The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

In review: Dracula: The Undead

Since its 1897 publication, Bram Stoker’s classic Gothic tale, Dracula, has entranced Victorian as well as modern readers alike, with its iconic blood-thirsty vampirism, woeful superstition and lustful revenge. In 2009, 112 years after its debut, Bram Stoker’s great-grand nephew Dacre Stoker and noted Dracula historian Ian Holt teamed up to pen the tempestuous and diabolical thriller, Dracula: The Undead, as a sequel to the original.

With the Gothic horror element still firmly intact, Stoker takes the classic legend further into darkness and despair. With the addition of new antagonists and a resurfacing of Bram Stoker’s characters coping with the psychological downfall of repression and relentless terror, Dracula: The Undead takes readers through a mesmerizing labyrinth, approximately two decades later.

With the fervent popularity of vampire novels, films and television shows from Anne Rice’s Lestat to Stephenie Meyer’s Edward Cullen and Charlaine Harris’ Bill, Stoker, with his name recognition and partnership with Holt, prove to be the marketer and publisher’s dream come true. With the recent emphasis on the male vampire acting as the ‘dangerous’ protagonist, Stoker manages to guide his readers back through history, to the literary genre of Gothic horror, complete with psychological entrapments, superstition and religious allegory.

But, with the advent of vampire novels, one cannot help but wonder what exactly accounts for their seeming effervescent appeal among charmed masses. Is it the fascination associated with immortality and the resulting effects on the human psyche? Or, perhaps, is it the thrill of pending doom and everlasting fear? Is the vampire a manifestation of unattainable human desire?

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Whatever the answer, the attractiveness and success of vampire lore seems unstoppable. Apart from the highly popularized romantic vampire fiction that is mass marketed, Stoker gives his readers a refreshing taste of classic Gothic legend.

With the continuation of the lives of Bram Stoker’s classic characters, the scene unfolds with a letter addressed to Quincy, from parents Jonathan and Mina Harper, to be read on account of their unforeseen deaths. Dacre Stoker uses the letter in effort to recount the major plot details of the original work as explained to both readers and one of the main characters. Readers will recall Jonathan Harper’s imprisonment at Dracula’s infamous castle in Transylvania, the tragic death of Lucy, and Van Helsing’s famous band of vampire hunters.

As Dacre Stoker’s novel unfolds, other historical characters, such as the lustfully vicious ‘blood countess’ Elizabeth Bathory, emerge. Feeding off the blood of her innocent victims as a vampire, she satisfies her taste and desire for everlasting beauty.

With the prevailing power of the vampire, Bram Stoker’s original character, John Seward, succumbs to the wrath of Bathory. Soon after his demise, other classic characters follow in the same fate, arousing Quincy to take direct action against the villains in Dracula and Bathory, accused of committing these horrific atrocities.

In the same way that the vampire lures its sufferers, the vampire novel entrances readers, so that we too are victimized.

Hence, with its addictive quality, Dracula: The Undead serves as an effective and equally startling rebirth of the classic tale.

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In review: Dracula: The Undead