The strength of the vampire is that no one will believe in him.
~ Monster-hunter Van Helsing in Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ (1897)
Legends of blood-relishing beings have existed in folklore across the world for centuries. But it took one novel — written by Irish author Bram Stoker and published on May 26, 1897 — to transform the vampire into one of the world’s most enduring fictional characters.
As the Gothic novel nears 130 years since publication, it is safe to say that Stoker’s Dracula has travelled far beyond the pages of its book, inspiring countless adaptations, films, television series and an entire genre of vampire romances.
Over the decades, Dracula has appeared as a terrifying predator, a seductive aristocrat, a tragic lover, a comic father and even a teenage heartthrob. He has moved through silent cinema, Hammer Horror films, comic books, television series and animated children’s movies. He has even entered Malayalam popular culture.
So, how did one vampire become ‘the vampire’? For writer Vineeth Abraham, the answer begins with the novel itself. The former government employee first read Dracula at the age of 14. The experience stayed with him.
“It scared the living daylights out of me,” he recalls. “I am an agnostic, but after finishing the book, I took two palm fronds from the palm tree near my house, made a cross out of them and kept it on my chest the whole night while sleeping.”
He believes the fear came not merely from Dracula himself, but from the way the story unfolds. The book is an epistolary novel. Unlike conventional fiction, Dracula is narrated through diary entries, letters, newspaper clippings and journal records written by different characters.
The fragmented narration creates immediacy, allowing readers to discover events almost in real time.
“It’s really gripping, especially when Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania and meets the Count. It is quite an atmospheric book. The eeriness lingers on even after one closes it,” says Vineeth.
What made Dracula survive generations was not fear alone. “It was perhaps the eccentric charisma Stoker added to the vampire,” he says. “Shades of seductive appeal.”
That may have been Dracula’s greatest transformation. Earlier folklore often portrayed vampires as grotesque monsters or evil spirits. Stoker’s Count, while terrifying, was also aristocratic, mysterious and suave. Later adaptations expanded that image even further.
The 1922 German silent film ‘Nosferatu’ presented audiences with a nightmarish version of the vampire. Bela Lugosi’s portrayal in ‘Dracula’ (1931) established the now-familiar image of the vampire in a cape and formal attire.
British actor Christopher Lee later gave the Count a darker, grander presence through the Hammer Horror films beginning in the late 1950s.
Vineeth, who remains an avid horror fan. “I occasionally watch the films with Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing,” he says. “I have all of them.”
Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ (1992) portrayed the vampire as tragic and romantic. In the early 2000s, the ‘Twilight’ series revived interest in vampires and transformed them into romantic leads for a new generation.
The ‘Vampire Diaries’ later built an entire universe around emotionally conflicted immortal beings.
Even contemporary cinema continues to reinvent the vampire myth. The recent Oscar-winning film ‘Sinners’ also featured vampires, introducing the familiar creature into yet another unexpected setting.
In Kerala, however, Dracula found readers long before streaming platforms and vampire romances existed. For many Malayalis, the Count entered their homes through the Malayalam translation by K V Ramakrishnan, first published in serialised form and later as a translated novel.
“I first encountered Dracula in the early 1970s, when I was around eight or nine years old. At home, we had a majestic Malayalam translation by K V Ramakrishnan. I used to read for an hour before bed and spent some evenings in the Carpathian Mountains alongside a bloodthirsty count,” recalls Nandakishore Varma, a chemical engineer who has published two collections of short stories.
“To say that Dracula frightened me would be an understatement. I had delightfully terrifying nightmares. Though I never believed in ghosts or spirits, it was then that I realised how fictional monsters could transform our minds into haunted houses. The experience is still vivid, even after over five decades.”
His fascination with Dracula later led him to read the English original and also the thriller novels by Kottayam Pushpanath that featured Dracula as a character.
“I remember many of my classmates actually came to know Dracula through Pushpanath’s books,” he says.
Nandakishore remained a devoted fan of the novel over the years, though he also admires the filmmakers who adapted the character. “I have never watched the film ‘Dracula’ (1958), as it was said to have deviated greatly from the novel, although the face that still appears in my mind as Dracula is that of Christopher Lee.”
He also notes that the Malayalam term for vampire was popularised by K V Ramakrishnan, who called it ‘Raktharakshassu’ (blood demon).
“The word does not appear in the Malayalam lexicon, but among my generation, the term became popular through a theatre production by Kalanilayam.”
Angel Zacharia, a logistics management professional, encountered Dracula when she was in Class 8 through the Malayalam translation of Bram Stoker’s novel.
“I had just started reading long novels at that time. I first read it for fun and gradually became interested in vampires and werewolves. It opened the doors to fantasy fiction for me. Till then, I had mostly been reading conventional literature,” she says.
For digital marketer Shahid Ameen, Dracula arrived through cinema. “My father showed me Christopher Lee’s movies. I grew up on a steady diet of horror films at home, and Dracula became my gateway to Gothic horror,” he says. One of his favourite films to revisit is the animated ‘Hotel Transylvania’. “It depicts Dracula as a concerned father,” he smiles. “I am also reading The Dracula Papers: The Scholar’s Tale by Oliver Reggie, which reimagines the origins of the character and explores Dracula’s early life.”
Kerala’s own folklore also contains figures that echo elements of the vampire myth. Aithihyamala, the famed collection of legends compiled by Kottarathil Sankunni, features stories of Yakshis. Figures such as Kalliyankattu Neeli became part of Kerala’s collective cultural memory. In the latest adaptation of her character in ‘Lokah: Chapter One’, she appears almost vampire-like.
“If you look at portrayals of Yakshi — a beautiful woman in white, long canines, and drinks blood — there are similarities,” Vineeth points out.
In both cases, charm and creeps exist together. So do desire and danger, tragedy and terror.
Vampire fans can rejoice. Posters of the upcoming Malayalam movie titled ‘Half’ are doing the rounds.
The biggest blood-dripping buzz, however, is over reports of Mammootty playing a vampire. Fan-made posters showing him in a Dracula avatar have started popping up on social media.
Well, Prof. Helsing eventually kills the vampire at the end of the novel. But popular culture continues to resurrect him repeatedly, proving that a stake through the heart was never enough.
And fans seem to swear by the vampire-hunter’s line: “I want you to believe… to believe in things that you cannot.”
The Dracula face
For many, Christopher Lee became Dracula. The British actor transformed the Count into a darker, seductive and charismatic character. His tall frame, piercing stare, blood-red eyes and dramatic fangs helped create the modern image of the vampire. The iconic fanged look was developed by makeup artist Phil Leakey, who worked closely with director Terence Fisher.
Count Dracula holds the title of ‘World’s Most Famous Vampire’, according to the World Record Academy
More than 1,500 editions of Bram Stoker’s Dracula have been published in English alone
‘Nosferatu’ memories
In 1922, German director F W Murnau released ‘Nosferatu’, an unofficial adaptation of the book. Florence Stoker, Bram Stoker’s widow, sued for copyright infringement. A court ordered prints of the film to be destroyed, though some copies survived, becoming one of horror cinema’s most influential works.
Poor Bats!
Oh, yes. Environmentalists call it the ‘Dracula effect’. In reality, most bats are harmless and vital to ecosystems. Of the more than 1,400 bat species worldwide, only three species are ‘vampire bats’ — all found in Latin America. Even these do not suck blood as often imagined. They make a small cut and lap up the blood, usually from livestock or birds.
The vampire hunter
He is a Dutch doctor, scientist and folklore expert who vanquishes Count Dracula. The character helped popularise many ideas now associated with vampires — crosses, garlic, holy objects, and stakes through the heart. Over the years, Van Helsing evolved into a ‘star’, appearing in films, television series and comics. Popular among them are the movie ‘Van Helsing’ (2004) featuring Hugh Jackman and the Netflix series by the same name (2016).