Halloween season
simply isn’t Halloween season without a regular dose of golden age Universal
horror (1923-1963). Every day this October, I’ll be giving you a steady IV drip
of it by counting down Psychobabble’s
31 Favorite Universal Horrors!
#5. Dracula (1931-
dir. Tod Browning)
Scoff if you will. Many have. They call it static, stagy,
and hammy. They call it boring and inept. They can stake themselves as far as I’m
concerned. Dracula is flawed in some
ways, but the film’s overall effect is profound. This movie is so Gothic, so alluringly
archaic, so deeply creepy you can practically smell the dank crypt air. Dracula builds atmosphere like few other
films, and a horror movie is nothing without atmosphere. It also has Bela
Lugosi, the man who embodies the count so completely that it is always
unsatisfying seeing another actor portray him no matter how technically better
the actor’s performance is. As iconic as Bela is, Dwight Frye arguably steals
the film as Renfield. He’s crazed, but he is also funny, frightening, fearful, and
strangely sympathetic. The entire opening sequence in Dracula’s castle is
masterful: Dracula’s awe-inspiring appearance on his massive stairway, Renfield
and Dracula’s sickly humorous dinner, the dreadful appearance of the vampire’s famished
brides. Critics complain that the film loses all steam after it leaves Transylvania,
but I prefer to think that the steam that opening sequence builds powers the
rest of the picture. Frankenstein is technically a better movie, but no serious
horror puts me in the Universal spirit like Dracula.
