Prince Vlad Dracul Tepes III

I'd like to meet:

I would like to meet all enemies of Christ. Most knowingly The Sultan Mehmed II, "the Conqueror," and his father Murad II

Murad II

Anecdotes
The Golden Cup:

Vlad was so confident in his crime deterrence that he placed a golden cup in the central square of Tirgoviste. He informed his people that anyone could drink from the cup, but anyone who stole it would be punished appropriately. The solid gold cup was never stolen.

The Foreign Merchant:

Because of the extremely low crime rate in Tirgoviste, a merchant left a cart full of ducats unguarded in a street overnight. In the morning, he found that 160 ducats were missing. Shocked, he informed the prince of the theft. Vlad informed his people that if the thief was not found, the city would be destroyed. Then, during the next night, Vlad told his underlings to take 161 ducats from the Wallachian treasury and put them in the merchant's cart. The next day, the merchant returned to Vlad and told him that the money had been returned plus one ducat. The prince then stated that the "thief" had already been caught and impaled, and that if the merchant had not mentioned the extra ducat, the same fate would have befallen him

The Two Monks:

All versions of the story agree that two monks visited Draculea in his palace at Tirgoviste. Curious to see the reaction of the churchman, Draculea showed them rows of impaled corpes in the courtyard. When asked their opinions of his actions by the prince, one of the monks responded, 'You are appointed by God to punish evil-doers.' The other monk had the moral courage to condemn the cruel prince. In the version of the story most common in the German pamphlets, Draculea rewarded the sycophantic monk and impaled the honest monk. In the version found in Russian pamphlets and in Romanian verbal tradition Draculea rewarded the honest monk for his integrity and courage and impaled the sycophant for his dishonesty.

The Polish Nobleman:

Benedict de Boithor, a Polish nobleman in the service of the King of Hungary, visited Draculea at Tirgoviste in September of 1458. At dinner one evening Draculea ordered a golden spear brought and set up directly in from (sic) of the royal envoy. Draculea then asked the envoy why he thought this spear had been set up. Benedict replied that he imagined that some boyar had offended the prince and that Draculea intended to honor him. Draculea then responded that he had, in fact, had the spear set up in the honor of his noble, Polish guest. The Pole then responded that had he done anything to deserve death that Draculea should do as he thought best. He further asserted that in that case Draculea would not be responsible for his own death, rather he would be responsible for his own death for incurring the displeasure of the prince. Drcaula was greatly pleased by this answer and showered the man with gifts while declaring that had he answered in any other manner he would have been immediately impaled.

The Foreign Ambassadors:

Vlad was infuriated by a group of foreign ambassadors who refused to remove their hats in his presence. For their lack of respect, Vlad had their hats nailed to their heads.

Draculea's Mistress:

Draculea once had a mistress who lived in a house in the back streets of Trgovite. This woman apparently loved the prince to distraction and was always anxious to please him. Draculea was often moody and depressed and the woman made every effort to lighten her lover's burdens. Once, when Draculea was particularly depressed, the woman dared tell him a lie in an effort to cheer him up; she told him that she was pregnant.
Draculea warned the woman not to joke about such matters but she insisted on the truth of her claim despite her knowledge of the prince's feelings about dishonesty.

Draculea had the woman examined by midwives, to determine the veracity of her claim. When informed that the woman was lying, Draculea drew his knife and cut her open from the groin to her breasts while proclaiming his desire for the world to see where he had been. Draculea then left the woman to die in agony.

The Lazy Woman:

Draculea once noticed a man working in the fields while wearing a too short caftan. The prince stopped and asked the man whether or not he had a wife. When the man answered in the affirmative Draculea had the woman brought before him and asked her how she spent her days. The poor, frightened woman stated that she spent her days washing, baking and sewing. The prince pointed out her husband's short caftan as evidence of her laziness and dishonesty and ordered her impaled despite her husband's protestations that he was well satisfied with his wife. Draculea then ordered another woman to marry the peasant but admonished her to work hard or she would suffer her predecessor's fate.

The Nobleman with the Keen Sense of Smell:

Vlad impaled about thirty thousand merchants and noblemen on St. Bartholomew's Day, 1459. He then set up a table out among the forest of corpses for a feast. He invited Wallachia's boyars to the feast.

As you might imagine, the smell of the blood and entrails of 30,000 dying corpses isn't exactly conducive to the appetite, and one of the boyars was visibly offended by the smell. So Vlad impaled him higher than any of the others so that he would no longer be bothered by the smell.

The Burning of the Sick and Poor:

The prince loved his people to be hard-working and prosperous, and the large number of poor peasants in his territory bothered him greatly. He issued an invitation to all the poor and sick of Wallachia to join in a feast in Tirgoviste so that no one in his land would go hungry. The peasants came to the feast in droves and were fed a hearty meal. They were feasting and drinking late into the night when Vlad himself made an appearance. He asked them something to the effect of "Do you never want to be hungry again? Do you want to be without cares, lacking nothing in this world?" When they answered excitedly in the affirmative, Vlad boarded up the hall and burnt it down, killing all inside. Vlad's explanation? He did it so that "no one will be poor in my realm."

*

THE VAMPIRE LEGEND

It is unclear why Bram Stoker chose this Wallachian prince as the model for his fictional vampire. Stoker was friends with a Hungarian professor from Budapest, and many have suggested that Draculea's name might have been mentioned by this friend. Regardless of how the name came to Stoker's attention, the cruel history of the Impaler would have readily loaned itself to Stoker's purposes. The events of Draculea's life were played out in a region of the world that was still basically medieval even in Stoker's time. The Balkans had only recently shaken off the Turkish yoke when Stoker started working on his novel and ancient superstitions were still prevalent. Transylvania had long been a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it too had endured a long period of Turkish domination and its culture was still largely medieval.

Recent research suggests that Stoker knew little of the Prince of Wallachia. Some have claimed that the novel owes more to the legends about Erzsebet Bathory

The legend of the vampire was and still is deeply rooted in that region. There have always been vampire-like creatures in the mythologies of many cultures.

However, the vampire, as he became known in Europe, largely originated in Southern Slavic and Greek folklore although the myth is virtually absent in Romanian culture. A veritable epidemic of vampirism swept through Eastern Europe beginning in the late 17th century and continuing through the 1700s.

The number of reported cases rose dramatically in Hungary and the Balkans. From the Balkans, the "plague" spread westward into Germany, Italy, France, England, and Spain. Travelers returning from the Balkans brought with them tales of the undead, igniting an interest in the vampire that has continued to this day. Philosophers in the West began to study the phenomenon. It was during this period that Dom Augustine Calmet wrote his famous treatise on vampirism in Hungary. It was also during this period that authors and playwrights first began to explore the vampire myth. Stoker's novel was merely the culminating work of a long series of works that were inspired by the reports coming from the Balkans and Hungary.

Given the history of the vampire myth in Europe it is perhaps natural that Stoker should place his great vampire in the heart of the region that gave birth to the myth. Once Stoker had determined on a locality Vlad Draculea would stand out as one of the most notorious rulers of the selected region. He was obscure enough that few would recognize the name and those who did would know him for his acts of brutal cruelty; Draculea was a natural candidate for vampirism. Why Stoker chose to relocate his vampire from Wallachia to the north of Transylvania remains a mystery.

The vampire myth is still widespread in Eastern Europe. Similarly, the name of Dracula is still remembered in the Romanian oral tradition but that is the end of any connection between Draculea and the vampire myth in folklore. Outside of Stoker's novel the name of Draculea was never linked with the myth of the vampire. Despite his inhuman cruelty, in Romania Draculea is remembered as a national hero who resisted the Turkish conquerors and asserted Romanian national sovereignty against the powerful Hungarian kingdom.
There are some legends saying that Vlad, after being taken captive by the Hungarians, had his eyes taken out and then was buried alive. The next day, they dug up the spot where he was buried and found no corpse. Several years, later there were numerous mysterious deaths at his castle.
It is somewhat ironic that Vlad's name has often been thrown into the political and ethnic fueds between Hungarians and Romanians, because he was ultimately far from an enemy of Hungary. While he certainly had violent conflicts with some Hungarian nobles, he had just as many Hungarian friends and allies, and his successes in battle with the Turks largely benefited Hungary in the long term. Hungary later found itself under siege but was never actually penetrated by Ottoman forces. Though neither the first nor the last powerful ruler to take on the Ottoman Empire, Draculea's demoralizing battle tactics were quite influential in damaging the illusion of Turkish invincibility and reversing the European aura of appeasement.

It should be taken into account that Romanian folklore and poetry paints Vlad Draculea not as a vampire but as a killer of vampires. His favorite weapon being the stake, coupled with his reputation in his native country as a man who stood up to both foreign and domestic "bloodsuckers," gives Draculea the virtual opposite symbolism of Bram Stoker's vampire. For this reason, the association of his name with vampirism does not make sense to Romanians. In Romania he is still considered by some to be a "savior" to the people of his country. He is also considered one of the greatest leaders and defenders of Romania.

A good description of Vlad Draculea survives courtesy of Nicholas of Modrussa, who wrote:

"He was not very tall, but very stocky and strong, with a cruel and terrible appearance, a long straight nose, distended nostrils, a thin and reddish face in which the large wide-open green eyes were enframed by bushy black eyebrows, which made them appear threatening. His face and chin were shaven but for a moustache. The swollen temples increased the bulk of his head. A bull's neck supported the head, from which black curly locks were falling to his wide-shouldered person.

His famous contemporary portrait, rediscovered by Romanian historians in the late 1800s, had been featured in the gallery of horrors at Innsbruck's Ambras Castle. It is significant for the Romanian counter-myth that the Romanian intellectual Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, claiming to apply Johann Kaspar Lavater's method to Vlad's depiction in one of the woodcuts, concluded that his subject mostly resembled the likes of William Shakespeare and Cesare Borgia.

Vlad's image in modern Romanian culture has been established in reaction to foreign perceptions: while Stoker's book did a lot to generate outrage with nationalists, it is the last part of a rather popular previous poem by Mihai Eminescu, Scrisoarea a III-a, that helped turn Vlad's image into modern myth, by having him stand as a figure to contrast with presumed social decay under the Phanariotes and the political scene of the 1800s (even suggesting that Vlad's violent methods be applied as a cure). This judgement was in tune with the ideology of the inward-looking regime of Nicolae Ceauescu, although the identification did little justice to Eminescu's personal beliefs.

All accounts of his life describe him as unrepentantly ruthless, but only the ones originating from his Saxon detractors paint him as exceptionally sadistic or somehow insane. These pamphlets continued to be published long after his death, though usually for lurid entertainment rather than propaganda purposes. It has largely been forgotten until recently that his tenacious efforts against the Ottoman Empire won him many staunch supporters in his lifetime, not just in modern day Romania but in the Kingdom of Hungary, Poland and the Republic of Venice. A Hungarian court chronicler reported that King Matthias "had acted in opposition to general opinion" in Hungary when he had Draculea imprisoned, and this played a considerable part in Matthias reversing his unpopular decision. During his time as a "distinguished prisoner" before being fully pardoned and allowed to reconquer Wallachia, Vlad was hailed as a Christian hero by visitors from all over Europe.

DEATH:

There are several variants of Vlad III the Impaler's death. Some sources say he was killed in battle against the Turks near Bucharest in December of 1476.
Others say he was assassinated by disloyal Wallachian boyars just as he was about to sweep the Turks from the field or during a hunt.
Other accounts have Vlad falling in defeat, surrounded by the bodies of his loyal Moldavian bodyguard (the troops loaned by Prince Stephen remained with Vlad after Stephen Bthory returned to his country).
Still other reports claim that Vlad, at the moment of victory, was accidentally struck down by one of his own men. Vlad's body was decapitated by the Turks and his head was sent to Istanbul and preserved in honey, where the sultan had it displayed on a stake as proof that Kazkl Bey was dead.

He was reportedly buried at a monastery located near Bucharest, yet the exact place of his burial remains unkown, as excavations at Snagov monastery, usually mentioned as his final resting place, have found no human remains.

ATROCITIES:

Vlad's atrocities against the people of Wallachia were usually attempts to enforce his own moral code upon his country. According to the pamphlets, he appears to have been particularly concerned with female chastity.
Maidens who lost their virginity, adulterous wives, and unchaste widows were all targets of Vlad's cruelty. Such women often had their sexual organs cut out or their breasts cut off.
They were also often impaled through the vagina on red-hot stakes that were forced through the body until they emerged from the mouth. One report tells of the execution of an unfaithful wife. Draculea had the woman's breasts cut off, then she was skinned and impaled in a square in Trgovite with her skin lying on a nearby table.
Vlad also insisted that his people be honest and hard-working. Merchants who cheated their customers were likely to find themselves mounted on a stake beside common thieves.

NAMES:

Emperor Sigismund

His Romanian surname Draculea (transliterated as Dracula in foreign languages of the historical ..s where his name is mentioned) seems to come from his father's surname Dracul; the latter who was a member of the Order of the Dragon created by Emperor Sigismund. The family of Vlad III Basarab had two factions, the Draculesti and the danesty.
His post-mortem moniker of Tepes (Impaler) originated in his preferred method for executing his opponents, impalement - as popularized by medieval Transylvanian pamphlets. In Turkish, he was known as (Impaler Prince). Vlad was referred to as Dracula in a number of ..s of his times, mainly the Transylvanian Saxon pamphlets
Outside Wallachia he was known by the exaggerated tales of atrocities (many of which stem from records of debatable authenticity) and even more so the title of vampire, and it has been suggested that his surname Dracula was the source of inspiration for the name of the main character of Bram Stoker's 1897 horror novel, Dracula.

NOTES:

Wallachia is an Independent province of Romania, a region with a tumultuous history, often caught between the two most powerful countries at the time, Turkey (Ottoman Empire) and Hungary (Holy Roman Empire).

In the Romanian language, a derivative of the word "teapa", meaning stake. English translation of the name, would be Vlad the Impaler; after his method of punishment; pronounced "tsepesh".

The origins of the name are somewhat well known. Prior to Vlad's birth in 1431, at the request of King Sigismund I of Hungary, his father, also named Vlad, was inducted in the Order of the Dragon, a secret brotherhood of knights with the purpose of protecting and upholding the Christian faith against the Turks. Thus, his nickname, Dracul. Later .. his death, the name was modifies by adding the diminutive "ulea" which in Romanian means "son of", in reference to Vlad Tepes' name. The word Drac, means "dragon" or "devil", and Draculea, would be literally translated as "the son of the dragon" or "the son of the devil".

Moldavia is a Region in Northeast Romania, bordered by the Carpathian Mountains to the west and the Danube Delta and Black Sea to the South.

*******
Tree Line of Draculea
D: Death

M: Married

B: Born

1. *Basarab the Great (1310-1352)....

2. *unknown (research needed)

3. *Mircea the Great (a descendant of Basarab) ruled from 1386-1418. Married: Princess Maria of the Hungarian noble family of Tolmay. Maria also related to the Cilli family. Barbara Cilli married Sigmund of Luxemburg(she was his second wife), who was influencial in helping the offspring of Mircea.

3. Radu. His son was Dan II.

4. Mihail - Mircea's only legitimate son.

4. Alexandru Aldea, Prince of Moldavia

4. *Vlad II, Dracul (The Devil) Born: before 1395 in Wallachia, Prince of Wallachia 1436-42; 1443-47 Educated in the court of Sigmund I of Luxembourg. Married Princess Cnejna in 1425. Cnejna was the sister of Prince Ilias Bogdan II, father of Stephen the Great.

5. Mircea B: 1428 in Germany D: 1447 (buried alive)

5. Draculea, Vlad Tepes "The Impaler"
B: in Wallachia
Prince of Wallachia 1448, 1456-1462. In 1476 Married a Transylvanian noblewoman ... who later committed suicide when their home was captured by enemy forces.
(2) Ilona Szilagy, relative of Matthius Corvinus, King of Hungary.

5. Radu III, The Handsome (1438/9-1500) Prince of Wallachia 1462-75

5. Mircea, son by another mistress.
5. Vlad (Mircea) the Monk (?-1496) Son of Catluna, later Mother Euphrasim, an Abbess. Vlad the Monk had a son Mircea (?-1486)

6(1) Mihnea :the Bad"(son of Vlad the Impaler) Prince of Wallachia 1508-1510
M: (1) Smaranda (2) Voica
Children of 2nd marriage were: Milos and Mircea II.

6(2) Vlad Draculea, claimant to the Wallachian throne. His son was Ladislas Dracula.

6(2) Unknown son who died in about 1482, and lived with the Bishop of Oradea (no heirs)

7 Milos (son of Mihnea "the Bad") nothing is known about him.

7 Mircea II (son of Mihnea "the Bad") Ruled 1509-1510, co-regent with his father in 1509
M: Maria Despina

7 Ladislas Draculea(Son of Vlad Dracula, gson of Vlad the Impaler)
M: a member of Vass de Czege Family. They had land in Banat

8 Alexandru II Mircea (Son of Mircea II) Ruled from 1574-1577.
M: Catherine Salvarezi

8 Peter the Lame, Prince of Moldavia (Son of Mircea II) 1574-1577
M: (1) Maria Amirali
(2) Irina the Gypsy
Heir = Stefanita

8 Ladislas, Draculea de Sintesti (son of Ladislas Dracula) (patent of nobility 1535)
M: Anna Vas de Crege

8 John Draculea
M: ?
(patent of nobility 1535)

9 Mihnea II "the Islamized" (son of Alexandru II Mircea) Ruled from 1577-1583
M: (1) Neaga (2) Voica

9 Stefanita (daughter of Peter the Lame)

10 Radu Mihnea (son of Mihnea II "the Islamized) ruled intermittently 1611-1623 in Wallachia and Moldavia
M: Arghia Minetti

10 John Dracula de Band (Had land in Szekler)
M: Anna (no heirs)

10 Daughter of George Dracula
M: Getzi family, which kept the Draculea name. Had land in Borgo Pass
This line dies out in the 17th century...

11 Alexandru "the Cocoon" (?-1632) (son of Radu Mihnea) Ruled 1623-1627 as Prince of Wallachia. Prince of Moldavia 1629-30.
D: 1632 without known heirs
M: Ruxandra Beglitzi

11 Mihail, Radu Gioan Bey (?-1660),(son of Radu Mihnea) Prince of Wallachia 1658-59
End of male line of Draculea

****
In regards to John Hunyadi (1387-1456) Ban of Severin 1438-1441. Prince of Transylvania, heriditary Count of Timisoara and Bistrija. Governoe general and regent of Hungary 1444-1453, Father of King Mattias Corinus "White Knight" of Christian Crusdades.
Hunyadi lived in Castle Hunedoara, Transsylvania. King of Hungary 1458-1490.
Hunyadi was the great enemy of Vlad Tepes, Draculea...since he ordered the beheading of his father and had his brother Mircea buried alive.
This is confirmed by recent studies which show nail marks on the inside of his coffin...a man stuggling to save his own life.

EVENTS IN DRACULEA'S LIFE:
(1) Draculea spent more lives in prison than he did on the throne.
Imprisoned at age 15 at Buda on the left bank of the Danube.
(2) His father was assasinated (beheaded)
(3) His brother was buried alive
(4) other relatives were killed and tortured
(5) his first wife killed herself to save herself from rape and torture.
(6) His subjects conspired against him.
(7) His cousin, a sworn friend, betrayed him (John Hunyadi was a family friend)
(8) Hungarians, Germans, and Turks all pursued him
(9) His father left him and his brother Radu alone and open to tortures within the walls of the Turkish palace. They were put in solitary confinement or else they would have been sodemized and tortured (in fact many believe that he was and his brother too). As an amusement Draculea would kill and impale rats and birds.

It is also true that the Bathory family was related to Draculea's family.

Draculea was buried at Snagov.

***:WEBSITES:***

Vlad Dracula Biography
http://members.aol.com/johnfranc/drac05.htm
Essay on the history of Vlad Tepes.

The Historical Dracula
http://www.eskimo.com/~mwirkk/vladhist.html
One of the best essays on Dracula, very graphic, detailed, definitly worth a read.

Vlad Dracula - Vlad the Impaler
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/7545/Dracula.html
Another good essay on the life and times of Vlad Tepes.

Arthur's Web: Dracula
http://www.arthur.nl/dracula/
The historical Dracula, myths and much more.

About Vlad the Impaler
http://hamsterrepublic.com/html/vladhistory.html
Pretty good short history of Dracula.

Vampire Castle -- Cruelty of Vlad
http://www.vampcastle.com.br/tvlad2_i.htm
Interesting myths and folk stories, tales.

The Dracula Society
http://www.TheDraculaSociety.org.uk

Dracula's Castle
http://www.draculascastle.com/
History concerning Vlad Tepes, his castles and some neat pictures.

Usa Networks
http://www.usanetwork.com
Recently released a television movie about the true story of Draculea.

IMDB
http://www.imdb.com
Very comprehensive database of anything and everything movie related. In our case, Draculea.

***DID YOU KNOW***

Sadie Frost
The little girl who played the child carried into the crypt by Lucy was genuinely terrified of Sadie Frost in her vampire make-up, and obviously wasn't expecting to do more than one take.

Director Francis Ford Coppola and Sadie Frost had to do a lot of sweet-talking to the child in order to get her back in Sadie's arms for another go at the scene.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

So the myth continues, fueled by new stories and legends, new media and web coverage of the subject. Our consumerist society welcomes this new addition to its money-making schemes: from Halloween costumes, to cereal brands, from trips to the land of Draculea in Europe, from copyrighted movies, books, action figures, and characters, the modern world has embraced a shadow, a figure which is known to most of us from Bram Stoker's psychoanalytic account of a Transylvanian prince with certain "children of the night" and love that has no boundaries, between the real and fantastic world that is.

In the end, beyond the horror, the real story is even more exiting, more intriguing and more fascinating than any bloody vampire's tale: it is the story of Vlad Tepes III, the historical figure, the REAL Dracula.

Music:

The earliest music I played was on various pipes with rhythmical accompaniment later added by a cobza. This style can be still found in Moldavian Carpathian regions of Vrancea and Bucovina and with the Hungarian Csango minority.

Movies:

I find all of them "Amusing"
MY MOVIE BRIDES
The Brides of Dracula are the three seductive female vampires, minions of the infamous King of Vampires, Count Dracula - who inhabit his castle in Transylvania with him, in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Two are described as dark haired and the other is blonde.
They are not married to Dracula in the social sense of the word. In their interactions with humans, they are typically sadistic.
Dracula brings victims to the Brides for them to feed upon, mainly infants and children. In many later interpretations, they are seen in flowing nightgowns, acting as sexual predators to those that come after their master.
Men like Abraham Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker are both attracted and revolted by their seductive movements. Like Dracula, they are shapeshifters and immortals, are negatively affected by religious objects, and avoid the light at all costs.
Although missing from the classic silent film 'Nosferatu', the Brides made silent appearances in the 1931 Dracula and the Spanish Dracula made the same year. Likewise the three brides were present but silent in the Jack Palance television adaptation. They had lines in the BBC production of Count Dracula (1977).
In the 2004 film Van Helsing the brides names were Marishka, Aleera, and Verona and they were played by actresses Josie Maran, Elena Anaya and Silvia Colloca, respectively.
In the 1992 film Bram Stoker's Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola the brides remained nameless. They were played by **Monica Bellucci**, Michaela Bercu and Florina Kendrick and (uniquely so far) all spoke Romanian in the movie.
The concept was in a way also enacted in the horror comedy The Monster Squad, where Dracula has abducted three teenage girls and turns them into his vampire brides.
The Brides in the movie Dracula 2000
The Brides in the original movie Dracula
HAMMER STUDIOS
Hammer Films was initially launched in 1934 and operated for years as Exclusive Films, producing forgettable, modestly budgeted movies for decades. It began to find its way in 1955 with the release of The Quatermass Xperiment (known in the United States as The Creeping Unknown). This black-and-white thriller about a man horribly transformed by a voyage into space, directed by Val Guest and based on a TV play by Nigel Kneale, was a hit that got Hammer interested in horror.
The big breakthrough came with The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), a huge international success whose period setting and color photography set it apart from earlier versions of the classic novel. Critics also noted a reliance on voluptuous starlets and gruesome shocks to sell the story, when they might have paid more attention to the taut direction of Terence Fisher, the economical scripting of Jimmy Sangster, the handsome art direction of Bernard Robinson, the dynamic scoring of James Bernard, and powerful performances by Peter Cushing as the creator and Christopher Lee as his creation. The same team was back again in 1958 for Dracula (known in the United States as Horror of Dracula), with Christopher Lee in the title role and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. Each of these films spawned a series that would last fifteen years.
The companys profitability established, Hammer head James Carreras arranged American financing and embarked on a program that made Hammer a byword for horror. More classics were revamped Hammer style, including The Hound of the Baskervilles (1958), The Mummy (1959), and The Phantom of the Opera (1962), and the studio also offered new menaces like The Gorgon (1964) and The Reptile (1966).
In 1960, Taste of Fear (aka Scream of Fear) inaugurated a group of mystery thrillers, and the studio also branched out with swashbucklers like The Scarlet Blade (1963) and epic fantasies like She (1965) and One Million Years B.C. (1966). Stars like Oliver Reed and Raquel Welch were introduced. Yet, gradually, the once-radical Hammer began to seem old-fashioned and repetitive, and its theme of a predatory aristocracy fell out of style. Even innovations like bare bosoms (first exposed in 1970s The Vampire Lovers) only postponed the inevitable. Hammers final feature, To the Devil a Daughter, was released in 1976.
Silent Films:
Vampire of the Coast (1909)
The Vampire's Trail (1910)
The Vampire (1913)--Kalem film directed by Robert Vignola.
In the Grip of the Vampire (1913)
Vampires of the Night (1914)--Greene's Feature Photo Plays.
The Vampire's Trail (1914)--directed by Robert Vignola.
Vampires of Warsaw (1914)
The Vampire's Tower (1914)--Ambrosia film.
Saved From the Vampire (1914)
The Devil's Daughter (1915)
A Fool There Was (1915)--Theda Bara as predatory "Vamp."
The Vampire's Clutch (1915)--Knight film.
Was She A Vampire? (1915)--Universal film.
Kiss of the Vampire (1915)
Mr. Vampire (1916)
A Night of Horror (1916)--German film directed by Arthur Robison.
A Vampire Out of Work (1916)--Vitagraph film.
A Village Vampire (1916)
The Beloved Vampire (1917)
The Vampire (1920)--Metro film.
Drakula (1921)
The Blond Vampire (1922)
Nosferatu (1922)--German Max Schreck as Count Orlock; dir. F.W. Murnau.
London After Midnight (1927)--Lon Chaney as vampire in human disguise.
The Vampire (1928)--seducer, not undead.
1930s:
Dracula (1931)--Bela Lugosi and balletic style of movement.
Vampyr (1932)--loose "Carmilla" adaptation by Danish director Dreyer.
The Vampire Bat (1933)--Lionel Atwill as mad doctor.
Mark of the Vampire (1935)--remake of 1927's London After Midnight.
Condemned to Live (1935)--baby of bitten woman becomes vampire/werewolf.
Dracula's Daughter (1936)--adaptation of Stoker's "Dracula's Guest."
1940s:
The Devil Bat (1940)--Lugosi raises bats for revenge.
Spooks Run Wild (1941)--Lugosi as magician suspected of being vampire.
The Return of the Vampire (1943)--Bela Lugosi with different vampire name.
Son of Dracula (1943)--Lon Chaney, Jr. emigrates to the States.
Dead Men Walk (1943)--George Zucco as vampire.
Return of the Vampire (1943)--Lugosi as vampire in WWII England.
House of Frankenstein (1944)--John Carradine as the Count.
House of Dracula (1945)--John Carradine again.
Isle of the Dead (1945)--Karloff accuses girl.
The Vampire's Ghost (1945)--in a small African village.
The Devil Bat's Daughter (1946)--Daddy visits in sleep.
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)--Lugosi as Dracula too.
Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (1948)--Lugosi in British comedy.
1950s:
The Thing From Another World (1951)--outer space blooddrinker on Earth.
The Devil's Commandment (1956)
The Vampire (1957)--accidental pill-taking leads to vampirism.
Blood of Dracula (1957)--a.k.a. Blood is My Heritage, Blood of the Demon.
Not of This Earth (1957)--Roger Corman combines sci-fi and vampirism.
The Return of Dracula (1957)--low-quality, a.k.a. The Curse of Dracula.
Horror of Dracula (1958)--Christopher Lee; Hammer Films.
Blood of the Vampire (1958)--anemic doctor victimizes patients.
Curse of the Undead (1959)--cowboy theme.
The Vampire's Coffin (1958)--sequel to 1957's The Vampire.
Uncle Was a Vampire (1959)--Italian satire with Christopher Lee.
1960s:
World of the Vampires (1960)--pipe-organ made with human bones.
Brides of Dracula (1960)--Oedipal Hammer film set in girls' boarding school.
Blood and Roses (1961)--Roger Vadim's adaptation of "Carmilla."
Black Sunday (1961)--Barbara Steele as vampire/witch in Italian film.
Sampson vs. the Vampire Women (1961)--Mexican wrestling hero Santo.
Bring Me the Vampire (1961)--Mexican inheritance comedy.
House on Bare Mountain (1962)--sexploitation with Frankenstein and Wolfman.
Kiss of the Vampire (1963)--honeymooners in Bavaria encounter cult.
The Last Man on Earth (1964)--Vincent Price after atomic holocaust.
Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1964)--Peter Cushing is Death.
The Vampires (1964)--a.k.a. Goliath and the Vampires; Italian gladiator.
Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1965)--Christopher Lee; Hammer Films.
Planet of the Vampires (1965)--Italian sci-fi; crew turn into space vampires.
Devils of Darkness (1965)--modern-day victims from Brittany.
Blood Fiend (1966)--Christopher Lee as suspect.
The Vampire People (1966)--Filipino film with bald heart-thief.
Track of the Vampire (1966)--Roger Corman production of artist and wax death.
Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (1966)--outlaw-turned-hero terrorized.
Blood Bath (1966)--a.k.a. Track of the Vampire.
The Devil's Mistress (1966)
Planet of Blood (1966)--a.k.a. Queen of Blood; Corman, Basil Rathbone.
The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)--Roman Polanski spoof with Sharon Tate.
A Taste of Blood (1967)--Dracula's descendant's revenge on descendants.
Dr. Terror's Gallery of Horror (1967)
Dracula's Wedding Day (1967)
Dracula Meets the Outer Space Chicks (1967)
Draculita (1967)
Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1968)--Christopher Lee's third outing.
Mad Monster Party (1968)--stop-motion monsterfest.
The Blood of Dracula's Castle (1969)--"a poor film."
The Blood Beast Terror (1969)--British.
The Nude Vampire (1969)--French film with suicide cult in old castle.
Space Vampires (1969)--John Carradine; a.k.a. Astro-Zombies.
1970s:
House of Dark Shadows (1970)--Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins.
Count Dracula (1970)--Christopher Lee and Klaus Kinski; a shoddy production.
The Scars of Dracula (1970)--Christopher Lee stalking and drinking.
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)--Christopher Lee and hypocritical Victorians.
Count Yorga, The Vampire (1970)--East European in California.
The Devil's Skin (1970)
Dracula's Vampire Lust (1970)
The Vampire Lovers (1970)--Hammer with a "Carmilla" adaptation.
Blood of Frankenstein (1970)--Zandor Vorkov as the Count.
Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1970)--American version.
Lust For a Vampire (1970)--Hammer and "Carmilla" echoes.
Countess Dracula (1970)--Hammer with Ingrid Pitt as sadist.
Guess What Happened to Count Dracula (1970)--sexploitation.
The Return of Count Yorga (1971)--sequel to the 1970 film.
Vampire Men of the Lost Planet (1971)--astronauts sent to planet.
Nosferatu in Brazil (1971)--Portuguese 8mm spoof.
The Bloodsuckers (1971)--Greek devil-worship with Patrick MacNee.
The Vampire Happening (1971)--Transylvania inheritance spoof.
The Velvet Vampire (1971)--couple stranded in desert invited into home.
Daughters of Darkness (1971)
Lake of Dracula (1971)--a.k.a. Bloodthirsty Eyes, Japanese.
Blacula (1972)--Caribbean Count.
Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)--Christopher Lee.
Saga of the Draculas (1972)--aging Count's interest in pregnant niece.
The Night Stalker (1972)
The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman (1972)--a.k.a. Shadow of the Werewolf.
Dracula in Brianza (1972)
Dracula's Great Love (1972)
The Deathmaster (1972)
The Legend of Blood Castle (1972)--17th-century Hungarian nobleman.
Grave of the Vampire (1972)--baby drinks mom's blood from bottle.
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1973)--Jack Palance as Dracula; Dan Curtis Productions.
Scream, Blacula, Scream (1973)--Pam Grier's voodoo must send him back.
Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)--Christopher Lee as CEO and germ warfare.
Andy Warhol's Dracula (1973)--Italian/French with aging Dracula.
The Daughter of Dracula (1973)
Dead People (1973)
Lemora: A Vampire's Tale (1973)--odyssey of teenager in the 1930s.
The Devil's Plaything (1973)
The Devil's Wedding Night (1973)
Old Dracula (1974)--David Niven.
Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter (1974)--victims robbed of youth.
The Seven Brothers Meet Dracula (1974)--martial arts and Peter Cushing.
Evil of Dracula (1974)--Japanese sequel to 1971's Lake of Dracula.
Vampyres (1974)--two female hitchhikers.
Deafula (1975)
Dead of Night (1976)
Rabid (1977)--Marilyn Chambers has bloodsucking organ under arm.
Doctor Dracula (1977)
Dracula and Son (1977)--Christopher Lee's son wants to be a florist.
Dracula's Dog (1977)--a.k.a. Zoltan: Hound of Dracula.
Martin (1977)--George A. Romero directs film regarding guilt and morality.
Count Dracula (1978)--British tv with Louis Jourdan.
Dracula (1979)--Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier.
Vampire (1979)--San Francisco millionaire; produced by Bochco.
Dracula Blows His Cool (1979)
Nosferatu: The Vampire (1979)--Klaus Kinski in slow remake of 1922 film.
Thirst (1979)--descendant of Countess Bathory and secret society.
Love at First Bite (1979)--George Hamilton spoof with Susan Saint James.
Vampire Hookers (1979)--a.k.a. Night of the Bloodsuckers, with John Carradine.
Dracula Sucks (1979)--Jamie Gillis.
Salem's Lot: The Movie (1979)--originally 4-hour tv movie.
1980s:
Dracula's Last Rites (1980)--vampire mortician.
Mama Dracula (1980)--Baroness Bathory spoof.
Deadline (1980)
Dr. Dracula (1981)
Dracula Rises From His Coffin (1982)
The Hunger (1983)--Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon.
A Polish Vampire in Burbank (1984)--nerd vampire spoof.
Fright Night (1985)--kid and Roddy McDowall vs. neighbor.
Once Bitten (1985)--Lauren Hutton comedy.
The Seven Vampires (1985)--botanical chaos.
Dragon Against Vampire (1985)
Lifeforce (1985)--space expedition brings back trouble to London.
Vampire Hunter D (1985) -- Japanese anime novel.
Dracula, the Great Undead (1985) -- ..ary
Demon Queen (1986) -- Female vampire on bloody rampage.
Vamp (1986)--Grace Jones vs. college students.
The Devil Vendetta (1986)
Mr. Vampire (1986)--Hong Kong martial arts and slapstick.
The Lost Boys (1987)--bad influence of the gang.
The Monster Squad (1987)
Near Dark (1987)
I Married a Vampire (1987)--comedy with Brendan Hickey, Rachel Golden.
My Best Friend Is a Vampire (1988)--after last date, he likes rare hamburgers.
Love Bites (1988)--gay spoof.
Teen Vamp (1988)--high school nerd transformed.
Beverly Hills Vamp (1988)--California girls stay out of the sun.
Dance of the Damned (1988)
Dinner With the Vampire (1988)
Dracula's Widow (1988)
Vampire at Midnight (1988)--L.A. cop vs. vampire.
Because the Dawn (1988)--Lesbian vampires.
Nightlife (1989)
To Die For (1989)--Dracula in L.A.
Daughter of Darkness (1989)--she discovers in Romania dad was vampire.
Vampire's Kiss (1989)--Nicholas Cage paranoid about Jennifer Beals.
Rockula (1989)--300-year-old teen vampire in a musical spoof.
Fright Night: Part II (1989)--Roddy McDowall vs. female vampire.
1990s:
Dawn (1990)
Sundown: Vampire in Retreat (1990)
Rockula (1990) -- A young vampire is cursed to stay a virgin.
Doctor Vampire (1991)
Blood Ties (1991)--made for tv.
Subspecies (1991)
Kingdom of the Vampire (1991)--Jeff vs. witchy mother.
Pale Blood (1991)--kinky L.A. tale of vampire looking for love.
Vampire Cop (1991)--night shift and tv reporter.
The Reflecting Skin (1991)--a Midwest boy's paranoia about widow next door.
Bram Stroker's Dracula (1992)--Gary Oldman; Francis Ford Coppola.
Innocent Blood (1992)
Children of the Night (1992)--Mother and daughter vampires emprisoned by priest.
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (1992)
Tale of a Vampire (1992)
Dracula's Hair (1992)
Sleepwalkers (1992) -- Stephen King and Egyptology.
To Sleep With a Vampire (1992)--vampire with stripper seeking son.
My Grandpa Is a Vampire (1992)--Al Lewis from "The Munsters."
Darkness (1993)
Bloodstone: Subspecies II (1993)
Bloodlust: Subspecies III (1993)--vampire Radu, his mummy, and subspecies.
Love Bites (1993)--vampire hunter in love with prey.
Blood Ties (1993)
Dracula Rising (1993)
Tale of a Vampire (1993)--London library scholar searching for lost love.
To Sleep with a Vampire (1993)
Project Vampire (1993)--world domination (would end the food supply?).
Blood in the Night (1993)
City of the Vampires (1993)
Cronos (1993)--mechanized scarab inflicts vampirism.
Vampire Vixens From Venus (1994)--three alien drug smugglers.
Vampires and Other Stereotypes (1994)--detectives and chaos from Hell.
Demonsoul (1994)
Interview With the Vampire (1994)
Embrace of the Vampire (1995)--Alyssa Milano as tempted college student.
Vampire in Brooklyn (1995)
Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
Addicted to Murder (1995)--Midwest boy meets vampire in the woods.
From Dusk 'Til Dawn (1996)
Bordello of Blood (1996)
Dead of Night (1996)
The Vampire Journals (1996)--Vengeful Vamp out to destroy line who turned him.
An American Vampire Story (1997)--New friends turn out to be bad vampires.
Def By Temptation (1997)--Samuel L. Jackson in erotic thriller.
Addicted to Murder: Tainted Blood (1998)--A rebel vampire converts unworthy victims.
Blade (1998)
John Carpenter's Vampires (1998)
Teenage Space Vampires (1998)--Aliens turn out to be a strange vampire species.
Addicted to Murder 3: Blood Lust (1999) -- Someone is feeding on vampire flesh.
Cold Hearts (1999) -- Two young women must kill to live.
The Vampire Carmilla (1999) -- Vampire stalks friends of her great-great-granddaughter.
Vampire Blues (1999) -- New Jersey teen vacations in Spain.
2000s:
Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula (2000)
Dracula 2000 (2000) -- Count Dracula is once again unleashed upon the world.
Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire (2000) -- Made for TV.
Shadow of the Vampire (2000) -- The 1922 'Nosferatu' Max Schreck as a real vampire.
Blood (2000) -- Vampire's blood made genetically narcotic.
Vampires: Los Muertos (2001) -- Jon Bon Jovi, vampire hunter. a sequel to John Carpenters 1998 movie 'VampireS'
Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter (2001) -- Jesus is called back to a harassed Ottawa.
Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust (2001) -- Japanese anime novel.
The Erotic Rites of Countess Dracula (2001) -- Female vampire rock star in the '60s.
The Forsaken (2001)
Blade II (2002)
Queen of the Damned (2002) -- Vaguely Anne Rice.
Vampire Clan (2002) -- Those crazy homicidal teens.
An Erotic Vampire in Paris (2002) -- Lesbian Parisian adventure.
Barely Legal Lesbian Vampires (2003) -- Camilla courts Lilith.
Dracula II: Ascension (2003) -- Med students offered cash for ancient plasma.
Vampires Anonymous (2003) -- Vic the Vampire in a 12-step program.
Vlad (2003) -- Three American students in the Carpathian mountains.
Underworld (2003)
Vampires: Out for Blood (2004) -- Rave scene as feeding grounds.
Blood Angels (2004) -- Older sister is vampiric seductress.
Vampires vs. Zombies (2004) -- Infected girl and father encounter both.
Lust for Dracula (2004) -- Housewife and updated Stoker character names.
Vampire Sisters (2004) -- Adult entertainment web site by vampire prostitutes.
Dracula 3000 (2004) -- Transport vessel has been missing for a century.
Van Helsing (2004)
Vampires: The Turning (2005) -- Martial arts and Thai vampire hunters.
BloodRayne (2006)-- Another Superhero
30 Days Of Darkness (2007) -- Vampires in northern most town in Alaska.

Television:

***Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula***

***Salem's Lot***

***Count Yorga***

***Blacula***

Books:

Of the recent literary works written in Romania about the real Vlad, only Marin Sorescu's play Vlad Dracula, the Impaler has been translated into English.

Heroes:

Vlad as Pontius Pilate judging Christ. 1463
Vlad as Aegeas, the Roman proconsul in Patras, crucifying Saint Andrew
My father Vlad II "dragon" dracul, My grandfather Prince Mircea "the Old", My grandmother Princess Maria Tolmay and my beloved mother Princess Cnejna of Moldavia.
I also would like to add my two uncles as my heroes and they are Ilias and Bogdon II.
"To uphold Christianity and to defend the empire against all enemies of Christ"
*****Just For Fun*****
Your Result: Power Metal

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