Line #5 Film/Dracula1979


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/10968307_gal_1003.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:Ladies.]]
3
4	->''"Throughout history he has filled the hearts of men with terror, and the hearts of women with desire."''
5	-->-- '''{{Tagline}}'''
6
7	Universal's second screen version of ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', directed by John Badham and released in 1979, was adapted from [[Theatre/Dracula1924 the same stage play]] that [[Film/{{Dracula 1931}} its predecessor]] was based upon, in the wake of a successful Broadway revival. The star of that production, Creator/FrankLangella, reprises his role as {{Dracula}}, while Creator/LaurenceOlivier as Abraham Van Helsing and Creator/DonaldPleasence as Dr. Seward head up the supporting cast.
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9	In 1913, a ship (with its entire crew dead) arrives at Whitby in North Yorkshire, England. With it arrives the Romanian Count Dracula, who has bought the disused Carfax Abbey, located near Dr. Seward's sanitarium. Dracula sets upon furthering his kind. First, he seduces and turns Mina Van Helsing (Jan Francis), a guest in the Seward home, and then -- more romantically -- pursues Lucy Seward (Creator/KateNelligan). When Professor Abraham Van Helsing arrives in Whitby upon word of Mina's sudden, mysterious death, he suspects that a vampire is involved and begins an investigation into Dracula's true nature... but is it already too late to save Lucy's soul?
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11	----
12	!!This film provides examples of:
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14	* AdaptationalLocationChange: Unlike the novel and most screen versions, this film confines the action entirely to Whitby and environs.
15	* AdaptationNameChange: Mina Murray and Lucy Westerna's last names are changed to Van Helsing and Seward, respectively, just the start of their substantially different characterizations.
16	* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: Van Helsing here is Mina's father, while Dr. Seward is Lucy's father and Jonathan Harker is Lucy's fiancé (though Lucy here is essentially the Mina character renamed, and vice versa).
17	* AdaptationalJerkass: Jonathan Harker. He is not supportive of Lucy here, suppressive of her career endeavours and emotionally unavailable.
18	* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Dracula, while still quite evil, isn't quite as monstrous here as in his previous Franchise/UniversalHorror appearances, and definitely leans closer to AffablyEvil than his [[Film/Dracula1931 1931]] counterpart.
19	* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Mina and Lucy swap personalities and roles in the plot here; Lucy is the strong willed, proto-feminist who is the Count's main target, Mina is the fragile ill girl who becomes the Bloofer Lady.
20	* AdaptedOut: No brides, Arthur Holmwood, or Quincey Morris. No Transylvania or London scenes.
21	* AgeLift: Jack Seward, who in the novel is similar in age to Lucy and Mina, is played by a then-60-year-old Creator/DonaldPleasence.
22	* AnswersToTheNameOfGod: Grieving in the wake of destroying his vampirized daughter, Prof. Van Helsing holds his hands to his face and proclaims, "Oh, the devil." Dracula, who has entered the room without him noticing, answers "Come, come, surely not as bad as that."
23	* AntagonistTitle: Spoilers -- Dracula is the villain!
24	* BadassBoast: Dracula is not impressed when Van Helsing and Jonathan arrive in Carfax Abbey to slay him.
25	-->'''Dracula:''' You fools! Do you think with your crosses and your wafers you can destroy me? ''Me!'' You do not know how many men have come against me. I am the king of my kind!
26	* BigNo: Lucy does this when [[spoiler: Van Helsing is about to stake the sleeping Dracula. ''This wakes him up...'']]
27	* BlackEyesOfCrazy: Both Mina and Lucy have black eyes with red pupils after they have been turned by Dracula.
28	* BookEnds: The film starts and ends onboard a ship.
29	* CreepyLongFingers: Dracula's clawlike hand movements make his fingers appear very long.
30	* CrossMeltingAura: Jonathan tries to ward off Dracula with a wooden cross, but he just smiles and grabs it, making it burst into flames.
31	* DemotedToExtra: Jonathan Harker. He never goes to Transylvania here and his role of a hero is almost entirely given to Van Helsing.
32	* DeathByAdaptation:
33	** Ironically it's Mina who is the one to turn into a vampire here and ends up staked.
34	** [[spoiler:Van Helsing is killed by Dracula [[HoistByHisOwnPetard with his own stake.]]]]
35	* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: In the novel, Dracula is killed via knife blows to the heart and neck. Here, he burns to death in sunlight while tied to a ship.
36	* EatsBabies: After Mina turns, one of her first acts as a vampire is to sneak into the asylum and feed off the baby of an inmate.
37	* TheEndOrIsIt: The final moments suggest that [[spoiler: while Lucy's humanity has been restored, Dracula might yet "live" to see another day]].
38	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Dracula is shown to be passionately in love with Lucy.
39	** He shows visible anger when he spots her and Jonathan having a romantic rendezvous before he attacks Mina.
40	** Dracula shows restraint when wooing her, refraining from biting Lucy when they kiss.
41	** The Count breaks Lucy out of the asylum, and never lets go of her.
42	* EvilDetectingDog: Van Helsing confirms his suspicions about his late daughter's vampirism by investigating her resting place with a horse. When the horse arrives at her grave, it starts stomping the ground with its hooves, and then runs away in terror. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward then start digging...
43	* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: Since 1991 with the Laserdisc edition, every home video release of the film has muted, desaturated colors to better reflect the original intent of the director, who wanted to film in black-and-white. The 2019 Creator/ShoutFactory Blu-Ray release will contain both versions.
44	* GhostButler: Anyone entering Carfax Abbey soon has the doors closing by themselves behind them.
45	* HauntedCastle: Carfax Abbey is a massive disheveled building; its interiors are covered in [[ExtremelyDustyHome layers of dust]] and [[CobwebJungle cobwebs]].
46	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Dracula impales [[spoiler:Van Helsing]] with his own stake.
47	* MissingReflection: Van Helsing discovers that vampires don't have reflections in mirrors when he comes face to face with Dracula for the first time. In addition, when Van Helsing tells the other men Dracula is behind the attacks after he and Seward had staked Mina, the men exhume Mina's body to show Jonathan that Mina also doesn't have a reflection, then they cut out her heart to free her from the curse.
48	* NeckSnap: Dracula punishes Renfield for his treachery by twisting his head around.
49	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Somewhat: the usual weaknesses are shown though when Mina turns, she looks more like a zombie then a vampire, as she's somewhat decayed. This is oddly in contrast to Dracula who still keeps his good looks despite being a vampire himself. Even more oddly, when she's staked her features return to normal.
50	* QuiveringEyes: Accompanies some of Dracula's more intense stares that he gives to the ladies.
51	* RelatedInTheAdaptation: In this film, Lucy is Dr. Seward's daughter rather than simply his ward. Additionally, Mina is Van Helsing's daughter.
52	* SettingUpdate: A relatively mild example, but this version moves the story forward by about twenty years.
53	* ShipwreckStart: The story begins with the S.S Demeter washing ashore in England and the unconscious title character being discovered by Mina.
54	* ShovelStrike: Enraged by Dracula's words on how he is going to make Lucy his bride, Jonathan tries to whack him with a shovel, but the count just turns into a bat to avoid it.
55	* SparedByTheAdaptation: Lucy survives to the end of the film, despite coming ''very'' close to being turned by Dracula. Of course, it's more of a zig-zagged trope, as Lucy in this film is essentially Mina from the novel but with her best friend's name.
56	* StakingTheLovedOne: Van Helsing is forced to stake his daughter, making things ''very'' personal between him and Dracula.
57	* SuperWindowJump: After [[WouldHurtAChild feasting on the infant child]] of one of Dr. Seward's patients, the vampirized Mina escapes the scene of the crime by jumping through a window and fleeing into the night.
58	* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:While Dracula seemingly dies, the ending shots of the movie show his cape flying off into the horizon, hinting that he may have survived.]]
59	* VampiresAreSexGods: This film is really the first attempt to ''deliberately'' present Dracula as a romantic and attractive figure. At the time, it was mentioned that Dracula being attractive actually makes him ''more'' terrifying, as it effectively hides the monster underneath -- misleading the audience this way was quite novel.
60	* VertigoEffect: Used when Dracula hypnotizes Mina during his social visit to Dr. Seward.
61	* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Dracula can become a wolf, a bat, or mist as needed.
62	* WallCrawling: Dracula scales down a wall to get into first Mina's and then Lucy's bedroom. [[spoiler: He also does this when he "rescues" Lucy from the asylum.]]
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Context Film / Dracula1979