why do you plague me about souls? Haven't I got enough to worry, and pain, and distract me already, without thinking of souls!"

🥺

Will not mention "drinking."

Fears the thought of being burdened with the "soul" of anything.

Has no dread of wanting "life" in the future.

Despises the meaner forms of life altogether, though he dreads being haunted by their souls.

Logically all these things point one way! he has assurance of some kind that he will acquire some higher life. He dreads the consequence—the burden of a soul. Then it is a human life he looks to!

And the assurance—?

Merciful God! the Count has been to him, and there is some new scheme of terror afoot!

AN UNEXPECTED BREAKTHROUGH

[Renfield] had got a scrap of paper and was folding it into a note-book.

Oh gods are we going to hear from Renfield himself??? Please say yes

The purchaser is a foreign nobleman, Count de Ville,

Count de Ville

Outside of the obvious pun I am being French-baited again… This novel truly is a Professor Layton game.

< Prev 🦇 Next >

[yallemagne]

Thanks to the last ask I'm now imagining a US adaptation of Dracula where everyone is American except for Quincey who charms Lucy with an Aussie accent. (I'm not sure if VH stays Dutch or also go American)

The last ask.

There was actually a podcast set in 2014 where Dracula is moving to San Francisco instead: The Dracula Files by StoryForge Productions. Don't know if it was ever finished? It's supposed to be three seasons, but I can only find the first season. Quincey is still Texan in it but doesn't really have an accent? And Van Helsing doesn't appear in the first season.

I was in dread at the start of the sentence that you were going to say Quincey was British, and I would have been like "Absolutely not" iojegrpja. I swear I'm not Anglophobic, it's just that it would just be that one guy from Love Actually, and I would hate that. Aussie is definitely a good way to go. Though... probably not during the same time period, because Australia didn't really have its cool Outback reputation then...

Hmm. What is the American equivalent of the Dutch-English dynamic... Maybe Van Helsing is still Dutch, but he's Belgian lol. But like logistically, it would have to be a nearby country, but America is...

HOLY SHIT DRACULA WOULD NOT WORK IN AMERICA. BITCH WE HAVE NO INFRASTRUCTURE OIJRPGE. Okay, but New York City and other big cities would have trains/subways, I suppose.

Okay okay okay, maybe instead of fucking off back to his home whenever he needs to do research Van Helsing can just go to a public library iojpegr. Maybe even a local one so people don't have to die simply because he had to pop over and ask his friend Arminius a few questions in the middle of the night.

I'm thinking too much about this. I would recommend The Dracula Files if you aren't bothered by it being unfinished. Jonathan's whole section is amazing. But there is a lot of whispering that suddenly escalates to screaming, so it's not a pleasant auditory experience. Especially in the medical logs-- Renfield gets very loud while John is whispering.

[rallamajoop]

Dracula canons in Yuletide 2022

Unsurprisingly, in the wake of that whole Daily Dracula thing, there were a lot of Draculas nominated for this year's Yuletide exchange this year ‒ not just a lot of Dracula characters, but whole different adaptations of the novel. And being that kind of terrible Dracula-nerd, I figured I'd make a list and share some notes on which-version-is-which. Now, I've only seen about half of these, and can't speak to what all the other folks who actually nominated them loved about them, but I'll take any excuse to ramble on about different Dracula-adaptations at this point, so here we go.

We've got a couple of movies, a couple of telemovies, a TV series and even a musical to cover here, so I'm just gonna put them all in chronological order, starting with the novel.

Dracula - Bram Stoker (Novel 1897)

Nominated characters:  Abraham Van Helsing  Arthur Holmwood  The Correspondent  Dracula  John "Jack" Seward  Jonathan Harker  Lucy Westenra  Lucy Westenra's Mother  Mina Murray Harker  Mr. Hawkins  Mr. Swales  Quincey Morris

Damn, Daily Dracula has done it's thing: folks have nominated basically everyone. (Well... except Sister Agatha. GDI, where's Sister Agatha, people?! Has that 2020 Moffat/Gatiss version put everyone off?)

But, moving onto the adaptations-

1. Dracula (Movies - Hammer) (1958-1974)

Nominated characters:  Dracula  Lawrence Van Helsing | J. Van Helsing  Lorrimer Van Helsing

Okay, yes ‒ this nomination was me. Look, Peter Cushing's Van Helsing was being reincarnated into whole new eras and having confusing chemistry with Christopher Lee's Dracula long before anyone ever thought to do the reincarnation-thing with Mina, and I want all the fic about it, is that so wrong? (Or, you know, the excuse to write some myself. Or really anything about these versions of the characters interacting ‒ I'm not picky!)

2. Count Dracula (1977)

Nominated characters:  Abraham Van Helsing  Jonathan Harker  Mina Harker  Renfield

One of the two British telemovie Dracula adaptations to come out of the 1970's (the 70's was a BIG decade for Dracula). This one was the more faithful to the novel ‒ too faithful, if anything, since some new ideas or creative storytelling could have gone a long way to distract from the limitations of the budget. That said, I did like their Dracula: the costuming isn't much to write home about, but he has enough presence to elevate every scene he's in (and, I mean, if you're going to get one thing really right in a Dracula adaptation...)

3. Dracula (2006)

Nominated characters:  Abraham Van Helsing  John Seward  Lucy Holmwood  Mina Murray

Yet another British television Dracula, this time one where Arthur Holmwood is tricked into helping bring Dracula to British shores by a vampire-worshipping cult, in the mistaken belief the Count can somehow cure him of congenital syphilis. No, really! Seriously though, my biggest disappointment with this one was it didn't go wild and weird enough ‒ the sad soap opera life of Arthur & friends just can't hope to compete with all that high-gothic camp, and 90 minutes just isn't time for all these ideas to breathe. But it must be said, Marc Warren makes a surprisingly compelling Dracula, and his one big vampire-sex-scene with Lucy is... quite something. Basically, I can definitely see why someone might want fic about these versions of the characters ‒ there's lots in this universe left to expand on.

4. Dracula: l'amour plus fort que la mort - Ouali (2011)

Nominated characters:  Jonathan Harker  Poison  Satine  Sorci

Well, okay. This one is, er, a French musical version? XD God, do I love the stuff you'll find nominated for Yuletide! So: not a version I'm familiar with, but going by this one summary I found, what we have here is one of the (MANY) post-1991-Coppola-version rip-offs where Mina is a reincarnation of Dracula's wife... but also one where Dracula hasn't spoken since his wife's death, and now employs three very gloriously campy servants to speak for him (Poison, Satine and Sorci, from the noms above). As someone who doesn't speak a word of French and knows this thing only from 5 minutes on youtube (I mean, the whole show's up there, though the quality's not great), these three are great value, and I can totally see why someone would nominate them for Yuletide.

5. Dracula (TV 2013)

Nominated characters:  Lucy Westenra  Mina Murray  Alexander Grayson | Dracula  Jayne Wetherby

A short-lived TV series reimagining of Dracula, where the Count shows up in London posing as an American steampunk inventor called Alexander Grayson, and yet another of the (many) post-Coppola versions where Mina is the reincarnation of Dracula's tragically-dead-wife, etc. Admittedly, this is an adaptation I know only by its reputation as the show that that finally gave us lesbian!Lucy (!!!) only to have her turn around and sleep with Jonathan for dubious plot reasons (theFUCK?) ‒ but I'd be the last to judge anyone who enjoyed it as a guilty pleasure and/or just wants to run away with the characters and let them have some real fun.

6. Bram Stoker’s Van Helsing (2021)

Nominated characters:  Abraham Van Helsing  Arthur Holmwood  John Seward  Lucy Westenra

Huh. Well, okay. First point: the poster is a lie ‒ this actually seems to be a fairly-straight, (very) low-budget film adaptation of the novel ‒ just one that starts about when Van Helsing arrives (ie, when Lucy is already very ill). So, more drawing-room-drama than Hugh-Jackman-material. Have not seen it, but have a trailer! Now you know just about as much about it as I do.

Honourable mentions

In the "do I even count this?" bonus round, we've also got the 2016 Van Helsing TV series (nominated characters: Axel Miller and Catherine) ‒ a show set post-vampire!apocalypse and starring a Van Helsing descendant. There's also a character called Van Helsing nominated for the Kyuuketsuki Sugu Shinu | The Vampire Dies in No Time manga, and a "Dracula Vance" nominated for a video game called Panilla Saga, about whom google will tell me nothing very illuminating. Ah, well. Seriously though, the total number of different Van Helsings nominated in this year's Yuletide must be some kind of record.

I'd also be remiss not to mention that the original 1872 Carmilla is also nominated, as is the excellent 1970 Hammer adaptation The Vampire Lovers. And rounding out our list of Victorian vampire lit, some weirdo has also nominated Varney the Vampire, but that one really needs its whole own post...

[bloomblitz]

Dracula Daily October 3

The longest email we’ll ever get, so I’ve heard? Under the cut it goes then!

Let me put down with exactness all that happened, as well as I can remember it, since last I made an entry. Not a detail that I can recall must be forgotten; in all calmness I must proceed. Didn’t....didn’t we start an entry with basically these same lines some months ago? It sounds familiar...

The patient was now breathing stertorously and it was easy to see that he had suffered some terrible injury. My god he’s still alive!

I thought that, somehow, Mrs. Harker had come into the room. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!OOOOOOOO!!!!O!O!!O!O!OO!!O!O!O!!!!!!!!!!!

"I didn't know that she was here till she spoke; and she didn't look the same. I don't care for the pale people; I like them with lots of blood in them, and hers had all seemed to have run out. I didn't think of it at the time; but when she went away I began to think, and it made me mad to know that He had been taking the life out of her." NOOOO! NOT MINA!!!! NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!

"Dr. Van Helsing, you love Mina, I know. Oh, do something to save her. It cannot have gone too far yet. Guard her while I look for him!" get yourself somebody who loves you as much as Jonathan Harker loves Mina

All the manuscript had been burned, and the blue flames were flickering amongst the white ashes; the cylinders of your phonograph too were thrown on the fire, and the wax had helped the flames. You’re too late Drac, everyone’s read those and between them all could easily recount every detail.

"Thank God there is the other copy in the safe!" ...that too. Take that, you damn vampire!

"except that the poor fellow is dead." Dammit I really wanted Renfield to eat Dracula

'First, a little refreshment to reward my exertions. You may as well be quiet; it is not the first time, or the second, that your veins have appeased my thirst!' Honestly by this point, between that mother back at the castle, the babies and Lucy, I thought Drac just killed people, and that Hollywood made up the whole ‘talking with his victims’ thing (Jonathan was a special case).

And so you, like the others, would play your brains against mine. You would help these men to hunt me and frustrate me in my designs! Even Drac admits Mina’s a smart woman

the whitening hair I know its to be expected, what with all he went through, but dammit he’s too young!

the very first thing we decided was that Mina should be in full confidence; that nothing of any sort—no matter how painful—should be kept from her. SEE?! If she had stayed with you guys that night none of this would have happened!

Now, Madam Mina, you are in any case _quite_ safe here until the sunset; and before then we shall return—if—— We shall return! Don’t doubt yourself Helsing

As he had placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared it—had burned into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white-hot metal. !!!! Why?! Why is Mina affected so strongly while Lucy was fine with a crucifix?! Is there a quicker way to turn people, and Drac was acting fast as a way to get back at the Drac Attack Pack?

To one thing I have made up my mind: if we find out that Mina must be a vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that unknown and terrible land alone. ...are you saying you’d rather become a vampire in order to stay with Mina forever, instead of killing her as they did Lucy?

The last I saw, she was waving her hand in farewell. I really hope this isn’t foreboding in some way

Look out for D. He has just now, 12:45, come from Carfax hurriedly and hastened towards the South. Damn telegraphs are faster than vampires! (at least those in their weakened daylight state.)

It was just an ordinary knock, such as is given hourly by thousands of gentlemen, but it made the Professor's heart and mine beat loudly. Now why would Drac knock on the door of his own house?

He held up a warning hand as he spoke, for we all could hear a key softly inserted in the lock of the hall door. Now that’s terror!

The first to act was Harker GO JOHN GO! FOR MINA! FOR LUCY! FOR YOURSELF!

The expression of the Count's face was so hellish, that for a moment I feared for Harker, though I saw him throw the terrible knife aloft again for another stroke. GO JOHN GO!

My revenge is just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side. Your girls that you all love are mine already; and through them you and others shall yet be mine Damn Drac can hold a grudge

True to our promise, we told Mrs. Harker everything which had passed Good, good!

That poor soul who has wrought all this misery is the saddest case of all. Oh Mina

assured Mrs. Harker that she might rest in peace ...poor choice of words, Helsing

there is no rest for me until.... Later.—I must have fallen asleep Falling asleep mid-sentence. Been there.