The golden era of Universal monster movies began in early 1931 with the release of Dracula, which, despite shaky acting and even shakier direction, is nevertheless regarded as one of the seminal early talkies - a movie that not only helped to keep ...

Treatment differs from both the stage version [by Deane and John Balderston] and the original novel [by Bram Stoker]. On the stage it was a thriller carried to such an extreme that it had a comedy punch by its very outre aspect. On the screen it comes out as a sublimated ghost story related with all surface seriousness and above all with a remarkably effective background of creepy atmosphere.

Movie lore has it that Bela Lugosi could barely speak English

NR • 1 hour 15 min • 1931

Read the Empire Movie review of Dracula. When Bela Lugosi died he was buried wearing one of his original silk capes. Forever cloaked, he...

Not by any means the masterpiece of fond memory or reputation, although the first twenty minutes are astonishingly fluid and brilliantly shot by Karl Freund, de