Dracula as a Superhero, Reviewing Dracula Untold

By Scott Orris










Dracula Untold (Gary Shore, 2014) is unlike any other adaptation of the famous title character ever produced.  The film focuses on the “untold” origin of Dracula, which links Bram Stoker’s fictional character to it’s inspiration, the historic Vlad “Dracula” or “Vlad the Impaler.”  But the even more striking “untold” aspect to this depiction of Dracula (played capably by Luke Evans), is turning him into a sympathetic character.  In this film, Dracula is not the evil villainous blood sucker commonally associated with the character.  When we think about Dracula, we usually think of Bela Lugosi as this prototype of the evil villianious vampire, with the hooded cape, high widows peak, and those slow spoken lines in a heavy Hungarian accent, these are essentially the characteristics of what we would define as Dracula. Instead he is a Prince, who wears armor, is proficient with a sword, and has a Welsh accent.  He has a wife (Sarah Gadon) and a child (Art Parkinson), and only turns to vampirism in order to protect his family and his land from the invasion of the Turks. 

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Bela Lugosi as Dracula

"Vlad the Impaler"

This partially coincides with the actual Vlad the Impaler, who’s father did give up Dracula, and his brother Radu as hostages  to the Turks, in order to maintain his throne (Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu 21).  His brother ended up joining them, while Dracula decided to fight against their rule.  Dracula’s brutality towards his enemies was legendary with many stories of impaling Turks on stakes as a means of psychological warfare (On the Trail of Dracula).  In this manner Dracula is still seen as a kind of hero for the Romanian people.  So in this way the film loosely imitates the historical account.  But the film then dramatically departs from this more realistic depiction, by showing more of the influence of the Stoker novel, and other fictional depictions which focus on Dracula drinking blood and becoming a vampire, and the super-natural powers he possessed as a result.   The film thus unfolds more like a superhero film than anything else, baring a resemblence to Nolan’s Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan, 2005). Vlad has a troubled childhood as a slave of the Turks, and grows up to become the Prince of Translyvania known for the verocity of his fighting.  He makes the bold sacrifice in order to protect his family and his people by drinking the blood of the “Master Vampire” thus becoming a vampire.  This mirrors the similar motivation for Bruce Wayne in becoming Batman due to the traumatic loss of his parents, and vowed to strike fear into the heart of criminals who were capable of such acts.  The film deals with the depth of the human soul very similar to the way Batman Begins does in that if, you want to fight something awful you have to become something almost equally as awful in order to combat the evil.  This creates the ongoing struggle to maintain the “good” part of yourself without subcumbing to the temptation of the "bad."

Another way Dracula Untold mirrors a superhero film is the display of Dracula's super strength.  In the novel Van Helsing claims he has the strength of twenty men, while Dracula Untold increases his strength exponentially, claiming he has the strength of one hundred men (Stoker 238).  In Dracula Untold, Dracula is depicted as having the immense strength to take out an entire Turkish Army by himself.  Compared to portrayals of Dracula from the past such as Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee, feats of physical strength were usually directed towards one person.  Instead these depictions focused more on the strength of their mind control in order to manipulate others to do their bidding.  As with many superhero stories such as the symbolic quote used in both Superman, and Spider Man comics throughout the years; "With great power comes great responsibility"(Cronin, Comic Book Legends Revealed #479).  In this case it is the same vampirism which could win the war against the Turks, could also destroy Dracula the person along with his family and the rest of Transylvania, who rely on his leadership.  In showing Dracula as a sympathetic character it makes his motivation for becoming a vampire more relatable and almost heroic.  Dracula Untold does what superhero films do best by putting a human face to someone with super human abilities.  If you would like to see a Dracula film which is unlike any other, then I recommend you watch this film.

Works Cited:

Batman Begins. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson.
          Warner Bros., 2005. DVD.

Cronin, Brian. "Comic Book Legends Revealed #479." Comic Book Resources. N.p., 11 July 2014. Web. 6 Nov. 2014. <http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2014/07/11/comic-book-legends-revealed-479/>.

Dracula Untold. Dir. Gary Shore. Perf. Luke Evans, Dominic Cooper, Sarah Gadon.
            Universal, 2014. Film.

"Dracula Untold." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2014.

McNally, Raymond T., and Radu Florescu. In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires  Revised.      Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. Print.

"On the Trail of Dracula." ABC News. ABC News Network, 26 Aug. 2005. Web. 06 Nov. 2014.

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. New York: Signet Classic, 2007. Print.