The Great Vampire Films Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bela Lugosi

Based on the 1920's stageplay, this short (ca. 75 minutes) feature tells the story of a venerable Transylvanian vampire who takes control of a British attorney and secures passage to London, only to be thwarted by a continental physician and scholar named Van Helsing. Though "Dracula" has been rightly praised for striking what have proven to be resonant tones with its audience, more cynical eyes have pointed out rather egregious flaws in the film, including very obviously misplaced props and the incongruous infestation of Castle Dracula by armadillos. Though a gifted director, "Dracula" helmsman Tod Browning struggled with alcoholism throughout his career, and attention to detail would never be his strong suit. Likewise, Lugosi would himself struggle with substance abuse, nursing a morphine addiction from the early 1940s until shortly before his death in 1956.

He would be buried, appropriately enough, in full "Dracula" suit and cloak.

Answer: The Hunger

Musician David Bowie plays Deneuve's vampiric lover who, after a long period of seemingly everlasting youth, suddenly begins aging rapidly and seeks the help of scientist Sarandon, who can only watch in vain as Bowie ages 40 years in her waiting room. Sarandon investigates and meets Deneuve, who has entombed Bowie with her other past lovers.

The women's resulting liaison, as well as the other sumptuous visuals in the film and the inventive soundtrack (featuring both the goth band Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead" and the "Flower Duet" from Léo Delibes opera "Lakmé"), have earned this film a steady following, despite critical panning on its release.

Answer: In the Spanish version, star Carlos Villarias is outfitted with a fine set of fangs, unlike his English-version counterpart who goes au naturelle.

Each of these differences arre largely a product of Melford's creativity, as the script itself is a direct paraphrase from the English version: the Count manipulates the weak-minded Renfield (played by a manic Pablo Rubio) into conveying him to London, where he sinks his teeth into the British upper class - especially Lupita Tovar's fetchingly voluptuous Eva. Alas, those teeth were indeed unaugmented.

In retrospect, the English-language "Dracula" is, in many ways, a filmed version of the stageplay, supplemented with early scenes of Castle Dracula and the London Opera (the latter borrowed from the 1925 "Phantom of the Opera"). The Spanish version plays out much more cinematically, using a great deal more of the filmmakers' vocabulary, including camera movement, establishing shots, and special effects. It does suffer, however, from the lack of strong leading personalities like Bela Lugosi and Edward Van Sloan in the lead roles. Though Villarias does his best as the Count, Eduardo Arozamena is much more bluster than stoic confidence in his portrayal of Van Helsing. Still and all, the Spanish version is a great exemplar of what could have been.

Answer: Black Sunday

The startling images of this film include Steele's character, Asa, being killed by having a spiked mask driven into her face--then later returning to life (along with her equally vampiric brother, Javuto) with the spike marks scarring her otherwise beautiful visage.

The film's storyline - never a paragon of clarity - is further complicated by Steele's dual role as Katia, a peasant descendant of Asa's family whose blood promises to make Asa immortal. Like Howard Hawks' film noir classic "The Big Sleep", it is probably best not to frustrate oneself trying to follow this film's plot. Rather, Bava's film is one that promises to sweep the viewer along in a darkly beautiful stream of grotesquery and moral challenge.

Answer: Interview with the Vampire

Staying relatively close to its source material, this story centers around a young New Orleans widower named Louis (played by Pitt), who becomes a stylish cosmopolitan vampire under the androgynous libertine Lestat's tutelage. The film follows the pair - and their adopted "daughter" Claudia (Dunst) through their nineteenth-century adventures in Louisiana and France, concluding in 1990s New Orleans with Louis telling his life story to a journalist, played by Slater. Though not considered a great or innovative film by most critics' reckonings, most fans somewhat grudgingly concede that it is a good realization of Rice's work, albeit limted by excision of some salient points, such as the prepubescent appearance of Banderas' character Armand and the more nuanced homoeroticism throughout - though, to his credit, Jordan does not completely shy away from these elements.

Answer: Christopher Lee

The Hammer version of the story shows remarkable chutzpah in making the film's plot its own, and in doing so fundamentally changes the dynamic of the story. Instead of a weak Renfield character, Dracula is first approached in his castle by Jonathan Harker. Ostensibly a librarian(!), Harker is later revealed to be a surreptitious, yet ultimately unsuccessful, vampire slayer. Further, there is no voyage to London in this film. Rather, it takes place entirely in Central Europe, presumably close to the nineteenth-century Austrian "frontier" with Romania, with the familiar Van Helsing and Holmwood characters from the novel (played here by Peter Cushing and Michael Gough) living within a day's carriage ride from Castle Dracula, to which the Count retreats after venturing west to victimize Harker's fiancee Lucy and Holmwood's wife Mina. This recalls the Cold War tension of the era, with the liberal capitalist "west" of West Germany and Austria butting up against the authoritarian communist "east" of East Germany and Hungary - two places geographically close, yet existing in almost entirely different worlds socially and culturally.

"Dracula" would prove to be a star-making role for Lee. He would play the role on film ten times into the 1970s. In the 21st century, the daunting actor's career would have a remarkable resurgence, with substantial roles in the "Star Wars" prequels (as the Sith Lord Count Dooku) and in Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy (as Saruman).

Answer: The Addiction

"The Addiction" traces lead character Kathleen Conklin's search for meaning and purpose as she struggles with both her newfound vampire nature and the science of ethics in postmodern philosophy. Throughout, her contempt for the human condition and its continued capitulation to evil grows, until a radical denouement that forces her to reexamine her conclusions throughout. I won't spoil the ending for you, except to say that vampire scholar, David Skal, has criticized this film for what he perceives as a reactionary treatment of good and evil. I heartily recommend this film to any graduate student who would wish that something really quite awful would happen to their examining committee!

Answer: Isle of the Dead

Karloff plays one of his most impressive roles, in this underappreciated film, potraying a Greek general in the Balkan Wars. He finds himself trapped on an island by a plague outbreak while investigating the desecration of his wife's grave. Though ostensibly a devotee of rationalism, he becomes increasingly atavistic and paranoid, progressively succumbing to baser instincts and seeing the undead in every shadow. Like the other Lewton films, the true horror is in the minds of the characters, not in any visual that made it to the screen.

Answer: Let the Right One In

The great T.S. Eliot once said: "Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal". His maxim applies well to this 2008 film by director Tomas Alfredson. Rather than merely aping the conventions of great films of this past, this production appropriates major plot elements wholesale - the confusion of youth from "My Life as a Dog", the Renfield elements from "Dracula", the androgyny of the Anne Rice series - and transforms them into something remarkably new and creative. "Let the Right One In" stars Kåre Hedebrant as Oskar, a bullied pre-teen boy who fantasizes about killing his tormenters. One night, he meets the mysterious Eli (Lina Leandersson), who grows to be a friend and confidante.

The ensuing formula - Oskar learns to stand up for himself with the encouragement of his new friend - may sound trite and familiar. Given the subject matter of this quiz and the themes mentioned above, I assure you there is nothing trite about its execution.

Answer: Nosferatu

Directed by German expressionist legend F. W. Murnau, "Nosferatu" is essentially the "Dracula" story with some changes in detail. Seeking to avoid copyright infringement, Murnau changed the vampire's name from Dracula to Count Orlock and altered the story in several ways.

This strategy was for naught: Murnau was sued, the film was ordered destroyed (though several prints survived in the hands of collectors), and, in all honestly, "Nosferatu" is closer to Stoker's work than most authorized editions.

As in Stoker, young attorney Jonathan Harker ("Hutter" in Murnau's film) is contracted to transport the vampire to the West, in this case Bremen instead of London. Sent by his employer Knock (a variation on Renfield), Hutter discovers Orlock is a vampire, is unable to stop him, but escapes with his life. On Orlock's arrival, a plague infests the city (as it did the real-life Bremen in the 1840s).

As in the novel, the attorney's wife, Ellen, has a telepathic link of sorts with the vampire, and uses this to lure him to his distruction by sunlight - an element introduced to the vampire mythos by this film.