Halloween 2024: Day 20

Dracula (1931)

“A red mist spread over the lawn, coming on like a flame of fire! And then he parted it, and I could see that there were thousands of rats, with their eyes blazing red, like his, only smaller. Then he held up his hand, and they all stopped, and I thought he seemed to be saying: ‘Rats! Rats! Rats!’”

Okay.

Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)

I didn’t really enjoy this one. The best visual moments are pretty well circulated on the internet. Dracula is an inherently racist story, and this version’s Renfield is a greedy Jewish caricature who communicates with Orlok in an indecipherable language, which makes Orlok’s character design in turn very suspect.

Orlok moving coffins around is entertaining, though.

Count Dracula (1970)

“The children of the night… what music they make.”

We watched this more or less by accident. My intention was to follow up Dracula and Nosferatu with the Hammer version, but we were tricked into this independent production because the time period was vaguely correct and it stars Christopher Lee as the titular count.

It’s fairly faithful to the novel and Lee is menacing, but it just kind of plods along.

Dionysus in Wisconsin, E. H. Lupton

These empty vessels can be discerned by the vibrations they create when they contact a shadow. Like a glass, they reflect and magnify.

Fairly enjoyable urban fantasy mystery with a side of gay romance. Magic is real, publicly known, and studied at universities by attractive archivists and ABD graduate students.