In the new horror-comedy Renfield, Nicolas Cage has donned the coat and countenance of Count Dracula in a way that is guaranteed to please many of his admirers.
For the first time, the film centres on Dracula’s manservant and familiar Renfield, played by Skins star Nicholas Hoult, and his rising desperation to break free from their poisonous, codependent relationship.
It’s a unique and entertaining take on the subject, and while playing a minor part, Cage’s performance is as thorough and gratifying as ever.
Dracula is a difficult role for any actor to reinvent, especially because so many other actors have done it before him.
Here are some of the best Dracula performances from the last 100 years of cinema…
8. Luke Evans (Dracula Untold, 2014)
While Universal was considering a Dark Universe franchise relaunch of its legendary cinema monsters (which the stunning failure of Tom Cruise’s The Mummy in 2017 effectively put a stop to), they gave moviegoers this torturous genesis story.
Dracula Untold returned the vampire story to its original fifteenth-century source, Vlad the Impaler, with Luke Evans delivering a far more human take on Dracula, offering to commit himself to darkness to preserve his people.
While it may not have been a film office smash, the Welsh star provided something a little different for the character.
7. Richard Roxburgh (Van Helsing, 2004)
From one extreme to the other, Richard Roxburgh revelled in Van Helsing’s beautifully camp rendition of Dracula.
The Stephen Sommers movie included some of Universal’s renowned horror characters, including Frankenstein’s monster and werewolves, and was centred on Hugh Jackman’s monster hunter Van Helsing, who leads the squad that kills Dracula in Bram Stoker’s original 1897 book.
Dracula, on the other hand, was the big evil, and Roxburgh looked to be having a great time with his highly-accented muttered growl, gorgeous ponytail, and slew of vampire brides.
Add to it his ability to transform into an unsettling humanoid bat, and you have a great Dracula performance.
6. Claes Bang (Dracula, 2020)
Claes Bang, a Danish actor, played the Count in a three-part mini-series created by Doctor Who and Sherlock partners Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss.
Despite placing Dracula in various different locales, including modern-day London, to the chagrin of some purists, the programme maintained true to the spirit of the novel.
Bang also put the sexy – and terrifying – back in the vampire, depicting him as the ultimate wicked predator who enjoys the pursuit as much as the murder.
His perilous back-and-forth with the monastery sisters is a highlight of the adaptation.
5. Nicolas Cage (Renfield, 2023)
Cage plays Dracula precisely as expected (and hoped for), bringing his customary passion and slightly odd intensity to the character while without overacting.
He is the Lord of Death, as he calls himself, as well as the poisonous boss from hell, therefore there are no redeeming characteristics to be concerned about.
Although this figure is set in a horror-comedy, with his wit garnering a few chuckles – and a classic Nic Cage stangle-yell line thrown in for good measure – this Dracula is all bite as well as bark.
4. Max Schreck (Nosferatu, 1922)
A list of cinematic Draculas would be incomplete without including cinema’s first Dracula.
In the German Expressionist horror film Nosferatu, Max Schreck’s role is named Count Orlok, yet he is unmistakably Dracula (although a Dracula battling with the nauances of an unathorised and unlicensed cinematic version).
Orlok’s vampire prince seems more ferocious, with enormous bat-like ears, clawed claws, and a hairless skull. The shadow he throws as he climbs the stairs to his victim is one of cinema’s most memorable images.
3. Gary Oldman (Bram Stoker’s Dracula, 1992)
Gary Oldman was scary in Francis Ford Coppola’s version on the gothic classic, apart from making purple-lensed spectacles chic.
Coppola and Oldman’s Dracula embraced the ‘strange’ (their phrase) in an effort to get away from the typical Hollywood manner of the character, appearing in two contrasting incarnations as a foppish dandy and as a wrinkly-faced, crumbling count.
With an incredibly powerful voice and a bizarre method of climbing walls, this vampire is undoubtedly in contention for the most terrifying of them.
2. Bela Lugosi (Dracula, 1931)
The first official Dracula in film was played by Hungarian-American actor Bela Lugosi, whose accent, outfit, and overall manner as Dracula not only left an impression on film, but also on popular culture.
His Dracula was the first to have a pale visage, a widow’s peak, a heavy Hungarian accent, and elegant evening clothing.
For a few years, Lugosi had refined a good portion of this from his debut in the successful stage adaption in 1927, but moving his performance to the cinema insured his legacy would be cherished by millions.
The actor appeared to recognise the immense force of Dracula from the start, as he only portrayed him twice, but he spent years attempting to break out from his horror stereotype.
1. Sir Christopher Lee (Dracula, 1958, and sequels)
Sir Christopher adopted the opposite approach to his predecessor, portraying the character a record 10 times, making him the only performer to match Lugosi for the title of cinema’s number one Dracula.
He is credited, along with frequent co-star Peter Cushing, with revitalising the horror genre with Hammer Films via films such as Dracula, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, and Dracula AD 1972.
Out of a career that also encompassed The Lord of the Rings, The Wicker Man, and Star Wars, it is to the credit of the prolific character actor’s intimidating performance that his Dracula is so much liked.
Sir Christopher delivered a scary and alluring attraction in the part, as his red-eyed, blood-dripping vampire gave both thrills and chills in cinema’s earliest and most evident exploration of Dracula’s sensuality – definitely the perfect balance.
Source My Celebrity Life.
