The Tod Browning/Bela Lugosi earliest faithful-to-the-book rendition of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel still remains one of the most iconic vampire films today. Lugosi brings a power and presence to his role as the most famous monster in literature, representative of the devil as described in I Peter 5:8. It’s no more a coincidence that crucifixes & light are his weaknesses any more than it is that Van Helsing sounds veritably Screwtapian with his declaration that “the strength of the vampire is that people will not believe in him.”
—Jeremy Purves