Pre-Twilight of the Vampires

You kids and your Moroi and your Cullens and all your vampire schools… *shakes stake* Did you really think you invented vampires in high school? When I was in high school vampires had been there for years! And I’m not just talking about all the Buffy the Vampire Slayer books either! *shakes stake again* Get outta my coffin! Seriously though, … Read More

Dracula, Riddled Vampires & Baby Eating

If you’ve been watching NBC’s interesting if inconsistent adaptation of Dracula, loosely based on the novel (and I do mean loosely in the strongest possible way), you will have once again seen an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s oft-imitated classic that turns the relationship between the Count and Mina Murray into one of romance. It’s a favoured trope amongst those who reimagine the tale, although it would be preferable for further adaptations to make the story as gloriously queer as NBC have, because, among other reasons, there’s an evident appeal to the idea of a soulless villain who is redeemed by love.


That doesn’t happen in the book, of course. The overriding metaphor of vampirism as a stand-in for rape and disease does leave the mood a little less romantic.