THE BITE STUFF
Total Film|October 2021
DRACULA has been terrifying readers ever since Bram Stoker first created the ultimate vampire. As Bela Lugosi’s screen turn as the bloodsucker celebrates its 90th birthday, Total Film examines the appeal of one of horror’s most enduring icons.
JAMES MOTTRAM
THE BITE STUFF

When Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula was published in 1897, the critics were intrigued, if a little taken aback by the mordantly powerful nature of this sinister tale of a vampiric count. “It is, however, an artistic mistake to fill a whole volume with horrors,” noted the Manchester Guardian. “A touch of the mysterious, the terrible, or the supernatural is infinitely more effective and credible.”

‘Less is more’ may well be a good maxim for writers, but a “whole volume of horrors” never did Stoker’s novel of Gothic terror any harm. For a book that has never been out of print since it first hit shelves, it seems apt that a story about the undead should remain eternal, sparking appeal for each new generation. Second only to the character of Sherlock Holmes, Dracula has been re-animated for the screen more than 200 times.

Told in epistolary form, Stoker’s tale of Count Dracula, a Transylvanian nobleman who feasts on the blood of others and meets his demise in the English seaside town of Whitby, hit a nerve. “Stoker’s myth is powerful because it allows evil to remain mysterious,” wrote critic A.N. Wilson. And yet it’s so much more than that: a book that, in late 19th-century England, touched on fears of immigration, sexual promiscuity and moral degeneration.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 2021 من Total Film.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 2021 من Total Film.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من TOTAL FILM مشاهدة الكل
Back With a Vengeance - Sir Ridley Scott returns to the Colosseum with Gladiator II, the long-awaited sequel to the greatest historical epic of this century. Total Film meets the director and cast to discover how Maximus' legacy is echoing in eternity.
Total Film

Back With a Vengeance - Sir Ridley Scott returns to the Colosseum with Gladiator II, the long-awaited sequel to the greatest historical epic of this century. Total Film meets the director and cast to discover how Maximus' legacy is echoing in eternity.

Ridley Scott is not a filmmaker to repeat himself. It's a trait that's all the more remarkable when you consider how prolific he's been over the nearly five decades since his feature debut, 1977's The Duellists. Alien prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant are the only times he's gone back to the same world, and those films are radical departures from the original.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
Bad Romance - Timestalker Alice Lowe falls in love with the wrong man time and time again...
Total Film

Bad Romance - Timestalker Alice Lowe falls in love with the wrong man time and time again...

Her antidote to that? Timestalker a dark not-quite-romcom set over the course of centuries. Her protagonist Agnes finds herself attracted to the same man, Alex (Dunkirk's Aneurin Barnard), in every lifetime as she's reincarnated in the 1680s, 1790s, 1980s and the 22nd century. As romantic as that may sound, there's a bit of a catch: 'He's sort of a dickhead. On the surface he's appealing, but under, he's not.'

time-read
2 mins  |
October 2024
McQueen & Country
Total Film

McQueen & Country

A moment of national pride and terror comes to the screen with World War Two historical drama Blitz. Total Film speaks to writer/director Steve McQueen and his stars Saoirse Ronan and Stephen Graham about uncovering the truth and celebrating the triumph of a defining moment in modern British history.

time-read
7 mins  |
November 2024
'I WAS, AND AM STILL, SURPRISED BY EVERY OPPORTUNITY. I'VE BEEN CONTINUOUS AND FEEL AT THE TOP OF MY FORM' JEFF GOLDBLUM
Total Film

'I WAS, AND AM STILL, SURPRISED BY EVERY OPPORTUNITY. I'VE BEEN CONTINUOUS AND FEEL AT THE TOP OF MY FORM' JEFF GOLDBLUM

Seth Brundle. Dr. Ian Malcolm. Grandmaster. Jeff Goldblum has played some titanic characters over his 50-year career, and is celebrating a half-century on our screens by going bigger than ever. First he played Zeus in Netflix show Kaos, and now he's the Wizard of Oz in Wicked. Total Film meets the man behind the curtain...

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
STICKY SITUATION
Total Film

STICKY SITUATION

Seven years on from his last big-screen appearance, marmalade's biggest fan returns for Paddington in Peru. Total Film talks to director Dougal Wilson, actor Hugh Bonneville and the visual-effects wizards who make the magic happen...

time-read
9 mins  |
November 2024
BORN TO BE WILD
Total Film

BORN TO BE WILD

BROTHERS IS THE MOST SURPRISING ACTION COMEDY OF THE YEAR, AND NOT JUST BECAUSE JOSH BROLIN AND PETER DINKLAGE PLAY CRIMINAL TWINS. TOTAL FILM ROUNDS UP THE STARS TO TALK ABOUT DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES, THE 'HARD AS NAILS' COMEDIES THEY GREW UP WITH, AND MASTURBATING MONKEYS...

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
TRIPPING THE LIGHT FANTASTIC
Total Film

TRIPPING THE LIGHT FANTASTIC

ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT Payal Kapadia's film shows the Mumbai you've never seen...

time-read
2 mins  |
November 2024
HUMPH DAY BOGART: LIFE COMES IN FLASHES
Total Film

HUMPH DAY BOGART: LIFE COMES IN FLASHES

Behind every great man is a great woman. Or in Humphrey Bogart's case, four great women...

time-read
2 mins  |
November 2024
CALLING THE SHOTS
Total Film

CALLING THE SHOTS

NEVER LOOK AWAY Lucy Lawless directs a bio-doc about a trailblazing camerawoman...

time-read
2 mins  |
November 2024
A FAMILY HEIRLOOM
Total Film

A FAMILY HEIRLOOM

THE PIANO LESSON Malcolm Washington's feature debut is all about family...

time-read
2 mins  |
November 2024