Dracula (Universal Monsters)

Latest revision as of 09:25, 10 December 2005

Dracula was a Transylvanian nobleman and vampire who bought the property of Carfax Abbey in England from a real estate agent named Renfield, Count Dracula upon arriving in London immediately became a close family friend of the Sewards, with the alterior motive of making Dr. Jack Seward's daughter Mina a vampire - something he had already done to Mina's friend Lucy Weston. However he was stopped by the arrival of Prof. Abraham Van Helsing, who staked the vampire through the heart in Carfax Abbey.

Shortly after this, Dracula's body was cremated by his estranged daughter, Countess Maria Zaleska. This did not spell the end for Dracula however, as years later he returned (possibly having resurrected himself). Using the alias of "Alucard" and professing to be the son of the original Count Dracula, he met Kay Caldwell in Europe and the two immediately fell in love. They then returned to her American home of Dark Oaks to be married, where Dracula killed her father, Colonel Caldwell. In spite of this Kay knew her husband-to-be was a vampire and wanted to be a vampire too, but planned to betray him afterward, only to have her jealous former fiance Frank Stanley appear and muck things up for both of them.

After he was staked yet again his skeleton (with stake imbedded in the ribcage) was returned to his castle in Transylvania and eventually acquired for the travelling curiousity show Professor Lampini's Chamber of Horrors by Prof. Bruno Lampini himself. After Lampini's death, Dracula was revived by deranged scientist Dr. Gustav Niemann, who pulled the stake from the skeleton's chest, thus allowing the Count to regenerate.

In exchange for Niemann guarding his coffin, Dracula agreed to kill Burgomaster Hussman, one of the three men responsible for the scientist's imprisonment. Using the alias Baron Latos, Dracula succeeded in killing Hussman, but made the mistake of trying to seduce the Burgomasster's granddaughter-in-law Rita Hussman. Her husband, Carl, who was the late Burgomeister's grandson, alerted Inspector Arnz to the problem and Dracula attempted to escape by coach, but failed to make it safely back to his coffin before the sun rose thanks to the treacherous Niemann.

Dracula was later revived yet again (how is never explained), and sought the help of Dr. Franz Edelmann to cure his vampirism. But old habits die hard, and Dracula soon began attempting to seduce Edelmann's receptionist Miliza Morelle. He betrayed Edelmann, turning him into a half-vampire, and in response Edelmann destroyed Dracula, seemingly for good, by dragging the vampire's coffin into the sunlight.

Spanish Version

In the Spanish version of Dracula, the plot is primarily the same. The only major difference where Dracula himself is concerned is that in that film, he does not bite Renfield. Rather, Dracula's three brides do.

Abbott and Costello

Although Dracula would later appear in Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein, it is unclear whether or not this film or others like it are actually part of the Universal Monsters canon.