Filmmaker Robert Eggers recently remade one of the most influential films and Dracula reimaginings of all time with Nosferatu (2024). Paying homage to the original’s expressionist style and elevated by Lily-Rose Depp’s performance, Nosferatu has been hailed as a top-notch vampire film. However, it’s not the only indication that Dracula is making a comeback. The 2024 film Abigail is considered a refreshing reimagining of Dracula’s Daughter, while 2023 also brought Dracula to the forefront with The Last Voyage of the Demeter and the horror comedy Renfield, starring Nicholas Hoult and Nicolas Cage.
If all these unique takes inspired a deeper interest in Bram Stoker’s iconic vampire, Count Dracula, you can use our guide to find out where to watch every Dracula adaptation.
Stoker introduced Dracula to the world in 1897, and filmmakers were eager to capitalize on the archetypal vampire. Nosferatu (1922) was one of the earliest adaptations of Stoker’s book, but it was unauthorized. Hence, names were changed, including switching Count Dracula to Count Orlok (Max Schreck). Its gothic, expressionist style would significantly influence further horror and vampire films.
By 1931, Universal Pictures attained the rights to the novel and released Dracula, the first sound film adaptation of Stoker’s work. The film follows Dracula (Bela Lugosi) as he arrives in London, where he enslaves Renfield (Dwight Frye) and begins targeting Mina Seward (Helen Chandler) due to his insatiable thirst for blood. To this day, many audiences consider Lugosi’s charming and sinister Dracula the best iteration, while the film’s creepy atmosphere further established Dracula as a household name. Dracula received two sequels, Dracula’s Daughter and Son of Dracula.
British film studio Hammer Film Productions produced another early Dracula series. Dracula (1958) starred Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as vampire hunter Doctor Van Helsing. The film made further strides toward the modern interpretation of Dracula, as Lee played the character as more menacing than charming, with red bloodshot eyes and fangs. Hammer would produce eight more Dracula movies, including The Brides of Dracula.
Dracula enjoyed a resurgence in 1992 with Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The film moved away from the campy monster movies of the past, humanizing Dracula (Gary Oldman) as a lonely, immortal soul who falls for Jonathan Harker’s (Keanu Reeves) fiancée, Mina (Winona Ryder). It imbued the movie with a sense of eroticism, paying tribute to the perceived sexual metaphors of Stoker’s novel and paving the way for the 21st-century interpretations of Dracula.
The 21st century ushered in the most creative era of Dracula interpretations. The character has morphed from an overprotective father in Hotel Transylvania to a superhero villain in Blade: Trinity and then into a nightmare boss in Renfield. Additionally, some projects seek to expand the lore of Dracula beyond Stoker’s novel. The Last Voyage of the Demeter crafts an entire movie around a single chapter in Stoker’s book, while Steven Moffat and Matt Gatiss’ 2020 series Dracula seeks to carve out a new legend for the character. With another Dracula movie, Dracula: A Love Tale, confirmed for 2025, further Dracula interpretations are likely on the horizon.
Where to watch every Dracula movie and TV show streaming online
Check out our list below to find out where to watch every Dracula movie and TV show in release date order. The list includes movies and shows inspired by Dracula and projects where Dracula is one of the main stars.
