| Dracula | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | |
| Screenplay by | Garrett Fort |
| Based on | |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Karl Freund |
| Edited by |
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| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 74 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Languages |
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| Budget | $341,191[2] |
Dracula is a 1931 Americanpre-Codevampire film directed and co-produced byTod Browning from a screenplay written byGarrett Fort and starringBela Lugosi in the title role. It is based on the stage playDracula byHamilton Deane andJohn L. Balderston, which in turn is adapted from the 1897 novelDracula byBram Stoker.[3] Lugosi portraysCount Dracula, avampire who emigrates fromTransylvania to England and preys upon the blood of living victims, including a young man's fiancée.
Produced and distributed byUniversal Pictures,Dracula is the firstsound film adaptation of the Stoker novel.[4] Several actors were considered to portray the title character, but Lugosi, who had previously played the role onBroadway, eventually got the part. The film was partially shot on sets atUniversal Studios Lot in California, which were reused at night for the filming of a concurrently producedSpanish-language adaptation of the same name, also produced by Universal.
Dracula was a commercial and critical success upon release, and led to severalsequels andspin-offs. It has had a notable influence on popular culture, and Lugosi's portrayal of Dracula established the character as acultural icon, as well as the archetypal vampire in later works of fiction. In 2000, the film was selected by the United StatesLibrary of Congress for preservation in theNational Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[5][6]
Renfield is a solicitor traveling toCount Dracula's castle inTransylvania on a business matter. The local village people fear thatvampires inhabit the castle and warn Renfield not to go there. Renfield refuses to stay at the village inn and asks his carriage driver to take him to the Borgo Pass. He is driven to the castle by Dracula's coach, with Dracula disguised as the driver. En route, Renfield sticks his head out of the window to ask the driver to slow down, but instead finds that the driver has disappeared, and a bat is leading the horses.
Renfield enters the castle and is welcomed by the charming but eccentric Count, who, unbeknownst to Renfield, is a vampire. They discuss Dracula's intention to lease Carfax Abbey in England, where he intends to travel the next day. Dracula drugs and hypnotizes Renfield into opening a window. Renfield faints as a bat appears, and Dracula's three wives close in on him. Dracula waves them away, then attacks Renfield himself.
Aboard theschoonerVesta, Renfield has become a raving lunatic slave to Dracula, who hides in a coffin and feeds on the ship's crew. When the ship reaches England, Renfield is discovered to be the only living person. He is sent to Dr. Seward'ssanatorium adjoining Carfax Abbey. Elsewhere, at aLondon theater, Dracula meets Seward. Seward introduces his daughter Mina, her fiancé John Harker, and a family friend, Lucy Weston. Lucy is fascinated by Dracula. That night, Dracula enters her room and feasts on her blood while she sleeps. She dies the next day after a string ofblood transfusions.
Renfield is obsessed with eating flies and spiders.Polymath doctor Professor Van Helsing analyzes his blood and discovers his obsession. He starts talking about vampires, and that afternoon, Renfield begs Seward to send him away, claiming his nightly cries may disturb Mina's dreams. When Dracula calls Renfield through the medium of a wolf howling, Renfield is disturbed by Van Helsing showing himwolfsbane, which Van Helsing says is used for protection from vampires.
Dracula visits Mina, asleep in her bedroom, and bites her. The next evening, he enters for a visit, and Van Helsing and Harker notice that he does not have a mirror reflection. When Van Helsing reveals this to Dracula, he smashes the mirror and leaves. Van Helsing deduces that Dracula is the vampire behind the recent tragedies.
Mina leaves her room and runs to Dracula in the garden, where he attacks her. The maid finds her. Harker wants to take Mina to London for safety but is convinced to leave her with Van Helsing. Van Helsing orders Nurse Briggs to take care of Mina when she sleeps and not to remove the wreath of wolfsbane from her neck.
Renfield escapes from his cell and listens to the men discussing vampires. Before he is taken back to his cell, Renfield relates to them how Dracula convinced Renfield to allow him to enter the sanatorium by promising him thousands of rats full of blood and life. Dracula enters the Seward parlor and talks with Van Helsing. He states that Mina now belongs to him and warns Van Helsing to return to his home country. Van Helsing swears to excavate Carfax Abbey and destroy Dracula. Dracula attempts to hypnotize Van Helsing, but the latter's resolve proves stronger. As Dracula lunges at Van Helsing, he draws acrucifix from his coat, forcing Dracula to retreat.
Harker visits Mina on a terrace, and she speaks of how much she loves "nights and fogs". A bat flies above them and squeaks to Mina. She then attacks Harker, but Van Helsing and Seward save him. Mina confesses what Dracula has done to her and tells Harker their love is finished.
Dracula hypnotizes Briggs into removing the wolfsbane from Mina's neck and opening the windows. Van Helsing and Harker see Renfield heading for Carfax Abbey. Arriving there, they see Dracula with Mina. When Harker shouts to Mina, Dracula thinks Renfield has betrayed him by leading them there and shoves him down the staircase to his death. Dracula is hunted by Van Helsing and Harker, who know that Dracula is forced to sleep in his coffin during daylight, and the sun is rising. Van Helsing prepares a makeshift wooden stake from Dracula's coffin lid while Harker searches for Mina. Van Helsing impales Dracula through the heart, killing him, and Mina returns to normal.
The following individuals appear in uncredited roles: director and co-producerTod Browning as the off-screen voice of the harbormaster;Carla Laemmle, a cousin of producerCarl Laemmle Jr., who appears at the start of the film as a woman in the coach carrying Renfield;[8] and Geraldine Dvorak, Cornelia Thaw, andDorothy Tree asDracula's brides.
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Bram Stoker's novel had already been filmed without permission asNosferatu in 1922 byGerman Expressionist filmmakerF. W. Murnau. Stoker's widow sued forplagiarism andcopyright infringement, and the courts decided in her favor, essentially ordering that allprints ofNosferatu be destroyed.[7] Enthusiastic young Hollywood producerCarl Laemmle Jr. also saw the box office potential in Stoker's gothic chiller, and he legally acquired the novel's film rights. Initially, he wantedDracula to be a spectacle on a scale with the lavish silent filmsThe Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) andThe Phantom of the Opera (1925).
Universal Pictures paid $40,000 for all rights to the novel and the stage plays, so they would have the exclusive rights to the Dracula character. Universal also brought Pulitzer Prize-winning novelistLouis Bromfield to pen the script to fit this grand scale vision. Bromfield tried to reconcile novel and the stage play and in his draft suggested that Dracula should be two people—ghoulish old man at the beginning of the film, who by traveling to London and feeding on blood gets rejuvenated into drawing-room Dracula of the theater. Jonathan Harker was supposed to travel to Transylvania in the opening scenes of the film. As in the stage play, Dracula was supposed to kiss Mina passionately on the lips. Those things never made it into movie, either because they were considered too expensive, were replaced by rewritten scenes, or were deemed too risky. Bromfield was soon replaced withGarrett Fort.[9]Fort turned to the stage play. Already a huge hit onBroadway, the Deane/BalderstonDracula play would end up becoming the blueprint as the production gained momentum. The screenwriters also carefully studied the silent, unauthorized version,F. W. Murnau'sNosferatu, for inspiration. Lifted directly from a nearly identical scene inNosferatu that does not appear in Stoker's novel, was the early scene at the Count's castle when Renfield accidentally pricks his finger on a paper clip and it starts to bleed. Dracula creeps toward him with glee, only to be repelled when the crucifix falls in front of the bleeding finger.
The film was originally intended forConrad Veidt, who had just appeared in Universal'sThe Man Who Laughs (1928) andThe Last Performance (1929). When Veidt returned to Germany fearing his English was not good enough for talkies, Universal looked toLon Chaney, star of the studio'sThe Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) andThe Phantom of the Opera (1925). At the time, Chaney was under contract toMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer and had already decided a remake ofThe Unholy Three (1930) would be his first sound film. After his sudden death, casting the title role proved problematic. Initially, Laemmle was not at all interested in Lugosi, in spite of good reviews for his stage portrayal. Laemmle instead considered more established screen actors, withJohn Wray, fresh from his success inAll Quiet on the Western Front (1930) being announced as cast in the role. BothIan Keith andWilliam Courtenay would be subsequently mentioned in the press of the time, with other actors considered includingPaul Lukas,Paul Muni,Chester Morris andJoseph Schildkraut.[10] Lugosi had played the role on Broadway,[11] and to his good fortune, happened to be inLos Angeles with a touring company of the play when the film was being cast.[7] Against the tide of studio opinion, Lugosi lobbied hard and ultimately won the executives over, thanks in part to him accepting a paltry $500 per week salary for seven weeks of work, amounting to $3,500.[7][12]Lew Ayres was hired to play Jonathan Harker, only to be replaced withRobert Ames because of a filming conflict. Ames was himself replaced withDavid Manners following news reports of his messy divorce.[10]
On September 29, 1930, Dracula began shooting atUniversal City on a $355,050 budget on a 36-day schedule. Tod Browning shot scenes of Dracula's Castle and Borgo Pass all the first week of production.[13] According to numerous accounts, the production is alleged to have been a mostly disorganized affair,[a] with the usually meticulous Tod Browning leaving cinematographerKarl Freund to take over during much of the shoot, making Freund something of an uncredited director on the film.
Manners recalled about the filming: "I can still see Lugosi, parading up and down the stage, posing in front of a full-length mirror, throwing his cape over his shoulder and shouting, 'I am Dracula!' He was mysterious and never really said anything to the other members of the cast except good morning when he arrived and good night when he left. He was polite, but always distant".[15] Lugosi struck Manners as a vain, eccentric performer: "I never thought he was acting, but being the odd man he was".[10]Edward Van Sloan, who played Van Helsing on Broadway stage opposite Lugosi, reprised his role on screen. The actor wondered why the film version reduced the large mirror used in the play to the small cigarette box with a mirrored lid.[15] Despite Van Helsing becoming one of his most famous screen roles Van Sloan did not think much about the film – in a letter to his nephew he once wrote: "That reminds me of your failure to see the Dracula film on TV. How lucky you were.... What must it be like today...! Overplayed — over-written — altogether lousy".[15] Bernard Jukes, who played the role of Renfield in the play on Broadway and during the 1928 tour, wanted that part in the film, but it went toDwight Frye instead.[16]
Tod Browning remembered actressHelen Chandler from the 1928 Broadway playThe Silent House and based on that maiden performance chose her for Mina, the heroine, who becomes mistress to Bela Lugosi's Count Dracula.[13] Her salary was $750 per week, making her the highest paid member of the cast. At the time of the filming she already battled severe alcoholism. She was known to laugh at Lugosi's mirror ritual at the shooting at times. Like some of her co-stars, despite this role becoming her most famous one, she did not care much about it: "It would be an awful fate, for instance, to go around being a pale little girl in a trance with her arms outstretched as inDracula, all the rest of my screen career!"[13]
The peasants at the beginning are praying inHungarian, and the signs in the village are also in Hungarian. That is because many Hungarians live nearBorgo Pass inTransylvania, since Transylvania used to be part of theKingdom of Hungary in theAustro-Hungarian Empire. By the time the film was made, Transylvania had been part of theKingdom of Romania since the end ofWorld War I in 1918.[17]
The scenes of crew members on the ship struggling in the violent storm were lifted from a Universal silent film,The Storm Breaker. Photographed atsilent film projection speed, this accounts for the jerky, sped-up appearance of the footage when projected at 24 frames per second sound film speed and cobbled together with new footage of Dracula and Renfield.[7]Jack Foley himself was theFoley artist who produced the sound effects.[18] The picture was completed for a total cost of $341,191.20, which was under the original estimate of $355,050.[2]
Before the film was even released, Lugosi worried that it would cause him to betype cast. He reportedly rejected an offer to reprise his role as Dracula in another stage tour of the play, stating: "No! Not at any price. When I'm through with this picture I hope to never hear of Dracula again. I cannot stand it...I do not intend that it shall possess me".[19]
The film's histrionics from the stage play are also reflected in itsspecial effects, which are limited to fog, lighting, and large flexible bats. Dracula's transition from bat to person is always done off-camera. The film also employs extended periods of silence and character close-ups for dramatic effect, and employs two expositoryintertitles and a closeup of a newspaper article to advance the story, a seeming holdover fromsilent films; a point made by onlinefilm criticJames Berardinelli[20] is that the actors' performance style seems to belong to the silent era. DirectorTod Browning had a reputation as a silent film director, having made them since 1915, including ten horror blockbusters withLon Chaney includingThe Unknown (1927), but he never felt completely at ease with sound films.[7] He only directed six more films over an eight-year period, the best known being the notoriousFreaks, a horror film withOlga Baclanova and a cast of actual carnival freaks that was pulled from distribution immediately but is a cult favorite today. Browning directed his last film in 1939.
Owing to the costs of adding an original musical score to a film's soundtrack, no score had ever been composed specifically for the film.[4] The music heard during the opening credits, an excerpt from Act II ofTchaikovsky'sSwan Lake, was later re-used for another Universal horror film,The Mummy (1932). During the theater scene where Dracula meets Dr. Seward, Harker, Mina, and Lucy, the end of the overture toWagner'sDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg can also be heard as well as the dark opening ofSchubert's "Unfinished Symphony" in B minor.
In 1998, composerPhilip Glass was commissioned to compose a musical score for the film. The score was performed by theKronos Quartet[4] under the direction of Michael Reisman, Glass's usual conductor.
Of the project, Glass said: "The film is considered a classic. I felt the score needed to evoke the feeling of the world of the 19th century — for that reason I decided a string quartet would be the most evocative and effective. I wanted to stay away from the obvious effects associated with horror films. With [the Kronos Quartet] we were able to add depth to the emotional layers of the film".[21]
The film, with this new score, was released byUniversal Studios in 1999 in theVHS format. Universal'sDVD releases allow the viewer to choose between the unscored soundtrack or the Glass score. The soundtrack,Dracula, was released byNonesuch Records in 1999.[22] Glass and the Kronos Quartet performed live during showings of the film in 1999, 2000, 2012 and 2017.[23][24][25][26]
Dracula was a big gamble for a major Hollywood studio to undertake. In spite of the literary credentials of the source material, it was uncertain if an American audience was prepared for a serious full length supernatural chiller. Though American audiences had been exposed to other chillers before, such asThe Cat and the Canary (1927), this was a horror story with no comic relief or trick ending that downplayed the supernatural. Despite this,Dracula proved to be a box office success.
When the film finally premiered at theRoxy Theatre in New York City on February 12, 1931 (released two days later throughout the U.S.),[12] newspapers reported that members of the audiences fainted in shock at the horror on screen. This publicity, shrewdly orchestrated by the film studio, helped ensure people came to see the film, if for no other reason than curiosity. Within 48 hours of its opening at New York's Roxy Theatre, it had sold 50,000 tickets,[12] building a momentum that culminated in a $700,000 profit, the largest of Universal's 1931 releases.[27]
The film was generally well received by critics upon its release.Mordaunt Hall ofThe New York Times called it "the best of the many mystery films", characterizing Browning's direction as "imaginative" and Helen Chandler's performance as "excellent".[28]Variety praised the film for its "remarkably effective background of creepy atmosphere" and wrote: "It is difficult to think of anybody who could quite match the performance in the vampire part of Bela Lugosi, even to the faint flavor of foreign speech that fits so neatly".[29]Film Daily declared the film "a finemelodrama" and remarked that Lugosi had created "one of the most unique and powerful roles of the screen".[30]Time called it "an exciting melodrama, not as good as it ought to be but a cut above the ordinary trapdoor-and-winding-sheet type of mystery film".[31]John Mosher ofThe New Yorker wrote a negative review, remarking that "there is no real illusion in the picture" and "this whole vampire business falls pretty flat".[32] TheChicago Tribune did not think the film was as scary as the stage version, calling its framework "too obvious" and "its attempts to frighten too evident", but still concluded that it was "quite a satisfactory thriller".[33]
The film was originally released with a running time of 85 minutes;[1] when it was reissued in 1936, theProduction Code was enforced. For that reissue, two scenes are known to have beencensored:[7]
In the early days of sound films, it was common forHollywood studios to produce "Foreign Language Versions" of their films using the same sets, costumes and so on. While Browning filmed during the day, at nightGeorge Melford used the sets to make theSpanish-language version starringCarlos Villarías as Conde Drácula. Long thoughtlost, a print of the SpanishDracula was discovered in the 1970s, of which large sections had rotted away.[36][37] In the early 1990s, a good copy was found in Cuba. The film was preserved in the USNational Film Registry of theLibrary of Congress.[38]
A third,silent, version of the film was also released. In 1931, some theaters had not yet been wired for sound, and during this transition period many studios released alternative silent versions withintertitles.[7]
In 1999, film criticRoger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film four out of four stars, praising Lugosi's performance and Freund's cinematography.[4] He noted the film's lasting influence, and included it in his list of "Great Movies".[4] Angie Errigo ofEmpire gave the film four out of five stars, commending Lugosi's performance as "the [Dracula] against which all others are measured", and writing that the film "is stagey and creaky, but it also has wonderful, unforgettable moments".[39] John Oliver of theBritish Film Institute credited the film with establishing the "popular on-screen image of the vampire" and wrote that "the cinematic horror genre was born with the release ofDracula".[40] He concluded that although he feels the film becomes almost "overly stage bound in its middle section, the virtues of its star performance and general visual style outweigh any such deficits".[40]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 96% based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 7.86/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Bela Lugosi's timeless portrayal of Dracula in this creepy and atmospheric 1931 film has set the standard for major vampiric roles since".[41]
After the commercial and critical success ofDracula, Universal releasedFrankenstein (1931) later that year. Universal in particular would become the forefront of early horror cinema, with a canon of films includingThe Mummy (1932),The Invisible Man (1933),Bride of Frankenstein (1935), andThe Wolf Man (1941).
Five years after the original release, Universal releasedDracula's Daughter (1936), a directsequel that starts immediately after the end of the first film. A second sequel,Son of Dracula (1943), starringLon Chaney Jr., followed another seven years later. The Count returned to life in three more Universal films of the mid-1940s:House of Frankenstein (1944);House of Dracula (1945); and the comedyAbbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).
Universal would only cast Lugosi as Dracula in one more film, the aforesaidAbbott and Costello vehicle,[42] giving the role toJohn Carradine for the mid-1940s "monster rally" films, although Carradine admittedly more closely resembled Stoker's physical description from the book. Many of the familiar images of Dracula are from stills of the older Lugosi made during the filming of the 1948 comedy, so there remain two confusingly distinct incarnations of Lugosi as Dracula, seventeen years apart in age.[citation needed]
As Lugosi played a vampire in three other movies during his career (Mark of the Vampire (1935),The Return of the Vampire (1943), andMother Riley Meets the Vampire (1952)[42]), this contributed to the public misconception that he portrayed Dracula on film many times, although the other vampire roles had him playing Dracula in all but name.[citation needed]
DirectorChris McKay referencedDracula in his filmRenfield (2023), a film referred to by the director as a "quasi-sequel" to the original 1931 film. The film featuresNicolas Cage as Count Dracula andNicholas Hoult as Renfield compositing them into the background in place of Lugosi and Frye.[43]
Since its release,Dracula has become widely regarded as a classic of the era and of its genre. In 2000, it was selected for preservation in the U.S.National Film Registry by theLibrary of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[44] It was also ranked 79th onBravo's countdown ofThe 100 Scariest Movie Moments.[45]
However, Dracula would ultimately become a role which would prove to be both a blessing and a curse. Despite his earlier stage successes in a variety of roles, from the moment Lugosi donned the cape on screen, it would forever see himtypecast as the Count.[46]
Browning would go on to direct Lugosi once more in another vampire thriller,Mark of the Vampire, a 1935 remake of Browning's lost silent filmLondon After Midnight (1927) starring Lon Chaney.
Also, the film is recognized byAmerican Film Institute in these lists:
The actors who followed in Lugosi's shoes in playing Dracula, and who achieved significant fame in that role, had different attitudes to Lugosi's portrayal.
Christopher Lee, who played Dracula in a series of Hammer movies, said: "Anyhow, about the Lugosi Dracula. I was so disappointed. I absolutely had been wanting to see it for a long, long time. There are aspects of it, for instance, that I considered ridiculous. Dracula is played too nice at the beginning. Practically no menace in the character .. There is no shock or fright in it. Lugosi's hands too ... He held them out stiffly... making him look like a puppet. His smile was not always sinister, either".[50] While thinking that Lugosi was in his younger days a wonderful looking man, who had tremendous presence and personality, Lee also thought that Lugosi "was not the right man to play Dracula from the point of view of nationality. Because Transylvania is in Romania and he was a Hungarian from the town of Lugos, hence his name".[50] At the time that Bram Stoker wrote the novel, however, Transylvania was part of the Kingdom of Hungary. In addition to this,Lugoj, the town from which Lugosi came, is located in what can be considered Transylvania.
Gary Oldman, who played Dracula inFrancis Ford Coppola'sadaptation, considered Lugosi to be his favorite Dracula and said about his performance: "He was really on to something: the way he moved, the way he sounded". Oldman based his Dracula voice on Lugosi's voice.[51]
The film's poster campaign was overseen by Universal advertising art directorKaroly Grosz, who also illustrated the "insert" poster himself.[52] Original posters from the 1931 release are scarce and highly valuable to collectors. In 2009, actorNicolas Cage auctioned off his collection of vintage film posters, which included an original "Style F"one sheet that sold for $310,700; as of March 2012, it stood as the sixth-highest price for a film poster.[53] In summer 2017,Metallica guitaristKirk Hammett loaned his rare "Style C" poster to thePeabody Essex Museum inSalem, Massachusetts for an exhibition on horror film posters.[54] In December that same year, an extremely rare "Style A" poster—one of only two known copies—sold at auction for $525,000, setting a new world record for the most expensive film poster.[55]
![Style A one-sheet – most valuable film poster in the world in 2017[55]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aDracula_(1931_film_poster_-_Style_A).jpg)
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!["Insert" poster by Karoly Grosz[52]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aDracula_(1931_insert_poster).jpg)
![Style C one-sheet — scan of the copy owned by Kirk Hammett as of 2017[54]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aDracula_(1931_film_poster_-_Style_C).jpg)
![Style F one-sheet — scan of the copy sold by Nicolas Cage in 2009[53]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aDracula_(1931_film_poster_-_Style_F_-_Nicolas_Cage%2527s_copy).jpeg)
After the film's original theatrical run, several theatrical reissues were promoted with new poster designs.
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This film, and the 1920s stage play byDeane andBalderston, contributed much of Dracula's populariconography, much of which vastly differs from Stoker's novel. In the novel and in the German silent filmNosferatu (1922), Dracula's appearance is repulsive; Lugosi portrays the Count as a handsome, charmingnobleman. The Deane-Balderston play and this film also introduced the now iconic images of Dracula entering his victims' bedrooms through French doors/windows, wrapping his satin-lined cape around victims, and more emphasis on Dracula transforming into a bat. In the Stoker novel, he variously transformed into a bat or a wolf,[7]a mist or "elemental dust".
The now classic Dracula line, "I never drink ... wine", is original to this film. It did not appear in Stoker's novel or the original production of the play. When the play was revived on Broadway in 1977 starringFrank Langella, the line was added to the script.[7]
Dracula's property at Purfleet is simply called Carfax in the novel; the film renames it Carfax Abbey.[56]
Between the 1960s and 1970s,Castle Films released an abridged version ofDracula on8 mm film.[57] In the 1980s,MCA Home Video releasedDracula onBetamax,VHS, andCapacitance Electronic Disc (CED). In the 1990s, MCA/Universal Home Video releasedDracula onVHS as part of the "Universal Monsters Classic Collection", a series of releases ofUniversal Classic Monsters films.[58] The film was also released onLaserDisc.[59]
In 1999, Universal releasedDracula on VHS andDVD as part of the "Classic Monster Collection".[60][61][62] In 2004, Universal releasedDracula: The Legacy Collection on DVD as part of the "Universal Legacy Collection".[63][64] This two-disc release includes bothDracula and the Spanish-languageDracula, as well asDracula's Daughter,Son of Dracula, andHouse of Dracula.[63][64]
In 2012,Dracula and the Spanish-languageDracula were released onBlu-ray as part of theUniversal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection box set, which also includes a total of nine films from the Universal Classic Monsters series.[65] In September 2013,Dracula received a standalone Blu-ray release that also includes the Spanish-languageDracula.[66][67] That same year,Dracula was included as part of the six-film Blu-ray setUniversal Classic Monsters Collection, which also includesFrankenstein,The Mummy,The Invisible Man,Bride of Frankenstein, andThe Wolf Man.[68] The following year, Universal releasedDracula: Complete Legacy Collection on DVD.[69] This set contains seven films:Dracula,Drácula,Dracula's Daughter,Son of Dracula,House of Frankenstein,House of Dracula, andAbbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.[69] In 2015, the six-filmUniversal Classic Monsters Collection was released on DVD.[70] In 2016,Dracula received aWalmart-exclusive Blu-ray release featuring aglow-in-the-dark cover.[71] In September 2017, the film received aBest Buy-exclusiveSteelBook Blu-ray release with cover artwork byAlex Ross.[72] That same year, the seven-filmComplete Legacy Collection was released on Blu-ray.[73][74]
In August 2018,Dracula, the Spanish-languageDracula,Dracula's Daughter,Son of Dracula,House of Frankenstein,House of Dracula, andAbbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein were included in theUniversal Classic Monsters: Complete 30-Film Collection Blu-ray box set.[75][76] This box set also received a DVD release.[77] Later in October,Dracula and the Spanish-languageDracula were included as part of a limited edition Best Buy-exclusive Blu-ray set titledUniversal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection, which features artwork by Alex Ross.[78]Universal Pictures Home Entertainment releasedDracula on4KUltra HD Blu-ray on October 5, 2021.[79]
Universal's original negative had already fallen into nitrate decomposition by the time the negative was rediscovered in the 1970s.
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