7. Bela Lugosi vs. Christopher Lee

Both the 1931 Bela Lugosi version of Dracula and the 1970 Christoper Lee version claim to be sticking to Bram Stoker's original vision. When most of us think of Dracula, we either think of Lugosi or Lee, or their images switch back and forth in our minds. Join us as we discuss how each of them approached Stoker's Transylvanian aristocrat. Stoker's Dracula was an alchemist ubermensch of sorts, who through the dark arts and his undying will managed to unlock the secrets of eternal life, but it was a Faustian bargain in which he became the thrall of his own avarice and need for human blood. The sciences of the late enlightenment also seemed to promise to unlock the vital secrets of mortality. The symbol of the blood transfusion became the centerpiece of Stoker's version as well as all of those adaptions that claim to take Stoker's themes seriously.

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