Over on the venerable blog Zombos Closet of Horror, John Cozzoli is practically jumping out of his skin with excitement over the newly-released 75th anniversary DVD of Tod Browning's classic horror flick Dracula (1931). If you'll recall, Browning is the demented genius behind the 1932 movie Freaks (which inspired countless contempo-carnies like Jim Rose, angry hippie Frank Zappa, and is the source of the chant "One of us, one of us!") Sadly, Freaks ended Browning's long career in silents -- and his burgeoning fame from *Dracula *-- because audiences quailed at the idea of real freaks being humanized in a movie.
Originally, Browning's Dracula was going to star Lon Chaney as both the vamp and vamp-hunter Van Helsing. But Chaney was felled by a throat hemorrhage, and as Cozzoli points out, that's lucky for us. Browning brought in veteran Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi, who created the suave Drac with a genuine Eastern European accent whom we all know and love. Even when the script falters and the special effects got cut due to Depression-Era budgets, Lugosi acted up a storm. Audiences were mesmerized, and from that day forward Dracula became a dark, sexy, complicated creature rather than just a fanged monster.
It's hard to believe the movie has been around for 75 years. Filmtruly is a legacy technology. Cozzoli reports on what the anniversaryedition gives you:
I've heard from a couple of Hollywood types that David Skal is kindof dick in person, but the guy is nevertheless one of my favoritehorror movie critics. He knows his stuff, and he always throws in someinteresting social commentary. And I listen to the Philip Glass scorefor Dracula all the time. There's nothing like broody minimalism. It goes well with the ambience of Browning's film.
