The Vampire is a versatile beast. From their folkloric origins to nineteenth century novels like Sheridan Le Fanu’s Camille (1872) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), through to the romance of the Twilight franchise and child friendly characters like Count Duckula, the vampire can be funny, tragic or monstrous. Speaking of Stoker, Dracula, the granddaddy of them all, has gone through almost as many reinterpretations himself.
The Dracula of the original novel is very different to the suave, sophisticated picture most will have in their heads: ancient, white haired, and mono-browed, with hairy palms and blood-soaked breath, whose magnetism is less to do with seduction than compulsion: a literal medieval monster transplanted into the (then) modern world. Interestingly, Stoker’s Count could also roam about in daylight with no problem. The first ‘unofficial’ Dracula film, Nosferatu (1922), and Universal’s Dracula (1931) (itself an adaptation of the West End stage adaptation, complete with that play’s leading man: a certain Bela Lugosi) opened the floodgates for more adaptations across film and TV, books, comics and even video games, to the point where Dracula (and vampires in general) has become woven into the fabric of popular culture and, at the same time, a huge stew pot of different tropes.
And it was this stew pot, in part, that inspired Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss – creators of BBC’s Sherlock and, between them, several episodes of Doctor Who – to write their own Dracula adaptation. Stating in an interview for the ‘Obsessed with’ podcast for BBC Sounds, they didn’t want to do it unless they could bring something new to it, before coming up with the angle of interrogating the tropes themselves: Dracula cannot withstand sunlight; he must be invited in; he cannot stand the sight of the cross; he casts no reflection. We know and have decided these to be the case. But why?
Like Sherlock, Dracula (2020) is split into three ninety minute episodes or three different Dracula movies, if you will, for, as Moffat himself said, Dracula needs “movie-sized ideas.” Be warned: expect gore (while not overdoing it, this is most definitely horror Dracula; even the opening theme is slightly queasy, with its fixation on flies and viscera and all awash in red), zingy one liners, meta references (this is a Moffat and Gatiss creation after all) and, of course, twists…
Episode 1: ‘The Rules of the Beast’ (Bang for your buck)
Episode 1 is your classic gothic Dracula. We’re introduced to our main players: Jonathan Harker (John Heffernan), Sister Agnes (Dolly Wells), and Count Dracula himself (Claes Bang). Stands to reason that any Dracula adaptation will stand and fall on its Dracula, and Danish actor Claes Bang does not disappoint – he is brilliant in the role, and not just because he looks like Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee stepped into a teleporter and got fused together. This Dracula is the hero of his own narrative, and the way Bang plays him is, as described by Moffat, “power as presumption” – he knows he can squash people like bugs and so doesn’t need to take them seriously. He’s affable, charming, and funny to the point it’s often a genuine shock when he reminds you he’s a killer. He’ll have a stimulating conversation with you first but he will kill you.
The story seems to proceed as per the beginning of the novel – Jonathan Harker “trapped in the scariest castle with the scariest man.” This is appropriate considering that one of the places exterior filming took place was Orava Castle in Slovakia – the place where much of Nosferatu was shot – and interiors at Bray Studios in Berkshire – the home of Hammer Horror. But will everything proceed as you expect? Watch out for a cheeky Sherlock reference, and a scene involving a wolf that must be the most technically impressive and horrific (in a good way) thing shown on TV in recent years.
Episode 2: ‘Blood Vessel’ (Alien on a boat)
Dracula at Sea. The voyage of the Demeter in the original novel was only four pages, a ship’s log detailing a crew being stalked and picked off one by one by something horrific, and, according to Gates, “the best idea Stoker didn’t do anything with.” So instead of spending the entirety of the journey in a box, Dracula walks amongst them from the start, turning proceedings into Alien meets Agatha Christie. Or, perhaps more accurately, Alien meets Columbo.
The episode cleverly plays with time, playing back and forth between a battle of wits between Dracula and Agatha, with him recounting events in a way that seems to infer they’ve already happened, and the events themselves, before an ingenious revelation brings them all together. It also showcases the angle Moffat and Gatiss have taken with regard to Dracula’s feeding, that, in this interpretation, “blood is lives”, so by feeding on a person, he has access to their knowledge; skills; memories; their lives, peeling away another layer as it becomes apparent that he chooses his victims with great consideration. The passengers are a gaggle of great performances (including Sacha Dhawan, seen most recently seen in Doctor Who), and the tension builds to almost unbearable levels, before ending on a cliff-hanger that left people up and down the country screaming ‘what the actual f***k?!’Look out for references to a creepy, kooky family and a certain BBC2 anthology series.
Episode 3: ‘The Dark Compass’
The finale is extremely difficult to talk about without spoiling the ending of episode 2. So all I will say is that Dracula does indeed make it to the new world, as he promised, people will die, a legacy is revealed, and a confrontation finally comes to a head. This is the episode where Moffat and Gatiss really examine, interrogate, and pick apart the Dracula tropes, having previously dropped little clues throughout, concluding with an ending that is unexpectedly poignant (with a really powerful performance from Bang and Wells) but proved divisive. This is understandable (and if you already have problems with their storytelling style anyway, then this is unlikely to convert you) but even if you feel that the ending is perhaps the weakest part, it in no way lessens what has come before it.
Like all adaptations, events have been compressed and characters have been cut for time (the original story, for instance, has “too many fiancés” as Gatiss puts it) but the core of the story is still there, providing something new for aficionados (Moffat and Gatiss clearly know their Dracula history and lore; if you want another Easter egg hunt: try and spot all the portraits of previous Draculas’ that crop up throughout ) and newcomers alike, making Dracula (2020) a bloody good piece of entertainment (#sorrynotsorry).
BBC’s Dracula is available on DVD, iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix.
